LESSON 14: LAND RESOURCES

and LESSON 15:AGRICULTURE

AND FOOD RESOURCES
CHAPTER 14
LAND RESOURCES
Accounts of the Philippines land-use from the 16th century to the present day is
based on existing statistics, inventories, and other research on land use. Although it is
difficult to find reliable empirical data on historical land-use changes, the major land-use
trends are understandable. Population growth and economic opportunities triggered the
conversion of forest land to other uses. Notable conversion of forest to agriculture
started in the 18th century when the Philippines was integrated into the world economy.
During this century, forest cover has continued to decline rapidly while the areas of
intensive agriculture and extensive land uses have continued to increase.
An unchecked use of land makes the Philippines susceptible to natural disasters. It
is a tropical country that has been historically prone to harsh weather conditions and
calamities. The 2016 World Risk Index report even ranked it 3rd among 171 countries
most vulnerable to natural hazards. It has since improved its ranking for 2018 by coming
in 69th over 173 countries. Both the Executive and Legislative Departments of the
Philippines have been pushing for the passage of the proposed National Land Use Act
for many years. Passing it would mean keeping the country’s lands
from further misuse and degradation.
June is Philippine Environment Month, at this current climate, it is essential that
environmental action be taken seriously by everyone, but particularly by large industries
that implement projects that have a considerable ecological impact. The National Land
Use Act (NLUA) was a proposed bill in 2018 that aims to promote and enforce
sustainable practices to protect the country’s natural environment. Passing this would
provide further safeguards to biodiversity and clearer guidelines for infrastructure
development.
I. Introduction
Land uses can be classified in several ways. Land uses are divided into the following
classes:
1. agricultural land
a. arable land
- land cultivated for crops like wheat, maize, and rice that are replanted after each
harvest
b. permanent crops land
- land cultivated for crops like citrus, coffee, and rubber that are not replanted after each
harvest, and includes land under flowering shrubs, fruit trees, nut trees, and vines
c. permanent pastures and meadows land
- land used for at least five years or more to grow herbaceous forage, either cultivated
or growing naturally
2. forest
- land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than five meters and a canopy
cover of more than 10% to include windbreaks, shelterbelts, and corridors of trees
greater than 0.5 hectares and at least 20 m wide
3. other
- includes built-up areas, roads and other transportation features, barren land,
or wasteland
II. Objectives
1. Describe the different land use in the Philippines
2. Define sustainable forestry and explain how monocultures and habitat corridors
are related to it.
3. Define deforestation, including clearcutting, and list the main causes of tropical
deforestation
IV. Lesson Proper
The Philippines is an archipelago that comprises 7,641 islands with a total land area of
300,000 square
kilometers (115,831 sq mi). It is the world's 5th largest island country. The eleven
largest islands contain
95% of the total land area. The following is the estimated land-use as of 2019:
a. agricultural land: 41%
- arable land: 18.2%
- permanent crops: 17.8%
- permanent pasture: 5%
b. forest: 25.9%
c. other: 33.1%
Deforestation
The most serious problem facing the world’s forests is deforestation. Britannica
Encyclopedia defines deforestation as the clearing or thinning of forests by humans.
Deforestation represents one of the largest issues in global land use. Estimates of
deforestation traditionally are based on the area of forest cleared for human use,
including the removal of the trees for wood products and for croplands and grazing
lands. In the practice of clearcutting, all the trees are removed from the land, which
completely destroys the forest. In some cases, however, even partial logging and
accidental fires thin out the trees enough to change the forest structure dramatically
according to the latest FAO estimates, world forests shrank by more than 13 million
hectares (32 million acres) annually between 2000 and 2010. This is about ½ the size of
Luzon. Deforestation is caused by the following natural and man-made reasons:
- declining biological diversity
- reduced soil fertility
- insects and diseases
- fires triggered by drought
- land-clearing practices
- expansion of agriculture
- construction of roads and other infrastructure
- mining
- overharvesting of trees
Trees are cut for economic reasons. However, this may also be due to the needs of
urbanization such as
construction of roads and buildings.
The table below is a portion of a Tree Cover Data for subnational administrative areas in
Philippines lifted
from mongabay.com:
• Note: these data are for educational purposes any and is NOT meant to degrade the
location or
any political affiliations.
Administrative Area Total Land Area (ha) Average Tree loss per
year (ha)
2011-2018
% loss
Benguet 265,290 2,672 1%
LUZON
La Union 147,681 869 1% (lowest)
Apayao 392,655 35,684 10% (highest)
VISAYAS
Siquijor 32,490 216 2% (lowest)
Palawan 1,465,070 140,541 12% (highest)
MINDANAO
Camiguin 24,702 208 1% (lowest)
Agusan del Sur 861,285 103,675 13% (highest)
88
PECOSY
The table shows a comparison of lowest and highest percentage of trees lost in a span
of 7 years
in the three island groups of Philippines including Benguet since it is the province to
which Baguio City is
Located. The percentage is based on the number of trees lost as compared to the land
area.
Areas that showed the lowest percentage of trees lost may be due to their existing land
use during
the period the data were gathered, such as in La Union where most of its land area is
agricultural. On the
other hand, it may also be due to its political and economic structure. Areas that showed
the highest trees
lost may be due to urbanization as well as its political and economic structure as well.
Results of Deforestation
1. Decreased soil fertility
- as the essential mineral nutrients found in most forest soils leach away rapidly without
trees
to absorb them
2. Uncontrolled soil erosion
- particularly on steep deforested slopes
3. Affects the production of hydroelectric power
- silt builds up behind dams
4. Increased sedimentation of waterways caused by soil erosion
- harms downstream fisheries
5. Contributes to the formation of desert
- regulation of water flow is disrupted when a forest is removed
- affected region experiences alternating periods of flood and drought
6. Contributes to the extinction of many species
- importance of tropical forests as repositories of biological diversity
- many tropical species, in particular, have limited ranges within a forest, so they are
especially
vulnerable to habitat modification and destruction
- migratory species, including birds and butterflies
7. Contributes to regional and global climate changes
- trees release substantial amounts of moisture into the air; in the hydrologic cycle,
about 97 % of
the water that roots absorb from the soil is evaporated directly into the atmosphere and
then
falls back to Earth
8. Local rainfall may decline
- droughts may become more common in that region
- temperatures may rise slightly
- large parts of what had once been tropical rain forest could become savanna
9. Contributes to an increase in global temperature
- by releasing carbon originally stored in the trees into the atmosphere as carbon
dioxide, which
enables the air to retain heat
- When an old-growth forest is harvested, researchers estimate that it takes about200
years for
the replacement forest to accumulate the equivalent amount of carbon stored in the
original
trees
Activity 2 (20 points). See scoring rubric at the end of this chapter.
1. Collect cut-outs or download clippings of pictures with a brief article of at least one
each on
the results of deforestation.
2. Make a collage of the cut-outs on short bond paper. (5-8 pages)

Forest Management
The previous strategy to solve deforestation is employing management for timber
production. However, this disrupts a forest’s natural cycle and alters its species
composition and other characteristics. Here, specific varieties of trees bought for wood
are planted, and those trees not as commercially desirable as others are thinned out or
removed. This forest management style often results in low-diversity forests. In the
southeastern United States, many tree plantations of young pine grown for timber and
paper production are all the same age and are planted in rows a fixed distance apart. In
the U.S. Northwest and southwestern Canada, tree farms of hybrid poplars are
becoming increasingly common, primarily because of the tree’s viability as a paper
source. These “forests” are called as monocultures. This means that are areas
uniformly covered by one crop, like a field of rice. Herbicides are sprayed to kill shrubs
and herbaceous plants between the rows like in ordinary gardens.
Disadvantages of monocultures include:
1. increased risk of damage from insect pests and disease-causing microorganisms
- this results to the application of insecticides and fungicides
2. contains few kinds of food
- they can’t support the variety of organisms typically found in natural forests
Sustainable forestry
A better way of solving deforestation is sustainable forestry. This is defined as the use
and management of forest ecosystems in an environmentally balanced and enduring
way. This will maintain a mix of forest trees, by age and species, rather than a
monoculture, in which only one type of plant is cultivated over a large area.
Advantage of sustainable forestry is biodiversity which include:
- provision of improved habitats for a variety of species
- prevention of soil erosion and improvement of soil conditions
- preservation of watersheds that produce clean water
When logging adheres to sustainable forestry principles, unlogged areas and habitat
corridors are set aside as sanctuaries for organisms.
Purposes of habitat corridors
- to provide animals with escape routes, should they be needed
- to allow them to migrate so they can interbreed as small, isolated, inbred populations
may have an increased risk of extinction
- to allow large animals such as the Florida panther to maintain large territories
CHAPTER 15
AGRICULTURE AND FOOD RESOURCES
Food security comes when people have access to adequate amounts and kinds of food
needed for healthy, active lives at all times. World grain stocks provide a measure of
food security; these are the amounts of rice, wheat, corn, and other grains remaining
from previous harvests as a cushion against poor harvests and rising costs.
Unfortunately, grain stocks have been decreasing since their all-time highs in the mid-
1980s and late 1990s. According to the United Nations, world grain stocks should not
fall below a minimum of 70 days’ supply in a given year.
I. INTRODUCTION
World grain stocks have dropped in the past few years for several reasons. Much
severe weathers events have occurred—record heat waves, severe droughts, and
numerous wildfires—suggesting that the climate is warming, and environmental
conditions such as rising temperatures and falling water tables have caused poor
harvests.
World grain stocks have also fallen because the consumption of beef, pork, poultry,
and eggs has increased in developing countries such as China, where the growing
economy has led some people to diversify their diets. This trend represents a global
pattern: In highly developed countries, animal products account for 40% of the calories
people consume, compared to only 5% of the calories people in developing countries
consume. Increased consumption of meat and meat products has prompted a surge in
the amount of grain used to feed the world’s billions of livestock animals: More than
one-third of the world’s grain is now used to feed livestock. Thus, the global trend of
eating more meat and other animal products is linked to the increased use of grains and
other feed crops for livestock.
The Philippines is primarily an agricultural country despite the plan to make it
industrialized with the government program “build-build-build”. Most citizens however,
still live in rural areas and support themselves through agriculture. The country's
agriculture sector is made up of 4 sub-sectors: farming, fisheries, livestock, and forestry
(the latter 2 sectors are very small), which together employ 39.8% of the labor force and
contribute 20% of GDP.

