Ecosystems and Population Dynamics

Study Notes

Energy flow is the flow of energy through living things within an ecosystem, where living organisms can be organized into producers and consumers, and then into food chains.
Each level within the food chain is a trophic level, and multiple trophic levels can be organized into trophic pyramids.

Human Population Dynamics is a field that tracks factors related to changes in population, such as fertility rate and life expectancy.
Predicting population changes is important because these demographic trends impact economic, social, and environmental systems.

Environmental factors, such as population, interact with other factors to determine a society's environmental impact.
Environmental factors for bacterial growth include temperature, oxygen, pH level, and osmotic pressure.

Water-washed diseases are caused by a lack of personal hygiene and are transmitted when fresh and good water is scarce for washing hands or body.
Examples of water-washed diseases include scabies, trachoma, leprosy, and fungal infections.
Water vector diseases are transmitted through the biting of mosquitoes, which transfer parasites (virus, bacteria, protozoa, worms, etc.) into the human body.

Heterotrophic metabolism involves the breakdown of organic molecules to obtain carbon and energy.
Autotrophic metabolism involves the production of organic molecules using energy from the environment.
Classification of bacteria involves taxonomic rankings, bacterial species problems, genetic approaches, and DNA-based methods.

Fundamentals of wastewater treatment involve physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove contaminants.
Wastewater is composed of 99% liquid and 1% solid, with solids consisting of suspended solids (30%) and dissolved solids (70%).
Wastewater treatment levels include:
Preliminary
- Removal of grit, grease, floatable, and large objects
- Production of a homogeneous liquid to prevent damage to mechanical equipment
- Bar screen, comminutor, grit chamber, sedimentation, and clarifier
Secondary
- Removal of biodegradable organic matter
- Bacteria and breakdown of organics
- Aeration, coagulation, trickling filter, and rotating biological contactor (RBC)
Tertiary
- Removal of residual suspended solids
- Examples include coagulation, sedimentation, and filtration

Presidential Decree 1067: Water Code of the Philippines (1976) covers underground water, water above the ground, water in the atmosphere, and the waters of the sea within the territorial jurisdiction of the Philippines.
Republic Act 9275: Clean Water Act of 2004 aims to protect the country's water bodies from pollution from land-based sources.