Peeco 1 4

Today’s Prayer
Our Almighty Father,

Every day is an opportunity for us to live,
thus we have to praise and thank you each
day.
Every hour is a chance for us to love, be
kind, and be better,
and we appreciate your guidance and
blessing each time.
Thank you for your compassion, for
sending Jesus Christ our Savior.
Amen
Human- Environment
Interaction
A Geographic perspective
Geography and the Environment
Consolidated by: Mrs. Lorna Aban

Geography
• Geography comes from the Greek word
meaning “earth writing” or “earth
describing.”
• While the Greeks were the first to
organize geography as a coherent body
of knowledge, the need for geographic
knowledge is as old as humankind
• a broad discipline that essentially seeks
to understand and study the spatial
organization of human activity and of
people’s relationships with their Environmental Performance Index is released annually with
collaboration of World Economic Forum and the Joint Research
environment Centre of the European Commission, and it considers the
environmental policies of all the countries which are taken into
Moseley, et al. (2014) An Introduction to Human–Environment Geography: Local consideration. The 2018 Environmental Performance Index
Dynamics and Global Processes. First Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd ranked 180 countries based on 24 indicators, regarding health
https://www.mapsofworld.com/answers/regions/environment-friendly- of environment and ecosystem vitality.
countries/#
(Top 5: Switzerland, France, Denmark, Malta and Sweden)
Geography
• is also about recognizing the interdependence
among places and regions, without losing sight
of the individuality and uniqueness of specific
places
• is rather unique for a discipline in that it links the
science–social science–humanities divide,
using a broad collection of methods and
perspectives to tackle questions Europe – dominated by forests across Russia – holds
• many geographers do get enthusiastic about the greatest share of global forests. They are home to
one-quarter of the world’s forest area (there are 4B
maps hectares of forest as of 2018, 1B ha = USA area).
• which are a means to an end for most geographers This was followed by South America which has one-
fifth of forest area.
• display data spatially,
• may reveal patterns or correlations, or Moseley, et al. (2014) An Introduction to Human–Environment
Geography: Local Dynamics and Global Processes. First Edition.
• may provide reasons for the distribution of things John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
https://ourworldindata.org/forest-area
Geography
• While the general tenets of a geographic approach
apply to all areas of geography, it has developed to
recognize sub-fields based on the subject matter
addressed.
• Physical Geography or biophysical phenomena-
geographers seek to understand long-term
climate patterns and change (climatology),
patterns of plant and animal distribution
(biogeography), and the origin and evolution of
landforms (geomorphology).
• human geography or social phenomena-
geographers study the patterns and dynamics of
human activity on the landscape, including Moseley, et al. (2014) An Introduction to Human–
settlement, urbanization, economic activity, Environment Geography: Local Dynamics and Global
Processes. First Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
culture, population, development, and disease. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_geography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_geography
Geography and Environment
• The investigation of nature–society relationships lies at the heart of geography
and has been one of the pillars of the discipline since the modern academic
structure crystallized in 19th-century Germany.
• The table below displays the position of human–environment geography within
the discipline of geography.
Moseley, et al. (2014) An Introduction to Human–Environment Geography: Local Dynamics and Global
• Human–environment geographers working in
various subfields often interact with other
academics or professionals working on similar
themes
• e.g., political ecologists with anthropologists
and development practitioners,
• hazards-geographers with geologists and
disaster relief specialists, or
• water resource geographers with hydrologists
and watershed managers
https://www.britannica.com/science/geography/Linking-the-human-and-physical-worlds
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/geography/countries/article/philippines
Geography and Environment
• Geography known for its techniques for presenting and
manipulating spatial data, particularly cartography or
mapping.
• most geographers use systems as a bridge to greater
understanding.
• geographic information systems (GIS) to analyze
the potential relationship between population density and
soil fertility, or
• remote sensing (aerial photography and satellite
imagery) to monitor change in surface biomass over time.
• Some geographers often focus on further developing
such technologies, devising methods for interpreting the
data produced by them, or reflecting on the social
implications of their use.
Moseley, et al. (2014) An Introduction to Human–Environment Geography: Local Dynamics and Global Processes. First Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/geographic-information-system-gis/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_sensing
• Human as actors, as travelers, as explorers, or
as migrants learned about processes of survival
in specific location, connection with groups from
other landscapes, and relationship with the
environment (dependency, adaptation,
modification)
How have you played your part in