The country's main agricultural crops are rice, corn, coconut, sugarcane, bananas,
pineapple, coffee, mangoes, tobacco, and abaca. Secondary crops include peanut,
cassava, camote, garlic, onion, cabbage, eggplant, calamansi, rubber, and cotton.
II. OBJECTIVES
1. Differentiate between undernutrition and overnutrition.
2. Define food insecurity and relate it to human population, poverty, and world hunger.
3. To compute calorie intake.
4. Contrast industrialized agriculture with subsistence agriculture.
5. Describe four kinds of subsistence agriculture.
6. Describe the environmental impacts of industrialized agriculture, including land
degradation.
The food problem has been high on the international agenda for the past years. This is
due insufficient production or maldistribution of adequate supplies. The response of
each country to the problem differs according to their food balance and economic
circumstance, and the international reaction has to be tempered by these various
needs. Some progress has been made recently on the question of market stability, but
the underlying problem is likely to persist for many years.

The latest U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report indicates that at the
close of 2019, 135 million people across 55 countries and territories experienced acute
food insecurity, in the 55 foodcrisis countries covered by the report, 75 million children
were stunted and 17 million suffered from wasting in 2019. This is the highest level of
acute food insecurity and malnutrition documented by the Network since the first edition
of the report in 2017.
Additionally, in 2019, 183 million people were classified in Stressed Condition, this
means that they are at the cusp of acute hunger and at risk of slipping into crisis or
worse if faced with a shock or stressor, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than half (73 million) of the 135 million people covered by the report live in
Africa; 43 million live in the Middle East and Asia; 18.5 million live in Latin America and
the Caribbean. The key drivers behind the trends analyzed in the report were: conflict,
(the key factor that pushed 77 million people into acute food insecurity), weather
extremes (34 million people), and economic turbulence (24 million).
Acute food insecurity is when a person's inability to consume adequate food puts
their lives or livelihoods in immediate danger. It draws on internationally accepted
measures of extreme hunger, such as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification
(IPC) and the Cadre Harmonisé. It is more severe than chronic hunger, as reported on
each year by the UN's annual State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report.
Chronic hunger is when a person is unable to consume enough food over an extended
period to maintain a normal, active lifestyle.
IV. LESSON PROPER
An average adult human must consume enough food to get approximately 2600
kilocalories, or simply Calories per day. People who receive fewer calories than needed
are undernourished. Undernutrition is a type of malnutrition in which underconsumption
of calories or nutrients leave the body weakened and susceptible to disease.
A person with extended period of undernourishment may lose his health and his
stamina declines, even
to the point of death. Worldwide, an estimated 182 million children under age 5 suffer
from undernutrition
and are seriously underweight, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
People might receive
enough calories in their diets but still be malnourished because they do not receive
enough essential
nutrients, such as proteins, vitamin A, iodine, or iron.
On the other hand, people who eat more food than necessary are over-nourished.
Generally, a person
suffering from overnutrition has a diet high in saturated (animal) fats, sugar, and salt.
People who are
over-nourished are most common among people in highly developed nations such as
the United States,
this results obesity, high blood pressure, and an increased likelihood of disorders such
as diabetes, heart
disease, and some cancers. This is also emerging in some developing countries,
particularly in urban areas,
where, as people earn more money, their diets shift from consumption of cereal grains
to consumption of
more livestock products and processed foods high in fat and sugar. In the Philippines, it
is ironic to note
that most people living in poverty are obese. This is due to over-nourishment of
carbohydrates stored as
fat in the body. Since rice is a staple food, it is often eaten alone with salt and oil just to
get by each day in
the absence of meat and vegetables.
Population and World Hunger
According to the FAO, 66 countries are considered low-income and food deficient,
which means they cannot produce enough food or afford to import enough food to feed
the entire population. South Asia, with an estimated 330 million hungry people, and sub-
Saharan Africa, with an estimated 217.5 million who are hungry, are the regions of the
world with the greatest food insecurity, the condition in which people live with chronic
hunger and malnutrition.
According to experts, there is an interrelation between world hunger, population,
poverty, and environmental problems. Different groups propose different solutions for
resolving the world’s food problems, including controlling population growth, promoting
the economic development of countries that do not produce adequate food, and
correcting the inequitable distribution of resources. All experts agree that population
pressures aggravate world food problems.
Poverty and Food
Unarguably, the main cause of undernutrition is poverty where infants, children, and the
elderly are
most susceptible. The world’s poorest people—those living in developing countries in
Asia, Africa, and Latin
America—do not own land on which to grow food and do not have sufficient money to
purchase food.
Poverty and hunger are not restricted to developing nations, however; poor hungry
people are also found
in the United States, Europe, and Australia. World food problems are many, as are their
solutions. We must
increase the sustainable production of food and improve food distribution.
Highly developed nations can provide economic assistance and technical aid to help
farmers in
developing countries produce more food. Globally, chronic hunger will persist so long as
the human
population remains above the level that the environment can support.
Principal Types of Agriculture
1. Industrialized agriculture
- in highly developed countries and some in developing countries
- also known as high-input agriculture
98
PECOSY
- relies on large inputs of capital and energy (in the form of fossil fuels) to make and run
machinery, purchase seed, irrigate crops, and produce agrochemicals such as
commercial inorganic fertilizers and pesticides
- produces high yields (the amount of food produced per unit of land), which allows
forests
and other natural areas to remain wild instead of being converted to agricultural land
- productivity of industrialized agriculture comes with costs, such as soil degradation
and
increased pesticide resistance in agricultural pests
2. Subsistence agriculture
- in developing countries
- production of enough food to feed oneself and one’s family with little left over to sell or
reserve for hard times
- also requires large inputs of energy, but from humans and draft animals rather than
from
fossil fuels
a. Shifting cultivation
o short periods of cultivation are followed by longer periods of fallow (land being
left uncultivated), during which the land reverts to forest
o supports relatively small populations
b. Slash-and-burn agriculture
o involves clearing small patches of tropical forest to plant crops
o land-intensive because tropical soils lose their productivity quickly when they are
cultivated
o also known as Primitive Farming
o farmers using slash-and-burn agriculture must move from one area of forest to
another every 3 years or so
c. Nomadic herding
o livestock is supported by land too arid for successful crop growth, is a similarly
land-intensive form of subsistence agriculture
o Nomadic herders must continually move their livestock to find adequate food for
the animals
d. Intensive subsistence farming
o farmers cultivate a small plot of land using simple tools and more labour. Climate,
with large number of days with sunshine and fertile soils permits growing of more
than one crop annually on the same plot.
Intercropping
o involves growing a variety of plants on the same field simultaneously
o when certain crops are grown together, they produce higher yields than when
they are grown as monocultures
o higher yields is because different pests are found on each crop, and
intercropping discourages the build-up of any single pest species to economically
destructive levels
o Polyculture is a type of intercropping in which several kinds of plants that
mature at different times are planted together. In polyculture practiced in the
tropics, fast- and slow-maturing crops are often planted together so that different
crops can be harvested throughout the year
Environmental Impacts of Industrialized Agriculture
1. The agricultural use of fossil fuels and pesticides produces air pollution
2. Untreated animal wastes and agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides
cause water
pollution
- reduces biological diversity
- harms fisheries- leads to outbreaks of nuisance species
3. Many insects, weeds, and disease-causing organisms have developed or are
developing resistance to pesticides
- pesticide resistance forces farmers to apply progressively larger quantities of
pesticides
- pesticide residues contaminate our food supply and reduce the number and diversity
of beneficial microorganisms in the soil
- fishes and other aquatic organisms are sometimes killed by pesticide runoff into lakes,
rivers, and estuaries
4. Land degradation
- Reduction in the potential productivity of land
- soil erosion, which is exacerbated by large-scale mechanized operations
- mechanized operations cause a decline in soil fertility, and the
- eroded sediments damage water quality
- salinization (salting)of soil from improper irrigation methods
- habitat fragmentation results from Clearing grasslands and forests and draining
wetlands to grow crops
Suggested Solutions to Agricultural Problems
1. Sustainable agriculture
- uses methods that maintain soil productivity and a healthy ecological balance while
minimizing long-term impacts
2. Genetic engineering
- the manipulation of genes to produce a particular trait, can produce more nutritious
crops or crop plants that are resistant to pests, diseases, or drought.

