Environmental Science Overview

Environmental Factors

• The environment encompasses all living and non-living things and their interactions.
• Environmental factors include biotic factors (living organisms) and abiotic factors (non-living components).
• Biotic factors influence populations through competition, predation, and symbiosis.
• Abiotic factors include sunlight, temperature, water, soil, and nutrients.

Types of Environments

• Terrestrial environments include forests, grasslands, deserts, and tundras.
• Aquatic environments include freshwater (lakes, rivers, streams) and saltwater (oceans, coral reefs).
• Specific microenvironments exist within larger environments (e.g., beneath a log in a forest, within a tide pool).

Environmental Issues

• Pollution affects air, water, and soil quality, harming ecosystems and human health.
• Climate change, driven by human activities, alters global temperatures and weather patterns.
• Deforestation reduces biodiversity and disrupts ecosystems.
• Overfishing depletes fish populations and disrupts marine ecosystems.
• Habitat loss due to urbanization and agriculture threatens biodiversity.

Environmental Protection

• Conservation efforts aim to protect and restore natural resources.
• Sustainable practices minimize the environmental impact of human activities.
• Monitoring ecosystems helps identify and address environmental problems.
• Regulations and policies control pollution and resource use.
• Environmental education fosters awareness and stewardship.

Ecosystem Interactions

• Energy flows through ecosystems via food chains and food webs.
• Nutrient cycles (e.g., carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus) are crucial for ecosystem function.
• Competition for resources among organisms shapes populations and communities.
• Predator-prey relationships regulate population sizes and influence species interactions.
• Symbiotic relationships (mutualism, commensalism, parasitism) affect species distributions and roles.

Biodiversity

• Biodiversity encompasses the variety of life on Earth, from genes to ecosystems.
• High biodiversity enhances ecosystem resilience and stability.
• Loss of biodiversity threatens ecosystem services and human well-being.
• Factors affecting biodiversity include habitat destruction, invasive species, and climate change.
• Conservation efforts focus on protecting endangered and threatened species.

Human Impact

• Human activities significantly impact the environment.
• Industrialization and agriculture contribute to pollution and resource depletion.
• Population growth increases consumption of resources and pressure on ecosystems.
• Technological advancements can provide solutions, but also create new problems.
• Personal choices shape individual environmental footprints.