Untitled Quiz

Course Information

• Course code: ES-451
• Course name: Field Studies
• Instructor: Dr. Swatantra Pratap Singh
• Department: Environmental Science and Engineering Department
• Contact: [email protected]
• Office: 4th Floor, Faculty Lab-11, CESE-DESE new building

Course Content and Structure

• Activities: Survey, Productivity, Biodiversity, Trip 1 (STP), Trip 2 (Waste Management Facility), Trip 3 (Hindustan Platinum Industry), End-Sem Exam
• Weightage: Survey (70%), Productivity (15%), Biodiversity (15%), Trip 1 (15%), Trip 2 (15%), Trip 3 (15%), End-Sem Exam (30%)
• Dates:
  • 09/27/24: Lecture and discussion on modules
  • 09/04/24: Primary productivity
  • 10/11/24: STP visit
  • 10/18/24: Mumbai Waste Management Taloja visit
  • 10/25/24: Hindustan Platinum visit
  • 11/08/24: Biodiversity in SGNP

Modality

• Interactions
• Report Submission
• Attendance (TA): Trip and experiments

What is an Ecosystem?

• An ecosystem includes all living things (plants, animals, organisms) in an area, interacting with each other and their non-living environment (weather, earth, sun, soil, climate, atmosphere).
• Ecosystems are the foundations of the biosphere and determine the health of the entire Earth system.
• Living things and their environment interact to create energy flow and recycle carbon and nitrogen.

Components of an Ecosystem

• Abiotic components:
  • Physical factors: Temperature, Humidity, Light, Atmospheric pressure
  • Inorganic substances: Water, Oxygen, Carbon dioxide, Nitrogen
• Biotic components:
  • Producers: Green plants
  • Consumers: Animals
  • Decomposers: Microorganisms

Concepts in an Ecosystem: Food Web

• Autotroph (Producer): Produces organic compounds (carbohydrates, fats, proteins) using light (photosynthesis) or chemical reactions (chemosynthesis).
• Heterotroph: Cannot produce its own food, depending on other organisms for nutrition.
• Herbivore: Eats plants.
• Carnivore: Eats other animals.
• Energy and nutrient flow through the food web.

Concepts in an Ecosystem: Energy Pyramid

• Energy transfer within a food chain.
• Some energy in each trophic level is not obtained by the next level.
• Shorter food chains retain more energy.

Concepts in an Ecosystem: Pyramid of Energy

• Energy pyramid represents trophic levels of an ecosystem.
• About 10% of the energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next.
• Higher biomass (and energy) is required at the bottom trophic levels.

Concepts in an Ecosystem: Secondary Production

• Secondary production is the amount of chemical energy in food used to create new biomass.
• An organism's production efficiency is the fraction of energy in food that is not used.
• Different organisms have different production efficiencies (birds/mammals ~1-3%, fish ~10%, insects/microorganisms ~40%+).

Ecological Efficiency

• Energy transfer from lower trophic levels.
• Energy not used, digested energy and excreted energy.
• Energy used in growth, reproduction, respiration.

Primary Productivity

• Gross Primary Productivity (GPP): The amount of chemical energy producers create in a given time.
• Net Primary Productivity (NPP): The remaining energy producers use for growth and reproduction, after accounting for respiration.
• NPP = GPP - Respiration

Photosynthesis

• Light-dependent reactions: Energy from sunlight absorbed by chlorophyll converts it into stored chemical energy (ATP, NADPH). These reactions happen in the thylakoid membranes.
• Light-independent reactions (Calvin cycle): Energized electrons from the light-dependent reactions create carbohydrates from carbon dioxide. These reactions happen in the stroma.

Calvin Cycle

• Three major steps: Carbon fixation, Reduction, and Regeneration.
• Carbon fixation: Carbon dioxide combines with a five-carbon acceptor (RuBP) converting it to a six-carbon molecule.
• Reduction: Molecules are changed to sugar using ATP and NADPH.

Materials

• Pot (square or rectangular)
• Seeds
• Soil
• Oven for Drying
• Weighing Machine
• Petri dish (or plate)
• Water
• Light Source
• Spoon/Spatula

Methodology

• Select 3-4 locations and record coordinates.
• Divide locations into grids and measure the area of each grid.
• Identify plant species at each location.
• Count the number of plant species at each location.

Calculations

• NPP: Biomass after 15 days − Biomass after 5 days / number of days
• Respiration Rate: Uncovered biomass (15 days) - Covered biomass (15 days)
• GPP: NPP + Respiration Rate.

Biodiversity

• Report:
  • Biodiversity Importance
  • A Summary of the Local Biodiversity
  • Identify Major Threats
  • Possible Solutions
  • Take proper images (not from internet).

Biodiversity Index and Calculation

• Simpson's Index : A calculation that weights the prevalence of the most common species in the population.
• Shannon's Index: A calculation that takes rare species into account.

Threats to Biodiversity

• Habitat Destruction (Deforestation )
• Habitat Fragmentation
• Pollution
• Overexploitation
• Diseases
• Poaching
• Introduction of Exotic/Invasive Species

Biodiversity Hotspots

• Regions with high biodiversity at risk of destruction.
• Two criteria:
  • At least 1,500 endemic species of vascular plants
  • Lost 70% of original habitat.

Conservation of Biodiversity

• In-situ:
  • Protected area (National Park, Sanctuary, Biosphere Reserve (terrestrial/marine)
• Ex-situ:
  • Seed Banks
  • Field Gene Banks
  • Cryopreservation
  • Botanical Gardens
  • Zoological Parks
  • Aquariums
  • Home Gardens
  • Sacred Plants