LESSON 13: MINERAL AND SOIL

RESOURCES
I. Introduction
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the
Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, and reef or placer deposit. These
deposits provide much economic interest to the miner. A popular mining company in the
Philippines advertise on television that mining is a means for financing alternative
livelihood paths that, over the long-term, may prevent biodiversity loss. However, in
reality, it poses serious and highly specific threats to biodiversity.
Mining affects biodiversity at multiple spatial scales (site, landscape, regional and
global) through direct (mineral extraction) and indirect processes (via industries
supporting mining operations, and external stakeholders who gain access to
biodiversity-rich areas as the result of mining). may prevent biodiversity loss over the
long term
Relationships between mining and biodiversity are complex and interact with other
threatening processes over multiple scales. To effectively manage biodiversity in mining
regions, the full extent and distribution of threats must be better understood and
incorporated into conservation plans and decision-making. Hence, the regulation of
mineral prospecting, extraction, and processing should be implemented.
II. Objectives
1. Appreciate the relationship of plate tectonics to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
2. Diagram a simplified version of the rock cycle.
3. Contrast the consumption of minerals by developing and highly developed countries.
4. Distinguish between surface mining and subsurface mining
5. Describe briefly the process of smelting
6. Relate the environmental impacts of mining and refining minerals
7. Explain how mining lands can be restored

Plate Tectonics and Rock Cycle

Above is an illustration of the earth’s layers. Notice that the outer core is in liquid state.
The outermost rigid rock layer, the lithosphere, consists of Earth’s crust composed of
the outermost layer and the uppermost part of the mantle. It contains seven large
plates, plus a few smaller ones, that float on the asthenosphere, the region of the
mantle where rocks become hot and soft. Continents and land masses are situated on
some of these plates. As the plates move across Earth’s surface, the continents
change
their relative positions.
The theory of plate tectonics states that Earth's outermost layer, the lithosphere, is
broken into 7 large, rigid pieces called plates: the African, North American, South
American, Eurasian, Australian, Antarctic, and Pacific plates. Several minor plates
include the Arabian, Nazca, and Philippines plates. The plates are all moving in different
directions and at different speeds (from 2 cm to 10 cm per year--about the speed at
which your fingernails grow) in relation to each other. The plates move around like cars
in a demolition derby, which sometimes crashes together, pull apart, or sideswipe each
other. The place where the two plates meet is called a plate boundary. Boundaries have
different names depending on how the two plates are moving in relationship to each
other. These are:
• crashing: Convergent Boundaries
• pulling apart: Divergent Boundaries
• or sideswiping: Transform Boundaries
Convergent Boundaries
Places, where plates crash or crunch together, are called convergent boundaries.
Plates only move a few centimeters each year, so collisions are very slow and last
millions of years. Even though plate collisions take a long time, lots of interesting things
happen. The edge of the continental plate folds into a huge mountain range while the
edge of the oceanic plate bends downward and digs deep into the Earth. A trench may
also form at the bend. All that folding and bending makes rocks in both plates break and
slip, causing
earthquakes. As the edge of the oceanic plate digs into Earth's hot interior, some of the
rock in it melts. The melted rock rises up through the continental plate, causing more
earthquakes on its way up, and forming volcanic eruptions where it finally reaches the
surface. An example of this type of collision is found on the west coast of South America
where the oceanic Nazca Plate is crashing into the continent of South America. The
crash formed the Andes Mountains, the long string of volcanoes along the mountain
crest, and the deep trench off the coast in the Pacific Ocean.
Divergent Boundaries
Places, where plates are coming apart, are called divergent boundaries. As shown in
the activity performed with the chocolate bar. When Earth's brittle surface layer (the
lithosphere) is pulled apart, it typically breaks along parallel faults that tilt slightly
outward from each other. As the plates separate along the boundary, the block between
the faults cracks and drops down into the soft, plastic interior (the asthenosphere). The
sinking of the block forms a central valley called a rift. Magma (liquid rock) seeps
upward to fill the cracks. In this way, new crust is formed along the boundary.
Earthquakes occur along the faults, and volcanoes form where the magma reaches the
surface. Plate separation is a slow process. For example, divergence along the Mid
Atlantic ridge causes the Atlantic Ocean to widen at only about 2 centimeters per year.
Transform Boundaries
Places, where plates slide past each other, are called transform boundaries. Since
the plates on either side of a transform boundary are merely sliding past each other and
not tearing or crunching each other, transform boundaries lack the violent features
found at convergent and divergent boundaries.
Instead, transform boundaries are marked in some places by linear valleys along the
boundary where rock has been ground up by the sliding. In other places, transform
boundaries are marked by features like stream beds that have been split in half and the
two halves have moved in opposite directions.
Perhaps the most famous transform boundary in the world is the San Andreas fault.
The slice of California to the west of the fault is slowly moving north relative to the rest
of California. Since motion along the fault is sideways and not vertical, Los Angeles will
not crack off and fall into the ocean as popularly thought in the movies, but it will simply
creep towards San Francisco at about 6 centimeters per year. In about ten million
years, the two cities will be side by side!
Although transform boundaries are not marked by spectacular surface features,
their sliding motion causes lots of earthquakes. The strongest and most famous
earthquake along the San Andreas Fault hit San Francisco in 1906.
Volcanoes
The movement of tectonic plates on the hot, soft rock of the asthenosphere causes
most volcanic activity. Magma is produced at places where the asthenosphere is close
to the surface and the heat from this part of Earth’s mantle melts the surrounding rock.
When one plate slides under or away from another, this magma may rise to the surface,
often forming volcanoes. Magma that reaches the surface is called lava.

3 locations of volcano occurrences

1. Subduction zone - a region of the Earth's crust where tectonic plates meet
(convergent boundaries)
2. Spreading centers - occur at the boundary between two plates that are moving apart
(divergent boundaries)
3. Above hot spots – a rising plume of magma that flows from an opening in the earth’s
crust beneath the ocean or continents
Earthquakes
Earthquakes occur when plates along a fault suddenly move in opposite directions
relative to one another. This movement triggers seismic waves that radiate through the
crust.

The Rock Cycle

Rocks which are aggregates of one or more minerals do not remain in their original form
forever. They
are converted into 3 forms:
1. Igneous rocks - form when magma rises from the mantle and cools.
2. Sedimentary rocks - form when small fragments of weathered, eroded rocks (or
marine organisms) are deposited, compacted, and cemented together.
3. Metamorphic rocks - form when intense heat and pressure alter igneous,
sedimentary, or other metamorphic rocks.

Useful Minerals
Earth’s outermost layer, the crust, contains many kinds of minerals that are of economic
importance. Minerals are elements or (usually) compounds of elements and have
precise chemical compositions. Below are some of the more important minerals that are
of economic value. How many of these have you used?
Extraction and Processing of Minerals
1. Locating a particular mineral deposit
- geologic knowledge of Earth’s crust and how minerals are formed is used to estimate
locations of possible mineral deposits.
2. Drilling or tunneling for mineral samples
3. Analyzing their composition
4. Mining the mineral from the ground
a. Surface mining- minerals are extracted near the surface
- more common because it is less expensive
- the overlying soil and rock layers (overburden), must first be removed
2 types of Surface mining
1. Open-pit surface mining
▪ a giant hole (quarry) is dug in the ground to extract the minerals
▪ ex. iron, copper, stone, and gravel
2. Strip mining
▪ a trench is dug to extract the minerals then a new trench is dug parallel to the old one,
and the overburden from the new trench is put into the old one, creating a hill of loose
rock called a spoil bank
b. Subsurface mining
- extracts minerals too deep in the ground to be removed by surface mining
- it disturbs the land less than surface mining
- more expensive and more hazardous for miners
* risk of death or injury from explosions or collapsing walls, and prolonged breathing
dust in subsurface mines can result in lung disease
- may be done with underground shaft mines or slope mines. A shaft mine, often used
for mining coal, is a direct vertical shaft to the vein of ore. The ore is broken up
underground and then hoisted through the shaft to the surface in buckets.
A slope mine has a slanting passage that makes it possible to haul the broken ore out
of the mine in cars rather than hoist it up in buckets. Sump pumps keep a subsurface
mine dry, and a second shaft is usually installed for ventilation.
5. Processing the mineral
- Minerals are refined by concentrating it and removing impurities.
6. Purified mineral is used to make a product.
Processing Minerals
Processing minerals often involves smelting. This is a process of applying heat to ore in
a blast furnace in order to extract a base metal. It is used to extract many metals from
their ores, including silver, iron, copper, tin, lead, manganese, and other base metals.
Chemical reactions take place throughout the furnace as the ore moves
downward: The iron ore reacts with coke (modified coal) to form molten iron and carbon
dioxide, whereas the limestone reacts with impurities in the ore to form a molten mixture
called slag. Both molten iron and slag collect at the bottom, but slag floats on molten
iron because it is less dense than iron. The slag is cooled and then disposed of. Note
the vent near the top of the iron smelter for exhaust gases. If air pollution control
devices are not installed, many dangerous gases are emitted during smelting.

Lesson 12: OCEAN AND THE

FISHERIES
The Ocean and Fisheries
Our country being an island uses fishes as a natural resource for income and food.
Many Filipinos work as fishermen all the way from the waters of Luzon, Visayas and
Mindanao. General Santos City is known as the Tuna Capital and Dagupan City as the
“bangus” Capital. We also take pride of our “danggit” from Cebu.
Indeed the ocean provides vast amounts of fishes to sustain man’s lives. However,
the ocean can only provide as much. It needs to recuperate in order for it to continually
provide one of man’s source of protein.
One of man’s abuses is overfishing. This means harvesting fishes faster than they
can reproduce. Reports of overfishing in the Mediterranean for Bluefin tuna were
documented and conservation efforts have been in place since 2011 to regulate the
Bluefin tuna’s dwindling number. Worldwide, it is estimated that more than 80% of fish
species have been overfished. In the US alone, fish stock is depleted by 95% because
of increasing demand.Ecologists and economists estimate that if overfishing and ocean
pollution is not remedied, all populations of harvested fishes could collapse by 2048.
A. Patterns of Circulation in the Ocean
I. Introduction
Water in the ocean dominates Earth, it covers about ¾ of the Earth’s surface. This is
home to many animals from giants like whales and little ones like planktons. The ocean
is essential to Earth’s hydrologic cycle which provides us with water and also influences
climate and weather.
II. Objectives of the Lesson
1. Describe the global ocean and its significance to life on earth
2. Discuss the roles of the winds and the Coriolis effect in producing global water flow
patterns including gyres
3. Define El Niño and La Niña and describe some of their effects