understanding and connecting with your own
space?
https://www.britannica.com/science/geography/Linking-the-human-and-physical-worlds
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/geography/countries/article/philippines
A Zero Waste Community
• Sakano Akira, chair of the Zero Waste
Academy in Kamikatsu Town settled in the
mountains of Tokushima Prefecture,
engages in activities to further initiatives for
eliminating waste emissions.
• The Zero Waste Academy was established
primarily by the Kamikatsu Town
government in 2005 to implement activities
such as human resources development,
awareness raising, and research for the
zero waste initiative.
In Pursuit of Zero Waste Society. https://www.gov-online.go.jp/pdf/hlj/20191201/06-07.pdf

https://natrainner.wordpress.com/2018/08/13/kamikatsu-the-zero-waste-town/
https://www.intelligentliving.co/japanese-town-waste-free/
• Kamikatsu Town announced the Zero Waste
Declaration in 2003 to launch an initiative for
pushing ahead with the reduction, reuse, and
recycling of waste to greatly eliminate waste
that has to be incinerated or placed in landfills
by 2020.
• To attain this goal, town inhabitants carry their
domestic waste to a waste collection center
themselves and sort it into forty-five different
types, such as bottles, cans and paper.
• As a result of these efforts, the town boasts a
recycling rate of approximately 80%, nearly
https://www.nippon.com/en/guide-to-
four times higher than the national average japan/gu900038/?pnum=2
https://zerowasteworld.org/wp-content/uploads/Japan-1007-
HIRES-pages.pdf
• Sorted waste has grown from 34 types in 2002 to
45 types in 13 categories in 2015.
• For example, metals are sorted into five
types, plastics into six types, and paper into
nine types.
• Only a very few kinds of waste are
incinerated, including such materials as PVC
or rubber, as well as disposable diapers and
feminine hygiene products.
• Kuru-Kuru Re-use Shop near the waste
collection center, displays tableware, clothes and
other items that people have brought from home,
and anyone can take them home for free.
https://www.nippon.com/en/guide-to-japan/gu900038/?pnum=2
https://zerowasteworld.org/wp-content/uploads/Japan-1007-HIRES-pages.pdf
To what extent can you
adapt this zero-waste
program in your local
community?
https://zerowasteworld.org/wp-content/uploads/Japan-1007-
HIRES-pages.pdf
Human- Environment
Interaction
A Geographic perspective

