BALLERAS, XYKAN F.

11/11/22
Bachelor of Secondary Education – major in English

People and Earth’s Ecosystem

Module 1 – Lesson 3

THINK, TALK AND WRITE

Critical Thinking:
 Explain why the cycles play an important role in the environment.
 Cycles play an important role in the environment because they are responsible for carrying away
waste materials and replenishing the ecosystem with the nutrients necessary to sustain life. If
any of the cycles would become unbalanced, the effects on the environment can be catastrophic.
 What would happen if Earth become much warmer?
 Global warming presents the gravest threat to life on Earth in all of human history. If Earth
become much warmer, I think it will eliminate habitat, reduce food resources, cause drought and
other species-harming severe weather events, and even directly killing species that simply can’t
stand the heat. Such a catastrophic loss would irreversibly diminish biodiversity, severely disrupt
ecosystems, and cause immense hardship for human societies worldwide.
 Think of ways on how you could reduce the amount of phosphorus in the environment.
 Use less fertilizer on lawns, cropland, and other areas and use management practices such as
buffer strips that filter runoff
 Follow feedlot operation and manure application rules to prevent runoff, such as mandatory
setbacks from bodies of water and avoiding applications during rainy weather
 Use phosphorus-free lawn fertilizer
 Comply with phosphorus discharge limits at wastewater treatment facilities

MODULE REVIEW
TEST PRACTICE: Modified True or False
1. TRUE
2. FALSE – biotic and abiotic
3. TRUE
4. TRUE
5. TRUE
6. FALSE – biotic factors
7. FALSE – biotic and abiotic parts
8. TRUE
9. TRUE
10. FALSE - Autotrophs
11. FALSE – need food to survive
12. TRUE
13. TRUE
14. TRUE
15. TRUE

BALLERAS, XYKAN F.
11/11/22
Bachelor of Secondary Education – major in English

People and Earth’s Ecosystem

Module 2 – Lesson 1
THINK, TALK AND WRITE
Critical Thinking:
 What two things can always be said about populations?
 Two things that can always be said about populations are births and deaths. The change in the
population from births and deaths is often combined and referred to as natural increase or natural
change.

 Explain how the percentage of each functional age class found in a population determines the
health of most populations.
 A population is a group of individuals of the same species interacting within the same space. The
health and behavior of a population is determined by the way those individuals interact with each
other and with their surrounding environment. We can determine the status of a population by
measuring and calculating elements common to all populations, such as size, density, fecundity,
mortality, sex ratio, and age structure. These demographic statistics provide researchers with
standardized metrics for comparing populations and assessing extinction risk. Just as a doctor
can’t diagnose an illness with only a blood pressure measurement, we can’t manage populations
based on demographic parameters alone. However, demographics provide a baseline for
monitoring population health and offer insight into the mechanisms driving population declines.

EXPOSITORY WRITING
Choose one statement below that you believe is most accurate. Write a paragraph giving a
compelling argument to support your choice.

Statement 1: Predators controls prey populations

Statement 2: Prey populations controls predators

PREDATORS CONTROLS PREY POPULATIONS

Predators and prey relationships are both beneficial and detrimental to some species. The weakest and
unhealthiest become dinner for those predators and also become a positive thing for the species that only the
strongest of the herd will survive and continue to reproduce. Some types of prey have defense mechanisms
which fight off predators. Survival of the fittest is the best explained phrase for this type of ecological
interaction.

I strongly believe that predators’ controls prey populations, as predator populations increase, they put
greater strain on the prey populations and act as a top-down control, pushing them toward a state of decline.
Thus both availability of resources and predation pressure affect the size of prey populations. We cannot easily
determine the extent to which each of these controls drives population cycles in the forest, because this system
is not amenable to caging experiments, but studies show that food and predation work together to regulate
population sizes. To survive and reproduce, individuals must obtain sufficient food resources while
simultaneously avoiding becoming food for a predator. The snowshoe hare study demonstrates the role of both
predator avoidance and food availability on population sizes. The trade-off between food intake and predator
avoidance is not easily addressed in the field, and ecologists have turned to mathematical models to better
understand foraging behavior and predator-prey dynamics, just as economists and atmospheric scientists do.