Gyres are large, circular ocean current systems that often encompass an entire
ocean basin. These are generated by persistent prevailing winds blowing over the
ocean. The picture below shows the basic pattern of ocean currents. Have some time to
observe the difference of the pattern of movement in the Northern hemisphere as
compared to the Southern Hemisphere.
If you were able to see the clockwise pattern in the Northern Hemisphere and a
counter clockwise patern in the Southern Hemisphere, then you are a keen observer.
The Coriolis Effect is the result of Earth's rotation on weather patterns and ocean
currents. Earth’s rotation from west to east causes surface ocean currents to swerve to
the right in the Northern Hemisphere, helping establish the circular, clockwise pattern of
water currents. In the Southern Hemisphere, ocean currents swerve to the left, thereby
moving
in a circular, counterclockwise pattern.
 Deep ocean currents are affected by seawater density. Density increases as
temperature decreases, this makes cold water saltier and colder water flows under
warmer water. The Coriolis effect has a greater influence on deep ocean currents. The
picture below shows the ocean conveyor belt. This represents the global circulation of
shallow (warm, less salty) and deep (cold, saltier) currents. The ocean conveyor belt
affects regional and global climate.
Wind from the atmosphere affect ocean currents and heat from the ocean affects
atmospheric circulation. Two of the most common this interaction between the
atmosphere and the ocean are the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and La Niña
phenomena.
El Niño and La Niña are opposite phases of what is known as the El Niño-
Southern Oscillation cycle. The ENSO cycle is a scientific term that describes the
fluctuations in temperature between the ocean and atmosphere in the east-central
Equatorial Pacific (approximately between the International Date Line and 120 degrees
West).
La Niña is sometimes referred to as the cold phase of ENSO and El Niño as the
warm phase of ENSO. These deviations from normal surface temperatures can have
large-scale impacts not only on ocean processes, but also on global weather and
climate.
El Niño and La Niña episodes typically last nine to 12 months, but some
prolonged events may last for years. While their frequency can be quite irregular, El
Niño and La Niña events occur on average every two to seven years. Typically, El Niño
occurs more frequently than La Niña.
El Niño
El Niño means The Little Boy, or Christ Child in Spanish. El Niño was originally
recognized by fishermen off the coast of South America in the 1600s, with the
appearance of unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean. The name was chosen
based on the time of year (around December) during which these warm waters events
tended to occur.
The term El Niño refers to the large-scale ocean-atmosphere climate interaction
linked to a periodic warming in sea surface temperatures across the central and east-
central Equatorial Pacific.
Typical El Niño effects are likely to develop over North America during the
upcoming winter season. Those include warmer-than-average temperatures over
western and central Canada, and over the western and northern United States. Wetter-
than-average conditions are likely over portions of the U.S. Gulf Coast and Florida,
while drier-than-average conditions can be expected in the Ohio Valley and the
Pacific Northwest. The presence of El Niño can significantly influence weather patterns,
ocean conditions, and marine fisheries across large portions of the globe for an
extended period of time.
La Niña
La Niña means The Little Girl in Spanish. La Niña is also sometimes called El Viejo,
anti-El Niño, or simply "a cold event." La Niña episodes represent periods of below-
average sea surface temperatures across the east-central Equatorial Pacific. Global
climate La Niña impacts tend to be opposite those of El Niño impacts. In the tropics,
ocean temperature variations in La Niña also tend to be opposite those of El Niño.
During a La Niña year, winter temperatures are warmer than normal in the Southeast
and cooler than normal in the Northwest.
______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
B. Major Ocean Life Zones
Introduction
The immense marine environment is subdivided into 3 life zones. These are:
- Intertidal zone (between low and high tides)
- Pelagic Environment (ocean water)
o Neritic Province
o Oceanic Province
▪ Epipelagic Zone
▪ Mesopelagic Zone
▪ Bathypelagic Zone
▪ Abyssalpelagic Zone
▪ Hadopelagic Zone
- Benthic Environment (ocean floor)
o Bathyal Zone
o Abyssal Zone
o Hadal Zone

IV. Lesson Proper

Organisms living in the foreshore of the beach must be adapted to both wet and
dry conditions as this area is underwater at high tide. Animals like sea anemones,
barnacles, chitons, crabs, isopods, limpets, mussels, sea stars, snails and whelks have
all adapted to survive being smashed by rough waves or carried out to sea.
The littoral zone can refer to the shoreline of a body of fresh or saltwater and also
means any area close to the water or influenced by the water. For a freshwater biome,
the littoral zone is the area with abundant light close to the shore. The littoral zone in a
pond or lake allows for prolific photosynthetic activity and consequently hosts almost all
of the aquatic plant life. Because the water is so near to littoral zones, both freshwater
and saltwater, the organisms existing here are often found in dunes or estuaries. The
large amount of water available helps to create a nice habitat for a variety of plants and
animals and adds humidity, a feature that allows for the more unique organisms to
survive. Humans also frequently rely on the littoral region as can be observed in the
large populations living near the sea.
The littoral region consists of three subzones called the supralittoral zone, the
intertidal zone and the sublittoral zone. The supralittoral zone or “spray zone” is only
underwater during storms, and is located between the high-tide line and dry land. The
intertidal zone is located between high and low tides. The sublittoral zone is always
underwater and is below the low tide line. This zone extends all the way to where the
continental shelf drops off into the abyssal plane.

Everything except areas near the coast and the sea floor is called the pelagic zone. The
opposite term is the demersal zone which is the water near to and affected by the coast
or the sea floor. The pelagic zone is divided into epipelagic, mesopelagic, bathypelagic,
abyssopelagic, and hadopelagic zones.The epipelagic zone stretches from the surface
down to 200 m and is home to the greatest biodiversity in the sea, largely because of
the availability of sunlight that enables photosynthetic organisms to thrive. Both marine
plants and animals are found here. From 200-1,000 m is the mesopelagic zone, a
twilight zone where some light filters through but does not reach a level of brightness
necessary for photosynthesis to occur.
The bathypelagic zone is from 1,000-4,000 m and completely dark. Bioluminescent
organisms, some of the strangest marine creatures of the deep live here. Plants are
non-existent in the bathypelagic zone. Animals that can live here survive on the dead
material, or detritus, that falls from surface zones on other animals that live in the deep
sea. The giant squid is a resident of the bathypelagic zone and serve as a food source
for deep-diving sperm whales. Most animals in the abyssopelagic zone, located from
4,000 m down, are blind and colorless due to the complete lack of light. The name,
“abyssopelagic” comes from the Greek meaning “bottomless abyss”, in times where it
was thought that the deep ocean never ended. The hadopelagic zone is the area of
deep water in the deepest ocean trenches. Hadopelagic is from the Greek for “Hades“,
or the Greek underworld.
The photic zone (with light) of the open ocean consists of the epipelagic and
mesopelagic zones. The aphotic zone (without light) of the open ocean consists of all
the zones lower in the ocean. The lower zones are often simply grouped into the aphotic
zone by marine biologists due to their similarities.
The abyssal plain is a flat or gently sloping part of the ocean floor, reaching a
depth between 2,200-5,500 m. In the abyssal plain, rocks are embedded into the ocean
floor due to the lack of supporting heat energy below. This effect results in the flattest
and smoothest regions of the world. Abyssal plains usually are found between the base
of a continental rise (or shelf) and a mid-oceanic ridge. The surface was not always
smooth, but became covered in fine-grained sediments like clay and silt deposited from
turbidity currents and channelled down underwater canyons into deeper areas. Other
sediments adding to the effect
are clay particle dust blown into the sea from land and tiny pieces of dead plants and
animals falling from surface layers. The Pacific Ocean has the least number of abyssal
plains, the direct result of sediments in submarine trenches surrounding the Pacific
Ocean becoming trapped.
C. Human Impacts on the Ocean
I. Introduction
The ocean is so vast and yet human activities could harm it. Improper fisheries and
aquaculture, marine shipping, marine pollution, coastal development, offshore mining,
and global climate change all contribute to the degradation of marine environments.
 One of the great paradoxes of human civilization is that the same ocean that
provides food to a hungry world is used as a dumping ground. Coastal and marine
ecosystems receive pollution from land, from rivers emptying into the ocean, and from
atmospheric contaminants that enter the ocean via precipitation. Offshore mining and oil
drilling pollute the neritic province with oil and other contaminants. Pollution increasingly
threatens the world’s fisheries. Events such as accidental oil spills—such as the
devastating Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010—and the
deliberate dumping of litter pollute the water. The World Resources Institute estimates
that about 80% of global ocean pollution comes from human activities on land.
The ocean contains valuable food resources. About 90 % of the world’s total
marine catch is fishes, with clams, oysters, squid, octopus, and other molluscs
representing 6% of the total catch. Crustaceans, including lobsters, shrimp, and crabs,
make up about 3 %, and marine algae constitute the remaining 1%. Fleets of deep-sea
fishing vessels obtain most of the world’s marine harvest. Numerous fishes are
also captured in shallow coastal waters and inland waters. According to the U.N. Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the world annual fish harvest increases
substantially over the years.
Resources in the ocean are more susceptible to overuse and degradation than
land resources, which individual nations own and for which they feel responsible as no
nation has legal claim to the open ocean.The most serious problem for marine fisheries
is that many species have been harvested to the point that their numbers are severely
depleted. Contributory to this is the modernization of commercial fishing methods as the
demand for fish protein increases with human population doubling. Aside from this,
“by catch” will also simultaneously increase. In recent years, fish harvest by aquaculture
has continued toincrease, while fishing (wild catch) has leveled off.
Another major contributor to aquatic resources degradation is pollution. Millions
of ships dump oily ballast and other wastes overboard in the neritic and oceanic
provinces. Huge quantities of trash containing plastics are released into the ocean,
sometimes accidentally, from coastal communities or cargo ships. Plastics don’t
biodegrade; they photodegrade, which means that exposure to light breaks them down
into smaller and smaller pieces that exist for an indefinite period.
Industrial exploitations also include development of resorts, cities, industries,
and agriculture along coasts. It alters or destroys many coastal ecosystems, including
mangrove forests, salt marshes, sea grass beds, and coral reefs. Other human activities
are offshore mining of reserves of oil and minerals like manganese. These have long
been tapped as a major source of energy. However, obtaining oil and gas resources
from the seafloor generally poses a threat to fishing. Imagine its impact on the coral
reefs to where fishes live.
Finally, global warming not only affects the aerial environment but the ocean
environment as well. This would definitely affect the movements in the ocean conveyor
belt.
LESSON 11: FRESHWATER
RESOURCES AND WATER
POLLUTION
About three-fourths of Earth’s surface is covered with water but less than 1 %is
available for human use (see the arrow in the image below). Around the world, about
1.1 billion people live without adequate access to water—many have less than 10 L
(about 2.6 gals) of clean water per day. In some parts of the world, water is so scarce
that inhabitants pay 5 to 10 times as much for water as those in their wealthier
neighborhoods. While in some places, the poor spend as much as 20% of their income
on water. In developed nations, complex systems are in place to make water available:
utility companies purchase, transport, clean, and distribute water. The total cost might
be large, but coordination makes the cost per person relatively low for a reliable water
supply. Contrast this with the slums of Lagos for example, where there is little money to
develop and maintain infrastructure, so water from pipes is sporadic, and it might be
contaminated. Water might be purchased from a vendor, but supplies and prices are
unpredictable, and the quality of the water is unknown. Boiling the water to kill off
biological contaminants requires energy, which is also in limited supply.

