Basics of Sustainability

Biosphere

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Contents Page
Aims................................................................................................................................................ 2

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3

The Terrestrial Food Chain ............................................................................................................. 4

Natural Cycles ................................................................................................................................ 5

Biodiversity ..................................................................................................................................... 7

Bibliography and Further Reading ................................................................................................... 8

Aims
By reading this section, you should be able to:

Have a better understanding of what makes up the biosphere and recognise the different
cycles that work within it.

Understand the varying trophic levels in a food chain and the energy transfer process.

Understand what biodiversity is, why it is so important and how it interacts with the built
environment.

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Introduction
Biosphere refers to the Earth and surrounding atmosphere within which life exists, including the
seas, deep sea ocean beds, rivers, lakes, sediments, soil, land and atmosphere.

Collectively, organisms are named biota. Within the environment they live they form an
ecosystem, whereupon they rely on up to thirty elements that are essential to their survival. An
element is the simplest of chemicals and defined as a substance that cannot be broken down by
chemical methods to a simpler substance. The table below lists the essential elements.

Fig. 1: Essential elements

Major Elements: Macro minerals: Trace Elements:

Hydrogen Potassium Iron

Carbon Magnesium Copper

Nitrogen Sodium Zinc

Oxygen Calcium Iodine

Phosphorus Fluorine

Sulphur Silicone

Chlorine Manganese

Cobalt

Boron

Molybdenum

The major elements carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen form carbohydrates; nitrogen is a component
of all proteins. Approximately 96% of our body mass is made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and
nitrogen with minerals and trace elements making up the remaining 4%.

The chemical binding of elements forms a material called a compound. For example the binding of
the two elements sodium and chlorine form sodium chloride, commonly known as salt.

There are a number of synthetic compounds which have been developed by humans which are not
found in the natural environment such as insecticides made from organochlorines, PVC (polyvinyl
chloride), and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls). These compounds, which stay in the environment
for a long period of time, have the capability of causing enormous adverse effects on organisms
and the ecosystems in which they live.

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The Terrestrial Food Chain
It is important to have an understanding of how the different links in the terrestrial food chain,
(known as trophic levels), work in relation to each other.

Primary producers are plants that obtain their energy through the biochemical process of
photosynthesis, where the reaction of absorbing carbon dioxide, water and sunlight results in its
conversion to carbohydrate and sugars, thereby creating a food source that is consumed by
primary consumers such as insects and creatures known as herbivores; these in turn are eaten
by secondary consumers (such as voles, frogs and similar creatures) which are known as
carnivores, who are then also eaten by tertiary consumers (e.g. predators such as snakes) who
are in turn consumed by quaternary consumers (such as birds of prey).

Fig. 2: Example of a food chain

Eagles/Hawks
Quaternary consumer (Carnivores)
Decomposers

Snakes
Tertiary consumer (Carnivores)

Secondary consumer Voles/Frogs

(Carnivores)

Primary consumer Grasshoppers/Insects

(Herbivores)

Primary producer Plants/Grass

Only a small amount of energy contained within the producer is available to an herbivore; because
of this, there are fewer herbivores than plants, and fewer carnivores than herbivores. This energy
transfer means that fewer consumers are subsequently supported at each stage of the trophic
level. When organisms die, the action of decomposers such as bacteria and fungi cause them to
decay and convert dead matter into nutrients, which enrich the soil and promote plant growth. Food
chains are part of a structure known as a ‘food web’ or a ‘food cycle’ and so they do not exist on
their own, but as a series of chains that that links an ecosystem into a unified system of exchange.

Bioaccumulation and biomagnification

Bioaccumulation is the process of increased concentration of a substance, especially a

contaminant, in an organism at a single trophic level in the food chain over time. For example,

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shellfish in a river estuary can become affected by a chemical discharge from an industrial plant;
the river becomes the receiving media for the pollution and the shellfish becomes the receptor.
These concentrations over time can cause serious health related issues. Biomagnification occurs
when the accumulation of a toxin is passed to different trophic levels of the food chain process,
effectively transferring the bioaccumulation from species to species and thereby increasing the
concentration of the contaminant throughout an ecosystem and beyond.

Natural Cycles
Carbon cycle

Carbon produces more organic chemicals than any other atom, which is why the carbon cycle is
intrinsically important to all life on Earth.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) accounts for approximately 0.040%, or 400 parts per million (ppm), of all air
contained within the Earth’s atmosphere. The conversion of inorganic atmospheric carbon into the
biological form is done through the process of photosynthesis, where light combines with carbon
dioxide and water to create carbohydrate molecules known as sucrose. Plants use this process to
bind carbon to the glucose, which then releases oxygen into the atmosphere.

By eating and digesting plants, animals obtain carbon, which over time then transfers through the
various trophic levels of the food chain.

As animals and plants respire, CO2 is released and returns back into the physical environment.
CO2 is also released back into the environment through the decomposition of plants and animals
as decomposers consume the matter.

Fig. 3: Carbon cycle (Universe 2011; source www.stokescience.co.uk)

Human influences affect the carbon cycle largely through the burning of fossil fuels, which increase
the carbon content in the atmosphere. In pre-industrial times, CO2 accounted for 280ppm of the

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atmosphere; this has now increased to 400ppm and continues to escalate at a rate of
approximately 2ppm per year.