Animals and their Habitat
• Beavers (Castor canadensis in North America,
Castor fiber in Eurasia) are known for their ability
to transform the landscape for their own
advantage and that of other species.
• By damming streams, beavers raise the water
level to form protective channels around their
small houses.
• The resulting beaver ponds also create the deep
water needed for winter food storage in northern
climates.
• While other animals struggle with winter cold and
hunger, beavers stay warm in their lodges with
an underwater food reserve of branches in
proximity.
https://www.britannica.com/animal/beaver
• Beavers also harvest trees and branches for
food and construction purposes.
• This trimming stimulates willows, cottonwood,
and aspen to regrow more thickly the next
spring.
• While some beaver behavior is instinctive,
they also learn by imitation and from
experience.
• some beavers who are very skillful at
building dams and others who are not.
• Older, more experienced beavers also tend
to build better dams than younger ones.
https://www.popsci.com/environment/willow-trees-wastewater/
• The beavers’ habitat modifications also impact
other species.
• The wetlands they create support other
mammals, fish, turtles, frogs, birds, and ducks.
• These wetlands also provide a variety of
ecological services, such as
• the catchment of floodwaters,
• the alleviation of droughts (because beaver
dams keep water on the land longer),
• the reduction of erosion,
• the local raising of the water table, and
• the purification of water.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/got-environmental-problem-beavers-could-be-solution
• According to Ben Goldfarb, author of Eager: The
Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why
They Matter. “Beavers’ influence on landscapes
is profound,”
• By converting free-flowing streams into ponds
and wetlands,
• niches are created for just about every species
imaginable—breeding habitat for frogs and
salamanders,
• slow-water refuges for baby trout and salmon,
• dead trees for woodpeckers and raptors and
• ponds for other water-loving mammals like moose,
otters and muskrats.
• They truly are a keystone species.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otter
https://www.thepondguy.com/product/learning-center-article-pl-muskrats/learning-center-pl-predator-control
https://www.nwf.org/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2020/August-September/Conservation/Beavers
Humans and their habitats
• Humans also modify the landscape, manipulate the
land, through burning, cutting, tilling, planting,
harvesting, dam building, and home construction, etc
• Through a process of experimentation, success and
failure, observation, and the sharing and stealing of
ideas, humans have learned how to manipulate the
environment for their own purposes.
• e.g., through careful observation of local
environmental feedback, humans often developed
farming systems that were highly productive, and
sustained over centuries
Moseley, et al. (2014) An Introduction to Human–Environment Geography: Local Dynamics and Global Processes.
First Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/hydroelectric-energy-power-running-water/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancestral_houses_of_the_Philippines#/media/File:Oldest_House_in_Ivatan.jpg
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/interactive/human-modification-environment/
• A case in point is shifting cultivators in Papua
New Guinea who created farming systems that
were over five times more efficient (in terms of a
ratio of crop yield over energy inputs) than
modern maize-cropping systems in the United
States and supported much higher levels of
agrobiodiversity (Pimentel and Pimentel 1979).
• Women in rural Mali (West Africa) routinely
collect dead wood and coppice (trim) branches
from existing trees for firewood, lessening the
chances of unmanageable bush fires and
encouraging regrowth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_hedge
https://www.britannica.com/place/Papua-New-Guinea/Languages#ref53952
• Up until recently, many American farmers planted
shelter belts (or tree hedges) around their fields in
order to reduce aeolian (wind) erosion and
encourage the proliferation of white-tailed deer
which they hunted for game meat.
• Shelterbelts are linear plantings of multiple rows
of trees or shrubs established for environmental
purposes such as protecting farmsteads and
livestock areas, saving energy, and to enhance
wildlife habitat.
• Wildlife habitat is enhanced by providing travel
corridors, nesting sites, food, and escape cover
for many wildlife species.
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/nd/newsroom/stories/?cid=nrcseprd1494620
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/technical/nra/?cid=nrcs144p2_027201
https://www.fsa.usda.gov/Internet/FSA_File/ccrpcp16a.pdf
• Some people took up unsustainable

practices which eventually led to
environmental deterioration and their
ruin.
• Sometimes, but not always, these
were highly stratified societies in
which those making the decisions
and those working the land were
separated by many layers.
Moseley, et al. (2014) An Introduction to Human–Environment Geography: Local Dynamics and