After all, predators, prey, plants, and parasites all influence changes in population sizes over time.
Simple systems may undergo large, cyclical changes, but communities with more complex food webs are likely
to experience more subtle shifts in response to changes in parasite load, predation pressure, and herbivory.

BALLERAS, XYKAN F.
11/11/22
Bachelor of Secondary Education – major in English

People and Earth’s Ecosystem

Module 2 – Lesson 2

THINK, TALK AND WRITE

Critical Thinking:
 Determine how population affects the resources.
 Population and resources have a strong relationship with one another. The growth and decline of
population affects the availability of natural resources. At the same time, the availability of
natural resources affects the trends seen in population. As populations grow, larger investments
 are needed just to maintain current capital/person. It further threatens the balance between
natural resources and people and creates severe economic and social problems in urban areas.

 Explain how the percentage of each functional age class found in population determines the health
of most population.

 A population is a group of individuals of the same species interacting within the same space. The
health and behavior of a population is determined by the way those individuals interact with each
other and with their surrounding environment. We can determine the status of a population by
measuring and calculating elements common to all populations, such as size, density, fecundity,
mortality, sex ratio, and age structure. These demographic statistics provide researchers with
standardized metrics for comparing populations and assessing extinction risk. Just as a doctor
can’t diagnose an illness with only a blood pressure measurement, we can’t manage populations
based on demographic parameters alone. However, demographics provide a baseline for
monitoring population health and offer insight into the mechanisms driving population declines.

EXPOSITORY WRITING
What is the relation between the environment and human health?

Our health is inextricably linked to the environment we live in, from rural areas to dense cities, the water
we drink to the food we eat, from the places we live to the places we work, and thus damage to our natural
environment also results in damage to human health.
A clean environment is essential for human health and well-being. At the same time, the local
environment can also be a source of stressors – for example air pollution, noise, hazardous chemicals – that
negatively affect health. The health of the EU population is also adversely affected by climate change, through
heatwaves, floods and changes in the distribution of vector-borne diseases. At a broader level, climate change,
loss of biodiversity, and land degradation can also impact on human well-being by threatening the delivery of
ecosystem services, such as access to freshwater and food production.
Human health and well-being are intimately linked to the state of the environment. Good quality natural
environments provide basic needs, in terms of clean air and water, fertile land for food production, and energy
and material inputs for production. Green infrastructure also serves to regulate climate and prevent flooding.
Access to green and blue spaces also provides important opportunities for recreation and supports well-being.
Nevertheless, evaluations of preparedness and response suggest strongly that better connections among
biophysical, ecological, social, behavioral, health and data sciences, would have improved the odds of better
outcomes, including the possible aversion of a global pandemic. These ongoing events are reminders that the
most serious crises of our time will likely result from multiple and interconnected stressors that can only be
tackled successfully in integrated and convergent ways.
 What is the role of technology in environment and human health and how it helps in control of
population?

Technology helps in storing huge amounts of data captured while studying weather and climate, it helps
researchers in analysing the data and to carry out research in the field of environment.
The role of information technology in the environment and human health is significant and multilayered.
At the dawn of the 21st century, information technology is playing the most eminent role in fields like business,
economics, environment, politics, education, healthcare, culture, etc. Implementation of emerging information
technology has developed infrastructure in the fields of the environment and health sector and has transformed
our society in different dimensions. It has tremendous potential in the field of environment education and health
as in any other field like business, economics, politics or culture.
We are heading towards sustainability challenges in the upcoming years due to the excessive use of
technology. But right now we need urgent action to address the limitless use of technology and accept the
societal importance of controlled usage of technology to shift towards a more environmentally sustainable
future.