Water Distribution on Earth

I. INTRODUCTION
Our body is composed of approximately 70% water by body weight and our cells are
90% water called cytosol. We depend on water for our survival as well as for our
convenience: We cool ourselves with it when feeling hot, cook with it, wash with it and
use an enormous amount of it for watering plants, manufacturing materials, mining,
energy production, and waste disposal. In fact, we even travel on it. Life on planet Earth
would be impossible without water. Although Earth has plenty of water, about 97
percent of it is salty and not consumable by most terrestrial organisms. Fresh water is
distributed unevenly, resulting in serious regional water supply problems and
conflicts. Water experts predict that by 2025, more than one-third of the human
population will live in areas where there isn’t enough fresh water for drinking and
irrigation.
II. Objectives
1. Describe the structure of a water molecule and explain how hydrogen bonds form
between adjacent water molecules.
2. List the unique properties of water.
3. Explain how processes of the hydrologic cycle allow water to circulate through the
abiotic environment.
4. Relate some of the problems caused by aquifer depletion, overdrawing of surface
waters, and salinization of irrigated soil.
5. Define sustainable water use.
6. Give examples of water conservation in agriculture, industry, and individual homes
and buildings.
In addition, water absorbs a great deal of solar heat without substantially increasing in
temperature. This high heat capacity allows the ocean to have a moderating influence
on climate, particularly along coastal areas; the ocean does not experience the wide
temperature fluctuations common on land. Water is a solvent, meaning that it can
dissolve many materials. In nature, water is never completely
pure because it contains dissolved gases from the atmosphere and dissolved mineral
salts from the land. However, water’s dissolving property may cause environmental
issues because substances dissolve and are transported in water causing water
pollution.
Water Resource Problems
1. Too much water
- flooding occurs when a river’s discharge cannot be contained within its normal
channel
o construction of buildings on floodplains ( area bordering a river channel that has the
potential to flood)
o removing water-absorbing plant cover from the soil
2. Too little water
- Arid lands, or deserts, are fragile ecosystems in which plant growth is limited by lack of
precipitation
- Semiarid lands receive more precipitation than deserts but are subject to frequent and
prolonged droughts
3. Poor quality water
- change of domestic and industrial effluent wastes, leakage from water tanks, marine
dumping, radioactive waste and atmospheric deposition are major causes of water
pollution. Heavy metals that disposed off and industrial waste can accumulate in lakes
and rivers, proving harmful to humans and animals.
When a natural area—that is, an area undisturbed by humans—is inundated with
heavy
precipitation, the plant-protected soil absorbs much of the excess water. What the soil
cannot absorb runs off into the river, which may then spill over its banks onto the
floodplain. Because rivers meander, the flow is slowed, and the swollen waters rarely
cause significant damage to the surrounding area.
Farmers increase the agricultural productivity of arid and semiarid lands with
irrigation. Irrigation of these lands has become increasingly important worldwide in
efforts to produce enough food for growing populations.
Population growth in arid and semiarid regions intensifies water shortage. More
people need food, so additional water resources are diverted for irrigation. Also, the
immediate need for food prompts people to remove natural plant cover to grow crops on
marginal lands subject to frequent drought, which in turn reduces water absorption into
soils when rains do come.
When it comes to drinking water today, more people in developing countries
depend on bottled water than on tap water, while during the early 70s to 80s your
parents and grandparents used to drink the river, well, and rain harvest water.
Aquifer Depletion
- happens when humans remove more groundwater than can be recharged
- lowers the water table, the upper surface of the saturated zone of groundwater
- drains an aquifer dry, effectively eliminating it as a water resource
- causes subsidence, or sinking, of the land above it
Saltwater intrusion
- occurs along coastal areas when groundwater is depleted faster than it recharges
- also occurs in low-lying areas due to sea-level rise associated with global climate
change
- water from wells in such areas eventually becomes too salty for human consumption
or other freshwater uses.
Overdrawing of Surface Waters
- removal of too much fresh water from a river or lake as growing human populations
place demands on water sources that are not sustainable.
- when surface waters are overdrawn, wetlands dry up
- Estuaries, where rivers empty into seawater, become saltier and reduces their
productivity
- wetlands and estuaries, which serve as breeding grounds for many species of birds
and other animals, also play a vital role in the hydrologic cycle
Salinization of Irrigated Soil
- irrigation improves the agricultural productivity of arid and semiarid lands, but it often
causes salt to accumulate in the soil
- irrigation water contains small amounts of dissolved salts
- through precipitation runoff, rivers carry away salt and there is a gradual accumulation
of salt in the soil
Water Sources in the Philippines

There are 421 principal river basins in 119 proclaimed watersheds. Of these, 18
are considered major river basins. These are sources of municipal and domestic water
supply, irrigation, and power generation. Cagayan River Basin in Cagayan Valley is the
largest with a drainage area of 25,649 km2.
Locally, Balili River is a river in the province of Benguet. With a length of 23.81
kilometres, it traverses the city of Baguio, and the municipalities of La Trinidad and
Sablan before entering the province of La Union, where it is named the Naguilian River.
The river suffers from excessive pollution, usually blamed upon the densely populated
city of Baguio, where its headwaters are formed.] A study by the City Environment and
Parks Management Office(CEPMO) of Baguio City shows that half of the city's
population lives within the Balili watershed area, contributing the most waste. The
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) revealed that
the quality of the Balili River water test result falls under Class C from its water
classification of Class A in 1975, which made its waters fit for drinking after treatment. In
2014, the water test result from Balili River is still within the classification of Class C
freshwater, but then, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources cannot re-
classify a river downgrading its classification from "Class A" to "Class C". The river was
included in the DENR's 2003 Pollution Report as one of the 15 "biologically dead" rivers
among the 94
principal river basins in the country.
Water Management
The main goal of water management is to provide a sustainable supply of high-quality
water. Sustainable water use means careful human use of water resources so that
water is available for future generations and for existing nonhuman needs. Economic
policies are important in managing water sustainably. When water is inexpensive, it
tends to be wasted. Raising the price of water to reflect the actual cost generally
promotes its more efficient use.
Water supplies are obtained by the following:
- building dams
- diverting water
- removing salt from seawater or salty groundwater, through a process called
desalinization
Conservation of water includes:
- reusing water
- recycling water
- improving water-use efficiency
Dams and Reservoirs
Dams generate electricity and ensure a year-round supply of water often for populations
that have outgrown other water sources, but many people think their disadvantages
outweigh their benefits. In recent years scientists have come to understand how dams
alter river ecosystems. Heavy sediment deposition can occur in the reservoir behind a
dam, and the water that passes over a dam does not have its normal sediment load. As
a result, the river floor downstream of a dam is scoured, producing a deep-cut channel
that is a poor habitat for aquatic organisms.
Water Conservation
Today there is more competition than ever before among water users with different
priorities and water conservation measures are necessary to guarantee sufficient water
supplies.
1. Reducing Agricultural Water Waste
- irrigation generally makes inefficient use of water. Traditional irrigation methods
involve flooding the land or diverting water to fields through open channels
- plants absorb only about 40% of the water that flood irrigation supplies to the soil; the
rest of the water usually evaporates into the atmosphere, seeps into the ground, or
leaves the fields as runoff transporting sediment
- micro irrigation, also called drip or trickle irrigation, in which pipes with tiny holes bored
in them convey water directly to individual plants
2. Reducing Municipal Water Waste
- recycle or reuse water to reduce consumption
- Gray water is water that has already been used in sinks, showers, washing machines,
and dishwashers. Gray water is recycled to flush toilets, wash cars, or sprinkle lawns. In
contrast to water recycling, wastewater reuse occurs when water is collected and
treated before being redistributed.
- cities also decrease water consumption by providing consumer education, requiring
water-saving household fixtures, developing economic incentives to save water, and
repairing leaky water supply systems. Also, increasing the price of water to approach its
true cost promotes water conservation
3. Reducing Water Waste in Industry
- electric power generators and many industrial processes require water
- stricter pollution-control laws provide some incentive for industries to conserve water
- recapture, purify, and reuse water to reduce their water use and their water treatment
costs
Water pollution
Water pollution is a physical, biological, or chemical change in water that adversely
affects the health of humans and other organisms. It is a global problem that varies in
magnitude and type of pollutant from one region to another. In many locations,
particularly in developing countries, the main water pollution issue is providing
individuals with disease-free drinking water. The table below shows a summary of types
of pollution its sources and adverse effects.