Global Processes. First Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/mining/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_in_Asia
• In other cases, new migrants failed to
understand the ecology of an area and
attempted management approaches that
were inappropriate for their new location.
• Still others developed intensive production
systems which required significant amounts
of human labor to maintain.
• When political instability or disease
disrupted these labor flows, such systems
quickly fell into decline and the
productivity of the environment declined.
https://climate.org/climate-migration-a-growing-global-crisis/
https://foodprint.org/issues/labor-workers-in-the-food-system/
• As humans flourished, traveled greater
distances, they began to trade.
• While trade was at the start in luxury items,
food and raw materials eventually came to
be traded in great quantities.
• By the 20th century, even garbage was
being shipped around the world.
• The implication of this trade and the
urbanization:
• gradual separation of people from the
sources of their food and goods and the
byproducts of their consumption.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-canada-waste-idUSKCN1T10BQ
https://www.eco-business.com/opinion/urbanisation-can-be-good-for-the-environment/
• The implication of this trade and the
urbanization:
• lose of ability to productively and sustainably
engage with ecosystems.
• many consumers in the most developed areas
of the world have little to no idea where their Guangzhou or Canton, a city of 14.5
provisions came from and how they are million people
produced.
• global-scale environmental challenges
• Other challenges, like deforestation, ground
water depletion, and the loss of biodiversity,
are also of great concern.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/china-ban-plastic-trash-imports-shifts-waste-
crisis-southeast-asia-malaysia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization
• Not all ecological challenges are a direct
result of humans modifying the environment
in a difficult state.
• In some cases, the concern remain on how
humans position themselves vis-à-vis the
biophysical world.
• Hurricanes become more of a problem for
humans closely living along coastlines
• floods are a problem when towns and cities
are developed in floodplains.
• Some biomes have naturally scarce or
unpredictable rainfall which require one to
adapt to these patterns
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1361922/floods-show-cagayan-environmental-risks
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stilt_house
• understand our place within, and relationship to, the biophysical world.
• explore that world and how we got to this particular point in human history.
• understand these issues from the perspective of human–environment geography.
System Approaches,
Models and the
Ecosystem
SYSTEMS APPROACH
• A systems approach can help in the study of complex

environmental issues, and the use of models of systems simplifies
interactions but may provide a more holistic view than reducing
issues to single processes.
• A systems approach is a way of visualizing a complex set of
interactions (may be ecological or societal) which produce the
emergent properties of the system.
• In the systems approach, the environment is seen as a set of
complex systems, sets of components that function together and
form integrated units. study plants, animals, soils, rocks or the
atmosphere not separately but together as the component parts of
complex environments
SYSTEMS
• The concept of a system can be applied to a range of scales.

• Can be living or non-living
• Can be on any scale (small/large; cell, body, bicycle, pond,
ocean, farm, smart phone, among others)
• A system is comprised of storages and flows.