Mass deforestation, as applied in areas such as the Amazon and Indonesia, reduces the number
of producers and subsequently reduces the amount of carbon that can be absorbed from the
atmosphere, therefore leading to increased atmospheric carbon content.

Hydrological cycle

As water evaporates from oceans, rivers and lakes, along with land transpiration, clouds form and
become dense. These drift over land where, through precipitation, the moisture contained within
the cloud becomes too heavy to support and is released as rain onto the ground below. Via
infiltration, water seeps through the soils and sedimentary surfaces and returns to the rivers, lakes,
aquifers and oceans. It can also become groundwater runoff that enters water bodies, or can
evaporate for the whole cycle to continue. Throughout this cycle water changes its state several
times, becoming solid, liquid, or vapour.

Fig. 4: Hydrological cycle (Ritter 2006)

The nitrogen cycle

Nitrogen accounts for 78% of the atmosphere, but in this inert form it is largely unusable.
Combined with oxygen and hydrogen however, it is crucial for life on Earth - it is a fundamental
component of all proteins, nucleic acids (including DNA) and chlorophyll that is needed for plants to
photosynthesise.

The nitrogen cycle involves bacteria using oxygen to break down and decompose organic wastes
as food, which is then converted to carbon dioxide, water and energy. A byproduct of this process
is the production of nitrates and ammonia. Ammonia (nitrogen and hydrogen) is also created on an
industrial scale to be used as a fertiliser. Nitrifying bacteria break ammonia down into nitrates,
which are absorbed by plants to create proteins. The plants are then eaten by primary consumers,
who themselves are eaten by secondary consumers and so on. When organisms die, bacteria
convert their organic matter into nitrates and ammonia that filter into the soil and so the cycle
continues.

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An excess amount of organic waste causes bacteria to use all available oxygen in an attempt to
decompose the waste. This will occur, for example, where excessive fertilisers used in farming find
their way into aquifers and watercourses and end up in rivers, lakes and other bodies of water.
This can cause eutrophication where the excess nutrients cause plants and algae to rapidly grow
and subsequently reduce the sunlight to lower levels of the ecosystem. More oxygen is then
consumed by the bacteria, releasing further nitrates and phosphates into the atmosphere and
causing an anaerobic (absence of oxygen) condition.

Fig. 5: Nitrogen cycle (Missouri 1993)

Biodiversity
Biodiversity describes the biological variety within the living world - from genetic diversity, the
variance between species, and how they interact within their ecosystem. The geographical scale at
which biodiversity can be defined ranges from local to regional, national to continental and,
ultimately, to global. Humans have already caused permanent loss of biodiversity in some regions
through the extinction of species and extensive damage to natural ecosystems.

Biodiversity is incredibly important and has many benefits at a human level and beyond, ranging
from maintaining soil and water quality, pollinating crops and providing vital resources for medical,
scientific and commercial purposes. It is also instrumental in mitigating the effects of flooding and
preventing excessive erosion and, on a local level, biodiversity is linked with pleasant living
conditions, health, wellbeing, recreational facilities and tourism.

The built environment and the construction industry have the potential to impact upon biodiversity.
Project decisions including sighting of developments or the materials used within the construction
process can contribute directly and indirectly to:

Habitat loss

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 Habitat fragmentation
Environmental pollution
Ecosystem disturbance
Species loss

This can happen in a number of ways, including noticeable and immediate impacts such as the
clearing of an area to make way for a development, to the more subtle; for example, a
development may impact on the natural drainage pattern of an area, or the development and/or
materials used may influence the local temperature, light shading, wind shading, and evaporation
rates.

However, not all of the construction industry’s impacts are negative. In some developments,
purpose built watercourses, wetlands, grasslands, landscape planting, green roofs, bird boxes and
more not only offset the initial impact of construction, but actually encourage greater biodiversity.

The challenge for construction professionals is to maintain economic success and industry stability
while considering and taking actions to address biodiversity on a local, national and international
scale. Biodiversity is valued in environmental assessment methods with credits available for
actions that consider, mitigate the impact of developments on, or promote biodiversity in
construction projects (for further information, please see Module 8).

Bibliography and Further Reading

Anon (2011) The Carbon Cycle [internet], available from: www.stokescience.co.uk (Accessed 29
November 2012).

Davidson, E.A. (2011) Excess Nitrogen in the U.S. Environment: Trends, Risks and Solutions
Issues in Ecology 2011. USA: Ecological Society of America

Killpack, S.C., Buchholz, D. (1993) WQ252 Nitrogen in the Environment: Nitrogen Cycle USA:
University of Missouri

Metz, B., Davidson, O.R., Bosch, P.R., Dave, R. Meyer, L.A. (2007) IPCC Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change. Mitigation of Climate Change Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Ophardt, C. (2003) Natural Biochemical Cycles [internet], Available from: www.elmhurst.edu

(Accessed 20 November 2012).

Pidwirny, M., Jones, S. (2006). The Nitrogen Cycle Fundamentals of Physical Geography, 2nd
Edition. USA: University of British Columbia

Ritter, M. E. (2009) The Physical Environment: An Introduction to Physical Geography USA:

Prentice Hall Publishing

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Trends in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

[internet], available from: www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/ (accessed 25 March 2013).

Marks & Spencer, Sustainable Construction Biodiversity Guide [internet], available from:
http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/documents/publications/2010/biodiversity-pages-20.pdf
(accessed 9 April 2013).