Purification of Drinking Water

Wastewater usually undergoes several treatments at a sewage treatment plant.
1. Primary treatment removes suspended and floating particles from wastewater by
mechanical processes.
2. Secondary treatment reduces water’s biochemical oxygen demand, treats
wastewater biologically to decompose suspended organic material.
3. Tertiary treatment reduces pollutants such as phosphorus and nitrogen.
In general, water is purified in these processes:
- chemical coagulant traps suspended particles
- filtration removes suspended materials and microorganisms
- disinfection kills disease-causing agents

Lesson 10: Atmospheric Changes

CHAPTER 10
GLOBAL ATMOSPHERIC CHANGES
I. Introduction
Powerful evidence that Earth is warming comes from the melting of continental and
polar ice. In the last 22 years, the Denman Glacier, in East Antarctica, has retreated
almost three miles. If it fully thaws, sea levels would rise almost 5 feet (CNN). Human-
caused climate change is an established phenomenon. The biggest culprit in climate
change is an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, which is generated
primarily through the burning of fossil fuels. In this module, the challenges of global
atmospheric changes: climate change, ozone depletion, and acid deposition are
tackled.
II. Objectives of the Lesson
At the end of the module, the learner should be able to:
1. Distinguish between weather and climate.
2. Explain what determines the Earth’s climate.
3. List the main greenhouse gases.
4. Describe the enhanced greenhouse effect.
5. Discuss the potential effects of global warming.
6. Give examples of strategies to mitigate or adapt to global climate change.
7. Describe the importance of the ozone layer.
III. Lesson Proper
Weather vs. Climate
Weather refers to the conditions in the atmosphere at a given place and time; it
includes temperature, atmospheric pressure, precipitation, cloudiness, humidity and
wind. Weather changes from one hours to the next and from one day to the next.
Earth’s overall climate is determined by several factors: the sun’s intensity, Earth’s
distance from the sun, tilt of the Earth relative to its rotational axis, distribution of water
and landmasses across Earth’s surface and composition of gases in the atmosphere.
Across Earth, the two most important factors that define an area’s overall climate are
temperature and precipitation.
Latitude, elevation, distance from the ocean, and geographic location all influence
climate. Other climate factors include weather conditions such as wind, humidity, fog,
cloud cover, and, in some areas, lightning.
Global Climate Change
Solar energy, the biogeochemical cycles and gravity are the three key factors that
sustain life on Earth. Sunlight provides the energy for photosynthesis which produces
food for humans and animals. Biological, geological and chemical processes allow the
cycling of matter to continue. Gravity holds most matter in the troposphere.
Solar energy comes from the sun. The absorption and emission of energy from the
Earth’s surface is important to keep the heat balance. The greenhouse gases (GHGs) in
the atmosphere, absorb some the infrared (IR) light, the form of energy emitted by the
earth’s surface back to the atmosphere.
Major Greenhouse Gases
1. water vapor
2. carbon dioxide
3. methane
4. nitrous oxide
5. ozone
6. CFCs and other halocarbons
In the atmosphere, more GHGs cause a condition called the enhanced greenhouse
effect better known as global warming, wherein there is an increase of the Earth’s
average surface temperature. The drastic increase of greenhouse gases is attributed to
anthropogenic activities. The possible factors include:
• Lessening of carbon sinks due to deforestation and agriculture
• Excessive combustion of fossil fuels
• Generation of halocarbons in the atmosphere
• Excessive demand for products by growing human population.

Effects of Climate Change

• Health effects
• Loss of natural resources
• Indirect threats to life and property
• Changes in natural habitats and food supply
• Changing ocean chemistry/acidification
Adaptation and Mitigation Responses to Climate Change
The basic ways to manage global climate change are mitigation and adaptation.
Mitigation is the moderation or postponement of global climate change through
measures that reduce greenhouse gasemissions. Adaptation is a planned response to
changes caused by global climate change. The extent and severity of climate change
will depend on the amount of additional greenhouse gas emissions we add to the
atmosphere. The rate of increase of atmospheric GHGs from fossil fuels depends on
such factors as economic conditions, policy choices, population growth and technology
changes.
Mitigation of Climate Change
• Reducing energy use, for example, driving less
• Increasing efficiency, for example, by switching to hybrid cars
• Policies such as energy-pricing strategies (carbon taxes) and elimination of energy
subsidies
• Planting and maintaining forests
• Carbon management – ways to separate and capture the CO2 produced during the
combustion of fossil fuels and then sequester (store) it.
• Use of technological innovations that efficiently trap CO2 from smokestacks
• Increasing efficiency of coal-fired power plants
• Replacing coal-fired power plants with renewable energy sources
• Insulating buildings to reduce the need for heating in the winter and cooling in the
summer
• Improving management of agricultural soils.
Adaptation of Climate Change
• to protect coastal land from the rising sea level
o Construction of massive sea walls
o People living in coastal areas could move inland
o Rivers and canals could be channeled to prevent saltwater intrusion
• Adapt to shifting agricultural zones
Ozone Layer Depletion
The ozone layer is a thin, protective layer of ozone gas (O3) in the atmosphere,
encircling at 13-20km above the Earth. The ozone layer screens out 99% of the sun’s
harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The fragile shield is created as ozone molecules form
and break down in the atmosphere. Thinning of the ozone layer will substantially
increase the amount of UV radiation received by Earth. The depletion of the ozone layer
is caused by chemicals, mainly by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other halogenated
ozone-depleting substances (ODS) like hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs).
These chemicals do not destroy ozone directly, rather, they persist in the atmosphere
where they eventually undergo photolysis, splitting to form hydrogen chloride (HCl) or
chlorine nitrate (ClNO3). These secondary molecules slowly decompose into free
chlorine (Cl) or chlorine monoxide (ClO) molecules that serve as catalysts for the
breaking up of the O3 molecules. Free bromine is about 10 to 100 times more
destructive than free chlorine. Another downside is that these catalysts are not
consumed and therefore they can persist in the atmosphere for a long time and can
destroy hundred and thousands of O3. The destruction of ozone molecules leads to
thinning of the ozone layer, and mass depletion of it results in the formation of an ozone
hole. In the early 1980s, an ozone hole has been discovered over the Antarctic area by
Joe Farman, a British Antarctic Survey scientist while a similar hole, but not as
damaging has been seen over the Arctic region. The Antarctic hole has been getting
larger over time. Within three months, the ozone hole usually breaks down and air with
normal levels of ozone molecules fills it in. As air sweeps in, the ozone-depleted air from
the hole drifts over to Australia. This exposure to UV-B radiation because of the ozone
hole has led to Australia having the highest incidence rates for skin cancer. The United
Nations Environment Program predicts a rate of 10% ozone loss per year over several
decades. At the global level, the alarming rate of ozone depletion has prompted
governments of developed and less-developed countries to draw up an agreement,
known as the Montreal Protocol that binds signatory countries to take immediate and
stringent steps towards the phasing out of ozone-depleting substances.

Lesson 9. Air and Air Pollution

AIR AND AIR POLLUTION
I. Introduction
The Earth’s atmosphere is a mixture of gases made up of about 78% nitrogen (N2),
21% oxygen (O2),
and 1% argon (Ar), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), water vapor (H2O) and trace
amounts of other
gases. Oxygen is primarily important for respiration of humans and animals. Carbon
dioxide, although
present in a very small concentration (0.039%), is necessary for the photosynthesis of
plants. Nitrogen is a
major component of proteins, and thus, is also essential for life. Air pollution causes
many health and
environmental problems. Around the world, the air we breathe can be contaminated with
a variety of
pollutants. In this module, air pollution and its causes and effects are tackled.
II. Objectives of the Lesson
At the end of the module, the learner should be able to:
1. Describe the different layers of the atmosphere.
2. Characterize the troposphere and list down the gases found in this layer.
3. Relate, in general terms, the adverse health effects of air pollutants.
4. Define air pollution and distinguish between primary and secondary air pollutants.
5. List the major classes of air pollutants and describe their characteristics and sources.
III. Lesson Proper
Layers of the atmosphere
Air Pollution
Air pollution is a condition in which the quality of air is degraded due to the presence of
harmful substances, particulate matter, and biological agents. There are many points
and non-point sources of air pollution. Point sources are those which are readily
identified and are stationary such as factory smokestacks. Nonpoint sources are not
easily identified as they are diffused and may not be constantly
emitting pollutants like cars. The degree of air pollution in an area depends on several
factors such as the source of pollution, rate of emission, wind, and the topography or
location.
Types of Air Pollutants
Primary pollutants are substances released directly into the air by point and nonpoint
sources. These pollutants include carbon monoxide (smokestacks of factories or
tailpipes of vehicles), sulfur dioxide (volcanic emissions), oxides of nitrogen (NO, NO2),
vapor of hydrocarbons and other organic compounds, particulate matter such as smoke
and dust, oxides of lead, cadmium, copper and iron, toxic substances like chlorine gas,
hydrogen sulfide, and foul odors produced from the decay of garbage and other things.
Secondary pollutants are those formed from the chemical reactions of primary
pollutants and other substances. They may be more harmful than primary pollutants.
For example, sulfuric acid, H2SO4, which is a very corrosive acid that can make
rainwater acidic, forms from chemical reactions involving sulfur dioxide, SO2. Ozone,
O3, may be formed from the breakdown of NO2 by sunlight.
Outdoor Air Pollutants
The following are the common causes of outdoor air pollution:
• Combustion of fossil fuels to produce electricity in power plants and to run vehicles,
release soot and carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen oxides, as well as impurities such as lead,
calcium, aluminum, nickel, zinc, silicon, copper, mercury, arsenic, and even uranium.
• Airborne pathogens or disease-causing agents such as viruses that can cause the
common cold, influenza, chicken pox, or even SARS coronavirus.
• Particulate matter is a group of pollutants made up of very small solid or liquid droplets
that remain suspended in the air.
• Photochemical smog is formed from chemical reactions which are triggered by
sunlight. The main component is ozone which is a very reactive pollutant that can harm
the respiratory system.
• Ozone depletion or destruction caused by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
• Acid deposition or acid rain is harmful to plants, animals, humans, and even to
infrastructures. The acid could remove important nutrients from the soil and destroy
plant life. Buildings and historical monuments are being corroded through an acid
deposition.