• The flows provide inputs and outputs of energy and matter.
• The flows are processes and may be either transfers (a change
in location) or transformations (a change in the chemical nature,
a change in state or a change in energy).
SYSTEMS
• Material and energy
undergo transfers and
transformations in
flowing from one
storage to the next.
• The size of the box
and the arrow may
represent the
size/magnitude of the
storage or flow.
SYSTEMS
• Open, closed, and isolated
systems exist in theory though
most living systems are open
systems.
• An open system exchanges
both energy and matter across
its boundary while a closed
system only exchanges energy
across its boundary.
• Ecosystems are open
systems (like biomes and
biosphere)
Transfers and transformations in systems
• Both matter (or material) and energy move or flow through
ecosystems as:
• transfers: water moving from a river to the sea, chemical energy
in the form of sugars moving from a herbivore to a carnivore or:
• the movement of material through living organisms (carnivores eating
other animals)
• the movement of material in a non-living process (water being carried
by a stream)
• the movement of energy (ocean currents transferring heat).
Transfers and transformations in open
systems
• Both matter (or material) and energy move or flow through
ecosystems as:
• transformations: liquid to gas, light to chemical energy:
• matter to matter (soluble glucose converted to insoluble starch in
plants)
• energy to energy (light converted to heat by radiating surfaces)
• matter to energy (burning fossil fuels)
• energy to matter (photosynthesis).
Flows and
storages in open
system
• Both energy and matter
flow (as inputs and
outputs) through
ecosystems but, at times,
they are also stored (as
storages or stock) within
the ecosystem.
• Most systems are open
systems. All ecosystems
are open systems
exchanging matter and
energy with their
environment.
https://www.britannica.com/science/energy-flow
Flows and storages in open system
• In forest ecosystems:
• Plants fix energy from light entering the
system during photosynthesis.
• Nitrogen from the air is fixed by soil
bacteria.
• Herbivores that live within the forest may
graze in adjacent ecosystems such as a
grassland, but when they return, they
enrich the soil with feces.
• Forest fires expose the topsoil which may
be removed by wind and rain.
• Mineral nutrients are leached out of the soil
and transported in groundwater to streams
and rivers.
• Water is lost through evaporation and
transpiration from plants.
• Heat is exchanged with the surrounding
environment across the boundaries of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_flow_(ecology)
forest.
SYSTEMS
• An isolated system is a
hypothetical concept in which
neither energy nor matter is
exchanged across the boundary.
• exchanges neither matter nor
energy with its environment.
• do not exist naturally though it
is possible to think of the
entire universe as an isolated
system
SYSTEMS
• Closed systems only exist experimentally
although the global geochemical cycles
approximate to closed systems.
• exchange energy but not matter with its
environment
• are extremely rare in nature. However,
on a global scale, the hydrological,
carbon, and nitrogen cycles are closed –
they exchange only energy and no
matter.
• The planet itself can be thought of as an
“almost” closed system.
MODELS
• A model is a simplified
version of reality; can be
used to understand how a
system works and predict
how it will respond to
change, and inevitably
involves some
approximation and loss of
accuracy.
• Open system models
can even be applied to
the remotest oceanic
island – energy and
matter are exchanged
with the atmosphere,
surrounding oceans and
even migratory birds https://slideplayer.com/slide/10073703/
Models of
Systems
A model can take many
forms
• a physical model, for
example a wind tunnel
or river, a globe or
model of the solar
system, an aquarium or
terrarium
• a software model, for
example of climate
change or evolution
(Lovelock’s Daisyworld)
• mathematical equations
• data flow diagrams
https://personal.ems.psu.edu/~dmb53/DaveSTELLA/Daisyworld/daisyworld_model.htm
The strengths of models The weaknesses of models
• Easier to work with than complex• Accuracy is lost because the
reality. model is simplified.
• Can be used to predict the effect
• If our assumptions are wrong,
of a change of input. the model will be wrong.
• Can be applied to other similar • Predictions may be inaccurate.
situations.
• Help us see patterns.
• Can be used to visualize really
small things (atoms) and really
large things (solar system).
ENERGY AND
EQUILIBRIA
• The laws of thermodynamics
govern the flow of energy in a
system and the ability to do
work.
• Systems can exist in
alternative stable states or as
equilibria between which
there are tipping points.
Destabilizing positive
feedback mechanisms will
drive systems toward these
tipping points, whereas
stabilizing negative feedback
mechanisms will resist such
changes. https://qsstudy.com/geology/ecological-balance
Law of
Thermodynamics
• The first law of
thermodynamics is the
principle of conservation
of energy, which states
that energy in an isolated
system can be
transformed but cannot be
created or destroyed.
• The principle of
conservation of energy
can be modelled by the
energy transformations
along food chains and
energy production
systems.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/physics/chapter/15-1-the-first-law-of-thermodynamics/
Law of Thermodynamics
Implications of the second law for environmental systems
We experience the second law in our everyday lives. All

