Environment - all the living and nonliving things around us with which we interact.

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Environmental Science Is the systematic study of our environment and our place in it.

the connections and interactions in nature and concerned with environmental

problems/issues.

THE 7 ENVIRONMENTAL PRINCIPLES

1. Nature knows best.

Nature has its own way to control energy and nutrients.

Any disruption in the cycle of nature can bring imbalance to our ecosystem.

2. All forms of life are important.

DIVERSITY AND STABILITY

Each organism plays a vital role in nature.

3. Everything is connected to everything else.

INTERDEPENDENCE

Each organism has an influence on another organism. food chain, food web

4. Everything changes.

Change

These changes may be linear, random, or cyclical.

1. Linear - refers to growth & development.

2. Cyclic- refers to the repetitive set of events like seasons.

3. Random- refers to unexpected changes like eruption of dormant volcano.

5. Everything must go somewhere.

MATERIAL CYCLES

Everything ends up elsewhere.

But humans invented materials that decomposers cannot feed and break down like, plastic, Styrofoam,
bottle, all this thing when thrown remain garbage and remain harmful to our ecosystem.
 6. Ours is finite earth.

FINITENESS OF RESOURCES

Natural resources have a limit.

2 Types of Earth Resources

Non-renewable resources that form much more slowly than we use them.

fossil fuel

Renewable- resources like the sun is unlimited.

7. Nature is beautiful, and we are stewards of God's creation.

STEWARDSHIP

Humans as Steward of the environment

Environmental Ethics
Ethics is one branch of philosophy; it seeks to define what is right and what is
wrong.
Environmental ethics apply ethical thinking to the natural world and the
relationship between humans and the earth.

Three key propositions

1) The Earth and its creatures have moral status, in other words, are
worthy of our ethical concern.
2) The Earth and its creatures have intrinsic value, meaning that they have
moral value merely because they exist, not only because they meet
human needs.
3) Based on the concept of an ecosystem, human beings should consider
“wholes” that include other forms of life and the environment.

Sometimes an individual’s ethical commitments can conflict with each other.

In many cases, what is good for the environment is also good for people.
 Philosophical Approaches to Environmental Ethics
1. Anthropocentrism (Human-centered Ethics)
Human beings are the central, most important species in the universe.
2. Biocentrism (Life-centered Ethics)
It is a philosophy that imparts importance to all living beings.
ethical belief that focuses on the living elements
3. Eco-centrism
The environment itself has moral worth.

The three most common attitudes/approaches are:

1. Developmental Approach
• This approach is the most anthropocentric.
• It yields to industrialization and modernization.

2. Preservationists Approach
This approach is the most ecocentric.
• It is concerned with the preservation of natural areas.
• Their primary goal is to ensure those undisturbed natural areas are free
from harmful human activities.

3. Conservationists Approach
Conservationists approach
• to benefit present and future generations of human races and other
forms of life.
People who believe that land should be used only to a certain extent, to
what needs to be used
 Environmentalist
Any person concerned with the protection of the environment.

Cornucopian
• Those who assume or believe that all parts of the environment (natural
resources) are to be exploited for the advantage of humans.

Ecology

Ecology is the study of how living things interact

with each other and with their environment.

Ecological Hierarchy
Starting at the bottom, the levels of ecosystem organization are:

o Organism
o Population Lowlevel
to
o Community
high level
o Ecosystem
o Biome
o Biosphere
Biotic factors
Biotic factors encompass all living organisms (plants, animals, and microorganism) present in the ecosystem.

These organisms are autotrophs and heterotrophs.

1. AUTOTROPHS are also called "self-feeders" or the “producers”. They use the energy from the
Sun (Light energy) or Chemical energy to make their food.

Two types of autotrophs.

a) Photoautotrophs are organisms that use the energy from sunlight to make their food in the process
called photosynthesis.

b) Chemoautotrophs are organisms that use chemical energy from compounds to make their food in the
process called chemosynthesis.

2. HETEROTROPHS are called "consumers." These organisms , primarily

animals; and get their energy from other plants and animals, and classify as:

Decomposers are also unable to make their food. They carry out the process
of decay or break down of the dead organism.

1. Scavengers feed on the soft tissues of dead animals.

Examples include vultures, raccoons, etc.

2. Detritivores that feed on detritus (remains of plants, animal feces, and

other organic debris).
Abiotic factors

Abiotic factors are the nonliving (water, soil, light, air, mineral, etc.)features of the environment that
influence an organism or group of organisms.