Controlling Air Pollutants

• Use of technologies such as electrostatic precipitators, fabric filters, and scrubbers

installed in smokestacks.
• Careful land-excavating activities
• Measures to increase energy efficiency
o Use of smaller or compact cars
o Installation of catalytic converters to automobiles
o Modification of furnaces and engines to provide more complete combustion
• Careful handling of petroleum products
• Republic Act No. 8749, otherwise known as the Philippine Clean Air Act, is a
comprehensive air quality management policy and program which aims to achieve and
maintain healthy air for all Filipinos.
Indoor Air Pollution
Lesson 8. Population Ecology
CHAPTER 8
POPULATION ECOLOGY
I. Introduction
The world population, or the total number of humans currently living, as estimated by
the United Nation to have reached 7.8 billion this 2020. The human population and its
impact pose a significant problem for the planet. To survive, humans need to consume
materials and space. We occupy land to reside in, grow food, and dump waste. As it
stands with the population explosion, there is no end in sight for humans’ voracious
consumption of natural resources. The demands of the human population have dealt
the environment destructive blows and the natural calamities we are now experiencing
is a reminder of the environment’s needs to be attended to. In this module, we explore
population ecology as a means to understand the influence of populations on the
environment.
II. Objectives of the Lesson
At the end of the module, the learner should be able to:
1. Discuss how the environment influences the population.
2. Differentiate the two life-history patterns.
3. Apprehend how the different revolutions have affected global human populations.
III. Lesson Proper
A. Population ecology is the study of populations and their interactions with their
environment. The environment influences the population in terms of its density and
distribution, age structure, and size. The environment also imposes a limit on
populations in that no population can continue to grow indefinitely in a finite amount of
natural resources. Population ecology gives an insight into the
factors affecting fluctuations of populations in the context of environmental supporting
capacity. A population is a group of individuals that are members of a single species
living together in the same area and are likely to interbreed. Population density refers to
the number of individuals per unit area or volume and accounts for the increase in
population through birth and immigration, and
the decrease in the population through death and emigration. A population grows when
the birth rate exceeds the death rate and declines when the death rate exceeds the birth
rate.
B. Factors Affecting Population Dynamics
a. Resource abundance is the availability and abundance of environmental resources
like food, water, and space.
b. Life-history patterns include reproductive patterns. The r-selection or rapid life-history
pattern is a strategy common to species that have a small body size, reproduce early,
are highly mobile, and have short life span such as mosquitoes. K-selection, on the
other hand, is a strategy common to larger animals such as mammals, that have long
lifespans, reproduce later in life, and produce few offspring.
c. Environmental conditions such as seasons and climatic conditions and availability of
water and light.
d. Organism interactions in a community are the main limiting factor in keeping
population sizes below the environmental capacity.
C. World Population Milestones
a. Neolithic Revolution, about 11,500 to 5,000 years ago, saw the development of
technology needed to plant and harvest crops and to domesticate animals. This advent
of agriculture provided a means for obtaining a more abundant and reliable food supply,
thus, supporting population growth.
b. Industrial revolution unfolded as man harness fossil fuels in the form of coal, oil, and
natural gas, as a source of energy that had a high capacity for work. Supply of food,
raw materials, and processed materials was improved, as well as trade and
transportation. The booming economy supported by a surplus in energy in turn
supported the growth of the human population. The effect of industrialization was
staggering, initially turning a population of a half million to a billion in a span of 200
years.
c. Medical revolution (1800s), brought about by the discovery of the causes of infections
and how these were transmitted, resulted in massive changes in treating illnesses and
vast improvements in public sanitation and personal hygiene. This has liberated the
human
population from the perils of infectious diseases while enjoying a high birth rate –
thereby contributing to the exponential rise of the population during this time.
d. Green revolution sought to increase the production and efficiency of agricultural
systems worldwide through the development of new technologies, as a solution for
worldwide starvation.
e. Environmental revolution, which is what we are in now, is a proactively switch
from unsustainable practices to efficient and clean “green” technology. These practices
include shifting to environmentally sustainable sources of energy, new methods of
farming and
agriculture, energy-efficient technologies as well as better urban and regional planning
and policy changes.

Lesson7: EARTH’S MAJOR

BIOMES
CHAPTER 7
EARTH’S MAJOR BIOMES
I. Introduction
Earth has many different climates—long-term weather patterns—based primarily on
temperature and precipitation differences. Characteristic organisms have adapted to
each climate within large regions called biomes. Near the poles, temperature is
generally the overriding climate factor defining a biome, whereas in temperate and
tropical regions, precipitation is more significant than temperature. Other abiotic factors
that can affect biomes are fires, floods, droughts, strong winds, and elevation.
This module will be considering nine major biomes and how humans are affecting them:
tundra, boreal forest, temperate rain forest, temperate deciduous forest, temperate
grassland, chaparral, desert, savanna, and tropical rain forest.
II. Objectives of the Lesson
At the end of the module, the learner should be able to:
1. Identify the major terrestrial biomes associated with the different parts of the Earth.
2. Enumerate and describe the different ecosystems found in the Philippines.
3. Describe the various aquatic ecosystems, giving attention to the environmental
characteristics of each.
III. Lesson Proper
a. Tundra is a treeless biome in the far north that consists of boggy plains covered by
lichens and mosses; it has harsh, cold winters and extremely short summers when rain
or snow (10 to 25 cm) falls. Most tundra soils are usually nutrient poor and have little
detritus. Although the tundra’s surface soil thaws during summer, beneath it lies a layer
of permafrost, permanently frozen ground that varies in depth and thickness.
Tundra has low primary productivity and supports relatively few species
compared to other biomes, but the species that do occur there often exist in great
numbers. Mosses, lichens, grasses, and grass-like sedges are the dominant plants.
Stunted trees and shrubs grow only in sheltered locations. Animals adapted to live year-
round in the tundra include lemmings, voles, weasels, arctic foxes, snowshoe hares,
ptarmigan, snowy owls, and musk oxen. In summer, caribou migrate north to the tundra
to graze on sedges, grasses, and dwarf willow. Dozens of bird species also
migrate north in summer to nest and feed on abundant insects. Mosquitoes, blackflies,
and deerflies survive winter as eggs or pupae and appear in great numbers during
summer weeks.
Tundra recovers slowly from even small disturbances. Oil and natural gas
exploration and military use have caused damage to tundra likely to persist for hundreds
of years. Climate change is beginning to affect the arctic tundra. As the permafrost
melts, conifer trees (cone-bearing evergreens) are replacing tundra vegetation. The
trees have a lower reflectivity than snow, ice, or tundra vegetation, causing additional
warming, an example of a positive feedback mechanism.
b. Taiga is a boreal region of coniferous forest (such as pine, spruce, and fir) in the
Northern Hemisphere, located just south of the tundra. Winters in the boreal forest are
extremely cold and severe, although not as harsh as those in the tundra. Boreal forest
receives little precipitation, perhaps 50 cm (20 in) per year, and its soil is typically acidic
and mineral poor, with a thick surface layer of partly decomposed pine and spruce
needles. Black and white spruces, balsam fir, eastern larch, and other conifers
dominate the boreal forest, although deciduous trees (trees that shed their leaves in
autumn), such as aspen and birch, may form striking stands. The animal life of the
boreal forest consists of some larger species such as caribou, which migrate from the
tundra for winter; wolves; brown and black bears; and moose. However, most boreal
mammals are medium-sized to small, including rodents, rabbits, and smaller predators
such as lynx, sable, and mink. Birds are abundant in the summer but migrate to
warmer climates for winter. Insects are plentiful, but few amphibians and reptiles occur
except in the southern boreal forest.
Currently, the boreal forest is the world’s top source of industrial wood and wood
fiber. Extensive logging, gas and oil exploration, mining, and farming have contributed
to the loss of boreal forests.
c. Temperate rainforest is a coniferous temperate rainforest that occurs on the
northwest coast of North America, southeastern Australia, and in southern South
America. Annual precipitation in this biome is high—more than 127 cm (50 in)—and is
augmented by condensation of water from dense coastal fogs. The proximity of
temperate rain forest to the coastline moderates its temperature so that the seasonal
fluctuation is narrow; winters are mild, and summers are cool. The temperate rain forest
has relatively nutrient-poor soil with high organic content. North American temperate
rain forest is dominated by large evergreen trees, such as western hemlock, Douglas fir,
western red cedar, Sitka spruce, and western arborvitae, as well epiphytes, like
mosses, club mosses, lichens, and ferns that carpet the ground. Squirrels, wood rats,
mule deer, elk, numerous bird species, and several species of amphibians and reptiles
are common in this biome.
The temperate rainforest is a rich wood producer, supplying lumber and
pulpwood. Overharvesting the original old-growth (never logged) forest can devastate
that biome because such an ecosystem takes hundreds of years to develop. Once
harvested, the old-growth forest ecosystem never has a chance to fully recover.
d. Temperate deciduous forest is characterized by leaf-shedding, broad-leaved
hardwood trees and seasonal climate that occurs in temperate areas where annual
precipitation ranges from about 75 cm to 150 cm (30 to 60 in) annually. Typically, the
soil of a temperate deciduous forest consists of a topsoil-rich in organic material and a
deep, clay-rich lower layer.
Broadleaved hardwood trees that lose their leaves seasonally, such as oak, hickory,
and beech, dominate the temperate deciduous forests of the northeastern and mid-
eastern United States. In the southern areas of the temperate deciduous forest, the
number of broad-leaved evergreen trees, such as magnolia, increases. Temperate
deciduous forests originally contained a variety of large
mammals, such as puma, wolves, and bison, which are now absent. Other more
common animals include deer, bears, and many small mammals and birds.
Worldwide, deciduous forests were among the first biomes converted to
agricultural use. In Europe and Asia, many soils that originally supported deciduous
forests have been cultivated by traditional agricultural methods for thousands of years
without a substantial loss in fertility. During the 20th century, widely adopted intensive
agricultural practices, along with overgrazing and deforestation, contributed to the
degradation of some agricultural lands.
e. Temperate grassland has hot summers, cold winters and uncertain rainfall (Ave.
annual precipitation ranges 25-75cm or 10-30in). Grassland soil has considerable
organic material. grasses that dominate this biome are sod formers—that is, their roots
and rhizomes form a thick, continuous underground mat. Periodic wildfires help
maintain grasses as the dominant vegetation
in grasslands. Most of moist temperate grasslands have vanished under the plow and
have been converted into breadbaskets of the world, because they provide ideal
growing conditions for crops such as corn and wheat, which are also grasses.
f. Chaparrals are hilly temperate environments that have mild winters with abundant
rainfall combined with hot, dry summers. Such biomes occur not only in the area around
the Mediterranean Sea but also in the North American Southwest, southwestern and
southern Australia, central Chile, and southwestern South Africa.
Chaparral soil is thin and often not very fertile. Wildfires occur naturally in this
environment and are particularly frequent in late summer and autumn. A dense thicket
of evergreen shrubs—often short, drought-resistant pine or scrub oak trees that grow 1
to 3 m (3 to 10 ft) tall—usually dominates chaparral. Mule deer, wood rats, chipmunks,
lizards, and many species of birds are common animals of the chaparral.
g. Deserts are dry areas with extreme daily temperatures and very limited vegetation
found in both temperate (cold deserts) and subtropical or tropical regions (warm
deserts). As a result of sparse vegetation, desert soil is low in organic material but is
often high in mineral content, particularly salts. Plants such as cacti, yuccas, Joshua
trees, and sagebrush have few, small, or no leaves to conserve water are found in
deserts. Desert animals, which typically small remain under cover during the day,
emerging at night to forage or hunt.
Humans have altered deserts in several ways. People who drive across the desert in
off-road vehicles inflict environmental damage. When the top layer of desert soil is
disturbed, erosion occurs more readily, and less vegetation grows to support native
animals. Certain cacti and desert tortoises are rare as a result of poaching. Houses,
factories, and farms built in desert areas require vast quantities of water, which is
imported from distant areas. Increased groundwater consumption by many desert cities
has caused groundwater levels to drop.
h. Savanna, a tropical grassland with occasional trees like acacia, is found in areas of
low rainfall or intense seasonal rainfall with prolonged dry periods. Temperatures in
savannas vary little throughout the year. Precipitation is the overriding climate factor:
Annual precipitation is 85 to 150 cm (34 to 60 in). Savanna soil is somewhat low in
essential nutrient minerals, in part because it is heavily leached during rainy periods—
that is, nutrient minerals filter out of the topsoil. Savanna in many places is being
converted into rangeland for cattle and other domesticated animals.
i. Tropical rainforest is a lush, species-rich forest biome that occurs where the climate
is warm and moist throughout the year and precipitation (200-450 cm or 80-180 in/yr)
occurs almost daily. Tropical rain forests have highly weathered, mineral-poor soil with
little organic matter accumulates. Tropical rain forests are found in Central and South
America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Of all biomes, the tropical rain forest has the
highest species richness and variety. Trees support thick woody vines and extensive
communities of epiphytic plants such as ferns, mosses, orchids, and bromeliads. Not
counting bacteria and other soil-dwelling organisms, about 90 percent of
tropical rainforest organisms are adapted to live in the canopy. Rain forests shelter the
most abundant and varied insects, birds, reptiles, and amphibians on Earth. Most
rainforest mammals, such as sloths and monkeys, are adapted to live only in the trees
and rarely climb down to the ground, although some large, ground-dwelling mammals,
including elephants, are also found in rainforests.
j. Aquatic ecosystems contain three main ecological categories of organisms: free-
floating plankton, strongly swimming nekton, and bottom-dwelling benthos. Planktons
are usually small or microscopic organisms that tend to drift or swim freely. Plankton
includes phytoplankton, photosynthetic algae and cyanobacteria that form the base of
most aquatic food webs, and zooplankton, animal-like organisms that feed on algae and
cyanobacteria and are in turn consumed by newly hatched fish and other small aquatic
organisms. Nektons are larger, more strongly swimming organisms such as fishes,
turtles, and whales. Benthos are bottom-dwelling organisms
that fix themselves to one spot (sponges and oysters), burrow into the sand (worms and
clams), or simply walk about on the bottom (crawfish and aquatic insect larvae).
k. Freshwater ecosystems include lakes and ponds (standing water ecosystems),
rivers and streams (flowing-water ecosystems), and marshes and swamps (freshwater
wetlands). A large lake has three zones: the littoral, limnetic and profundal zones. The
littoral zone is a productive, shallow-water area along the shore of a lake or pond. The
limnetic zone is the open water beyond the littoral zone that extends down as far as
sunlight penetrates to permit photosynthesis. The deepest zone, the profundal zone, is
beneath the limnetic zone of a large lake where light does not penetrate. Human effects
on lakes and ponds include eutrophication, which is the nutrient enrichment of a body of
water with inorganic plant and algal nutrients like nitrates and phosphates.