living creatures die and in doing so:
• entropy or disorder tends to increase
• the creatures move from order to disorder
• but organisms manage to “survive” against the odds, that
is against the second law of thermodynamics
• living creatures manage to maintain their order and defy
entropy to stay alive by continuous input of energy by
continuously getting chemical energy from organic
compounds via respiration
Stability
• As an open system, an ecosystem,
will normally exist in a stable
equilibrium, either a steady-state or
one developing over time, and
maintained by stabilizing negative
feedback loops.
• Negative feedback loops (stabilizing)
occur when the output of a process
inhibits or reverses the operation of
the same process in such a way to
reduce change – it counteracts
deviation.
• positive feedback loops (destabilizing)
will tend to amplify changes and drive
the system toward a tipping point https://rdmc.nottingham.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/internal/188/Geography%20sust
ainability.old/62_why_is_sustainability_of_the_worlds_forests_important.html
where a new equilibrium is adopted.
Resilience of a
System
• The resilience of a system, ecological
or social, refers to its tendency to avoid
such tipping points and maintain
stability.
• Diversity and the size of storages within
systems can contribute to their
resilience and affect the speed of
response to change (time lags).
• Humans can affect the resilience of
systems through reducing these
storages and diversity.
• The delays involved in feedback loops
make it difficult to predict tipping points
https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_im and add to the complexity modeling
ages.jsp?cntn_id=109733&org=NSF
systems
Factors affecting ecosystem resilience
• The more diverse and complex an ecosystem, the more resilient it tends to be as
there are more interactions between different species.
• The greater the species biodiversity of the ecosystem, the greater the likelihood
that there is a species that can replace another if it dies out and so maintain the
equilibrium.
• Species that can shift their geographical ranges are more resilient.
• The larger the ecosystem, the more resilience as animals can find each other
more easily and there is less edge-effect.
• The climate affects resilience – in the Arctic, regeneration of plants is very slow
as the low temperatures slow down photosynthesis and so growth. In the tropical
rain forests, growth rates are fast as light, temperature and water are not limiting.
• The faster the rate at which a species can reproduce means recovery is faster.
• Humans can remove or mitigate the threat to the system (e.g., remove a
pollutant, reduce an invasive species) and this will result in faster recovery.
Ecosystem, Categories
and Characteristics
Objectives
Define Identify Explain
Define the Identify the Explain how does

ecosystem and its components of the earth’s life-
major categories ecosystems support system
work.
Miller, G.T. and Spoolman, S. (2016) Environmental Science, Fifteenth Edition Cengage Learning, Boston
Ecology and Ecosystem
Ecology is the science that focuses on how organisms interact

with one another and with their nonliving environment of matter
and energy.
Ecosystems are made up of the organisms and physical

environment and the interactions between the living and non-
living components within them
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/biology2xmaster/chapter/ecosystem-ecology/
Ecology and Ecosystem and its categories
There are three broad categories of ecosystems based on their

general environment: freshwater, ocean water, and terrestrial.
Within these broad categories are individual ecosystem types based