1. Light Plants use light to prepare their food. Animals and human beings depend on plants for
their food. Thus, the life of all the organisms is made possible because of sunlight. 
2. Temperature
The temperature of a place determines the type of animals or plants that live there.
3. Water
We all need water to live.
About three –fourth parts of the earth’s surface are covered with water.
Plants would dry if they did not get water.
4. Air
o Air is a mixture of different gases.
o Air contains 21% oxygen and 78% nitrogen and 1% other gases.

o Oxygen is released by green plants during photosynthesis.

o Carbon dioxide is used for photosynthesis.

5. Soil
The soil is the basic medium for growth in plants. Some animals and microorganisms also live
in the soil. Soil also provides necessary minerals like sodium, potassium, calcium, phosphorus,
and water.

Community INTERACTION
The species that can eat many different types of foods is called a generalist.
For example, raccoons eat many things, including human garbage.

A specialist is a species that consumes only a specific type of food.

For example, koalas only eat eucalyptus plants.
Community interactions are classified by whether they help, harm, or have no effect on the
species involved.
Interactions that link the species of a community include:
A. Competition
1. INTERSPECIFIC COMPETITION happens between members of two or more
different species over various limiting resources such as food, water,
light, soil, resources, or space.
cheetah and a lion
lion and a hyena
deer and leopard

2. INTRASPECIFIC COMPETITION arises between members of the same

species and may compete over mates, water, sunlight, territory, or food energy
sources.
Mechanisms of competition
1. Interference competition occurs when one species directly affects the ability of
another to consume resources.
2. Exploitative competition occurs when one species makes a resource unavailable for
consumption to another species. It is the most common mechanism of competition in
nature.

B. Predation an interaction in which one organism kills another for food.

Predators have evolved various techniques to catch, subdue, or exploit their prey like:
1. fast running speed
2. sharp teeth and talons
3. camouflage (protective coloration in which an animal resembles its background)
The prey also has developed various defense mechanisms to allow them to escape and reduce
their desirability as prey to their predators.
a. Mechanical defenses
the presence of armor in animals (spines) or thorns in plants to discourage predation and
herbivory by preventing physical contact with the predator.
b) Chemical defenses include odors and toxins released by plants and animals.
c) Camouflage (protective coloration in which an animal resembles its background).
d) Warning colors indicate aposematic coloration.
 Warning coloration (or aposematism) is how animals let other animals know that they
are poisonous or dangerous. It is the exact opposite of camouflage. Warning colors are
usually some combination of red, yellow, black, and white.
e) Mimicry is when organisms resemble other species. One prey species may gain protection by
mimicking the appearance of another prey species.
 Batesian mimicry is where a harmless species imitates a harmful one.
 Mullerian mimicry occurs when various species share the same warning coloration and
resemble each other but have their own defenses.

C. Symbiosis
1. Mutualism is an interaction between two species in which BOTH organisms
BENEFIT.
2. Commensalism ONE organism BENEFITS, but the OTHER is
UNAFFECTED.
3. Parasitism ONE organism, termed the parasite, benefits AT THE EXPENSE OF
THE HOST.
SYMBIOTIC – FORM RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER SPECIES
 MUTUALISM – BOTH SYMBIOTIC ORGANISMS BENEFIT
 COMMENSALISM – ONE BENEFITS AND THE OTHER IS NEITHER HELPED
nor HARMED
 PARASITISM – ONE ORGANISM BENEF.ITS AT THE EXPENSE OF THE OTHER

Niche
Niche Is the role the species plays and how it interacts with the environment.
- how it obtains food, mates, and protection from predators.
 Two organisms with the same niche can't survive in the same habitat (because they
compete for the same resources, one will drive the other to extinction).

o Niche differentiation is referred to as the process by which species that compete for the
same resources begin to use their environments in different ways so that they are now
able to coexist.
o If the organism then does not want to move, nor does it want to die, it must begin to use
other resources in the ecosystem or use them in other ways so that it can continue to
thrive.

Competitive exclusion This is also sometimes known as Gause’s Law

If the species do not undergo niche differentiation, the competitive

exclusion will force one of the species out of the environment.
The competitive exclusion principle occurs when two species that
use the same limiting resource can no longer co-exist in an
environment.
Eventually, one of the organisms must leave the area for them to
both survive. If they both stay, one species will die off.