Environmental Change: Key Terms

• Environmental Change and Management involves understanding and addressing alterations to the environment.

Key Terms

• Atmosphere: The layer of gases surrounding the Earth.
• Lithosphere: The rigid outer part of the Earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.
• Hydrosphere: All the water on Earth, including oceans, lakes, and rivers.
• Biosphere: The regions of the Earth occupied by living organisms.
• The four functions of the environment are:
  • Source: Providing resources.
  • Sink: Absorbing waste.
  • Spiritual: Offering cultural and intrinsic value.
  • Service: Providing life-supporting processes.
• Carbon cycle: The process through which carbon compounds are interconverted in the environment.
• Hydrological cycle: The continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the Earth.
• Carbon sink: A reservoir that accumulates and stores carbon compounds.
• Intertidal: The area of the seashore that is covered at high tide and uncovered at low tide.
• Fresh water: Water with a low salt concentration.
• Salt water: Water with a high salt concentration, typically found in oceans and seas.
• Brackish water: Water with a salinity between fresh and salt water.
• Climate change: Long-term shifts in temperature and weather patterns.
• Greenhouse gas: A gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation.
• Weather: The state of the atmosphere at a place and time regarding heat, dryness, sunshine, wind, and rain.
• Climate: The average weather conditions in an area over a long period.
• Human worldview: A perspective on the relationship between humans and the environment.
• Steward worldview: A belief that humans have a responsibility to manage and protect the environment.
• Earth-centered worldview: A perspective that values the Earth and its ecosystems above human interests.
• Mitigation strategy: Actions taken to reduce the severity of climate change.
• Adaptation strategy: Actions taken to adjust to the effects of climate change.
• Carbon sequestration: The process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Skills

• Synoptic charts: Weather maps that provide a snapshot of atmospheric conditions.
• Choropleth maps: Thematic maps that use different shades or colors to represent statistical data.

Environmental Functions

• Four functions include providing resources, absorbing waste, offering cultural value, and supporting life.

The Carbon Cycle

• Carbon cycles through the environment via various processes, including photosynthesis, respiration, and decomposition.

Human-Induced Change

• Local examples of human-induced change can include deforestation, pollution, and urbanization.

Wetland Functions

• Intertidal actions: Processes occurring in the area between high and low tide.
• Pneumatophores: Specialized root structures that allow certain plants to breathe in waterlogged soils.
• Cycling of nutrients: The movement and exchange of organic and inorganic matter back into the production of living matter.

Homebush Bay Wetlands

• Traditional custodians (Dharawal mob) passed down knowledge through generations.
• Dreaming stories educate about the wetlands.
• Human actions cause impacts on the Homebush wetlands.
• Factors include pollution and habitat destruction.
• Understanding the current health of the wetlands is important to monitor and help improve their quality.

Vietnamese Wetlands

• The Vietnamese use wetlands for resources such as fishing, agriculture, and aquaculture.
• Unsustainable use of wetlands has negative impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services.
• Technology helps remediate Vietnamese wetlands to restore their ecological functions.

Fieldwork at Bonna Point

• Location: Describe the characteristics of the Bonna Point wetlands and use geographic terminology to locate the site.
• Insert a map of Sydney and highlight the class case study (Homebush Bay) and the fieldwork case study (Bonna Point).
• Health: Describe the health of the Bonna Point wetland, use examples to support your description.
• Fieldwork tools include:
  • Lux Meter: Measures light intensity
  • Refractometer: Measures the salinity of water
  • Quadrat: A square frame used to sample organisms in a specific area
  • Sediment texture graph: A tool to determine the composition of sediments
  • Tally: A method of counting and recording data
  • Parallax wedge: (Find the definition)
• Research Action Plans can gather evidence of a site's health.

Worldviews on Environmental Management

• Three worldviews include human-centered, stewardship, and earth-centered perspectives.

Rapid Climate Change

• Caused by carbon emissions and the greenhouse effect.

Impacts of Human-Induced Change

• Australian example: Impacts occur at local scales in tropical and mid-latitudinal regions.

Consequences of Climate Change

• Climate change impacts humans.

Mitigation and Adaptation

• Mitigation reduces climate change.
• Adaptation adjusts to the effects.

The Paris Agreement

• The aim is to mitigate climate change through global cooperation.

Adaptation Strategies

• Two examples include carbon sequestration and adaptation measures.

Transitioning to Cleaner Energy

• Transitioning to cleaner energy has positives and negatives.
• Positives include reducing emissions, while negatives may involve economic challenges.

Coral Reefs

• Coral polyps, coral skeletons, and zooxanthellae interact in coral reefs.
• Zooxanthellae are photosynthetic algae.
• They live within coral tissues, providing them with nutrients in exchange for protection.