on the organisms present and the type of environmental habitat.
Ocean ecosystems
• are the most common,
comprising 75 percent of
the Earth’s surface
• consisting of three basic
types: shallow ocean,
deep ocean water, and
deep ocean surfaces (the
low depth areas of the
deep oceans).
Although not as diverse as the first two, deep ocean
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/biology2xmaster/chapter/ec ecosystems contain a wide variety of marine
osystem-ecology/
https://oceanworlds.wordpress.com/2015/06/25/ocean-zones-
and-animals-who-live-there/
organisms.
Ocean ecosystems
• The shallow ocean
ecosystems include
extremely biodiverse
coral reef ecosystems,
and
• the deep ocean surface
is known for its large
numbers of plankton and
krill (small crustaceans)
that support it. are especially important to aerobic respirators worldwide
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/biology2xmaster/chapter/ec
osystem-ecology/
as the phytoplankton perform 40 percent of all
https://oceanworlds.wordpress.com/2015/06/25/ocean-zones-
and-animals-who-live-there/
photosynthesis on Earth
Freshwater ecosystems
• Freshwater ecosystems are
the rarest, occurring on only
1.8 percent of the Earth’s
surface.
• Lakes, rivers, streams, and
springs comprise these
systems
• they are quite diverse, and
• they support a variety of fish,
amphibians, reptiles, insects,
phytoplankton, fungi, and
bacteria.
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/freshwater-ecosystem/
Terrestrial ecosystems
• known for their diversity, are
grouped into large categories
called biomes, such as tropical
rain forests, savannas,
deserts, coniferous forests,
deciduous forests, and tundra.
• Grouping these ecosystems
into just a few biome
categories obscures the great
diversity of the individual
ecosystems within them https://courses.lumenlearning.com/biology2xmaster/chapter/ecosystem-ecology/
https://icp.giss.nasa.gov/education/modules/carbon/projects/investigate2.html
Types of Biomes Characteristics
Rainforest (tropical) contains the world’s greatest biodiversity. Located near the equator, this biome
experiences equal day length, warm temperatures and up to 200 inches of rain annually.
These conditions lead to prolific plant growth in levels from the forest floor to the canopy.
Temperate populate eastern North America, central Europe and northeastern Asia; Distinct seasons,
Deciduous Forest consistent precipitation and varied temperatures yield a diverse biome; Deciduous
broadleaf trees, evergreens and other plants flourish. This biome hosts many animal
species including deer, rabbits, bears, birds, insects and amphibians.
Boreal or Taiga extends south of the Arctic Circle; endures long, dry winters, cool, wet summers and a 130-
Forest day growing season. Annual precipitation ranges from about 16 to 40 inches, typically as
snow; hosts coniferous trees and low plants. Animal species include bears, moose, lynx,
deer, hares and woodpeckers, among others.
Chaparral Scrubland and few trees; receives between 25 and 30 inches of rain annually, chiefly in
winter. Dry summers mean dormancy for many plants; can be found throughout southern
California and Baja, Mexico.
https://sciencing.com/biome-definition-types-characteristics-examples-13719223.html
Types of Biomes Characteristics
Grassland Temperate grassland includes steppes, veldts and prairies. Moderate precipitation, rich
soils, hot summers and cold winters distinguish this biome. The few trees grow along
rivers. Some animals include deer, gazelles, birds, insects and larger predators such as
wolves and lions.
Savanna takes up nearly half of Africa as well as parts of India, South America and Australia; receive
concentrated rainfall for several months and then drought. Few trees dot the grassy
savanna; The animals living here have long legs for escaping predators and usually are
seen in herds
Desert receive less than 12 inches of precipitation annually and experience very high
temperatures. Desert subtypes include hot and dry, semiarid, coastal and cold. desert
species include yuccas, cacti, reptiles, small mammals and burrowing owls.
Tundra The coldest biome, the treeless Arctic tundra, receives only about 60 growing days and low
precipitation. Plants consist mostly of shrubs, lichens, mosses, sedges and liverworts.
Tundra animals include lemmings, caribou, migratory birds, mosquitos, flies and fish.
https://sciencing.com/biome-definition-types-characteristics-examples-13719223.html
• Ecosystems are complex with many interacting parts.
• changes in the environment that effect their compositions
Ecosystem • They are routinely exposed to various disturbances which are due to
natural processes: when lightning causes a forest fire and destroys
and Changes part of a forest ecosystem, the ground is eventually populated by
grasses, then by bushes and shrubs, and later by mature trees,
restoring the forest to its former state.
https://www.learner.org/series/the-habitable-planet-a-systems-approach-to-environmental-science/ecosystems/ecosystems-video/
Ecosystem and Changes
• The impact of environmental
disturbances caused by human
activities is as important as the
changes formed by natural
processes.
• Human agricultural practices,
air pollution, acid rain, global
deforestation, overfishing,
eutrophication, oil spills, and
illegal dumping on land and
into the ocean are all issues
of concern to
conservationists.
https://earthhow.com/eutrophication-causes-process-examples/
• Scientists classify matter into levels of organization ranging
from atoms to galaxies.
• Ecologists study interactions within and among five of these
levels of organization
• Organisms
• Populations
• Communities
• Ecosystems
• Biosphere
Biosphere
• Biosphere and its ecosystems
are made up of living (biotic) and
non-living (abiotic) components
• Examples of nonliving
components: water, air,
nutrients, rocks, heat, and solar
energy
• Living components include
plants, animals, microbes, and
Miller, G.T. and Spoolman, S. (2016) Environmental Science, Fifteenth Edition
all other organisms Cengage Learning, Boston
https://socratic.org/questions/is-sunlight-a-biotic-factor-or-an-abiotic-factor
Organisms
• Ecologists assign each organism in an ecosystem to a feeding
level, or trophic level, depending on its source of nutrients.
• Broad classification of living organisms: producers and
consumers
• Producers- or autotrophs (self-feeders) make the nutrients they
need from compounds and energy obtained from their
environment
• In a process photosynthesis, plants capture solar energy that
falls on their leaves and use it in combination with CO2 and
H2O to form organic molecules, including energy-rich
carbohydrates which stores the chemical energy that plants
need.
Organisms
• About 2.8 billion years ago, producer
organisms called cyanobacteria, most
of them floating on the surface of the
ocean, began to carry out the process
of photosynthesis. (at that time, the
atmosphere contained essentially no
oxygen)
• It took several hundred million years
before the percentage of oxygen in the
air, generated by photosynthesis,
reached its current level of about 21%- Cyanobacteria, also referred to as blue-
high enough to keep animals and green algae, naturally occur in all
humans live. freshwater ecosystems.
Miller, G.T. and Spoolman, S. (2016) Environmental Science, Fifteenth Edition Cengage
Learning, Boston
https://www.epa.gov/national-aquatic-resource-surveys/indicators-cyanobacteria
Producers
• Most producers on land
are trees and other green
plants
• In freshwater and ocean
ecosystems, algae and
aquatic plants growing
near shorelines are major
producers
• In open water, the
dominant producers are
phytoplankton- mostly
microscopic organisms
that float or drift in the
water.
https://www.owen.kyschools.us/userfiles/174/Classes/6838/UNIT%202Chapter%203-0.pdf
Consumers
• Heterotrophs
• Obtain energy and nutrients by feeding
on other organisms or their remains
• Herbivores (plant-eaters) or primary

consumers
• Are animals that feed directly on
producers
• Deer, goats, rabbits, caterpillars,
zooplankton Cengage Learning, Boston
https://funscience.in/herbivores-carnivores-and-omnivores/
Carnivores
• Carnivores (meat eater) or
secondary consumers
• Feed on the flesh of herbivores
• Spiders, lions, small fishes
• Other carnivores are tertiary
(higher-level) consumers that feed
on the flesh of herbivores and
other carnivores
• Tigers, hawk, killer whales
Cengage Learning, Boston
Omnivores
• Feed on plants and
animals
• Pigs, rats, dogs, humans

Cengage Learning, Boston
Decomposers
• Consumers that release
nutrients from the wastes
or remains of plants and
animals, and return those
nutrients to the soil,
water, and air for reuse
by producers
• Bacteria and fungi Miller, G.T. and Spoolman, S. (2016) Environmental Science, Fifteenth Edition Cengage
Learning, Boston
https://microbenotes.com/bacteria-vs-fungi/
Detritivores
• Detritus feeders
• Feed on the wastes or
dead bodies of other
organisms
• Earthworm, hyenas,
vultures
Miller, G.T. and Spoolman, S. (2016) Environmental Science, Fifteenth Edition Cengage
Learning, Boston
https://ibiologia.com/detritivore/
Many of the world’s most
important organisms are
invisible to us.
Microorganism or
microbes (bacteria,
protozoa, fungi,
phytoplankton)
What are two advantages

that microbes have over
humans for thriving in the
world?

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