Runoff of agricultural fertilizers and discharge of treated or untreated sewage

accelerates this natural process.
Flowing-water ecosystems harbor different kinds of organisms, depending primarily on
the strength of the current. In streams with fast currents, some inhabitants have
adaptations such as suckers, with which they attach themselves to rocks to prevent
being swept away. Some stream inhabitants have flattened bodies to slip under or
between rocks. Other inhabitants such as fish are streamlined and muscular enough to
swim in the current. Human activities such as pollution and dam construction has
adverse impacts on rivers and streams.
Freshwater wetlands include marshes, dominated by grass-like plants, and swamps,
dominated by woody trees or shrubs. Wetland soils are waterlogged for variable periods
and are therefore anaerobic (without oxygen) and rich in accumulated organic materials.
With their productive plant communities, wetlands provide excellent wildlife habitat for
migratory waterfowl and other bird species, as well as for beaver, otters, muskrats, and
game fish. Wetlands are threatened by pollution, development, agriculture, and dam
construction.
Brackish/ estuarine ecosystem are transition zones between freshwater and marine
water habitats composed of brakish water whose pH and salinity varies depending on
the oceans and rivers that feed it. These are productive ecosystems teeming with
organic matter and nutrients in the sediments. Estuarine ecosystems such as mangrove
forests are natural filters for water draining from land, resulting in clearer water flowing
seaward. They also act as a natural buffer between the land and the ocean.
Lesson 6. ECOSYSTEM
CHAPTER 6
ECOSYSTEM
I. Introduction
The ecosystem is an array of organisms and their physical environment, all interacting
through a flow of energy and cycling of materials. Everything that affects an organism
during its lifetime is collectively known as its environment. The space that the organism
inhabits or where it lives is its habitat. Within its defined habitat, the organism fulfills an
obligatory role or niche to contribute to the total ecosystem function. Those nonliving
things that influence an organism are the abiotic factors. This includes energy, matter,
space, and ecological processes such as climate. The biotic factors include all forms of
life with which the organism interacts.
II. Objectives of the Lesson
At the end of the module, the learner should be able to:
1. Define ecology, environment, habitat and niche.
2. Enumerate biotic and abiotic factors in an ecosystem.
3. Illustrate the flow of energy in a food web.
4. Recognize the different process that occur in the biogeochemical cycles.
5. Distinguish among producers, consumers, and decomposers.
6. Distinguish among mutualism, commensalism, predation and parasitism.
III. Lesson Proper
A. Transfer of matter and energy occurs between organisms or between organisms and
the physical environment represented by a trophic structure. Energy flow between
organisms occurs in food chains, in which energy from food passes from one organism
to the next in a sequence. Each level, or “link,” in a food chain is a trophic level. (The
Greek tropho means “nourishment”). Food
web, on the other hand, is a complex of interconnected food chains in an ecosystem. All
food chains and webs start with the sun, the ultimate source of energy here on Earth.
Organisms can be classified based on their general nutritional habits.
Producers, also called autotrophs (self-feeders), are organisms that can manufacture
their own organic compounds that they use as sources of energy and nutrients. Most
producers are green plants that make organic nutrients by transforming energy from the
sun into chemical energy through photosynthesis (photosynthetic organisms).
Chemosynthetic organisms, mostly bacteria, can extract inorganic compounds, such as
hydrogen sulfide, from their environment and convert them to organic nutrients in the
absence of sunlight through a process called chemosynthesis.
Organisms that get the nutrients and energy they require by feeding either directly or
indirectly on producers are called consumers or heterotrophs (“other-feeders”).
Depending on their food sources, consumers fall into four major classes:
• Primary consumers are herbivores (plant-eaters) which feed directly and only on all or
part of living plants
• Secondary consumers are primary carnivores (meat-eaters), which feed only on plant-
eating animals
• Tertiary and higher-level consumers include large carnivores or omnivores (plant- and
meat-eaters) that feed on primary and secondary consumers and/or producers.
Heterotrophs that feed on detritus, or dead organic plant and animal matter, are known
as detritivores. There are two major classes of detritivores: detritus feeders and
decomposers. Detritus feeders ingest fragments of dead organisms and their cast-off
parts and organic wastes. Examples are crabs, earthworms, and clams. Decomposers,
on the other hand, absorb and endocytose the soluble nutrients at the cellular level.
This saprophytic mode of nutrition is carried out by bacteria and fungi.

B. Biogeochemical Cycles are cyclic paths of elements and inorganic compounds that
sustain life, referred to as nutrients, from the atmosphere to the lithosphere (soil) or
hydrosphere (water) into living things and then back into these environments.
The hydrologic cycle, or water cycle (Fig. 6.2), collects, purifies, and distributes the
Earth’s fixed water supply. The main processes in this water recycling and purifying
cycle are evaporation or the conversion of water to water vapor; condensation or the
conversion of water vapor to droplets of liquid water; transpiration, or the process in
which water, after being absorbed by the root system of plants and passing through
their living structure, evaporates into the atmosphere as water vapor; precipitation, such
as dew, rain, sleet, hail, snow; and runoff, which is the draining of water back to the sea
to begin the cycle again.

The Carbon Cycle includes the processes and pathways involved in capturing inorganic
carbon-containing molecules, converting them into organic molecules that are used by
organisms, and the ultimate release of inorganic carbon molecules back to the abiotic
environment. During photosynthesis, green plants absorb carbon dioxide from the air
and combine it with hydrogen from water absorbed from the soil. Complex organic
molecules such as sugar or carbohydrates are formed and oxygen molecules are
released into the atmosphere. Consumers use these organic molecules as food. Animal
cells burn sugars in the process known as respiration, releasing carbon dioxide back
into the atmosphere. Decomposers, on the other hand, use the organic molecules
contained in animal waste products and dead organisms as food. The decay process
releases carbon dioxide and water back into the environment. Buried plant and animal
materials become fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) by geologic forces. When we
burn fossil fuels, the carbon reenters the active carbon cycle.

The phosphorus Cycle can be short-term or long-term. Short-term cycling of

phosphorus starts when plants get phosphorus from the soil. Consumers obtain
phosphorus by eating plants. The decomposition of dead organic matter from producers
and consumers brings back phosphorus to the soil for recycling. The long-term cycle
involves the leaching of phosphates into bodies of water settling into sediments, and
later on, incorporated into rocks as insoluble compounds. Geologic processes elevate
these deposits and expose them to erosion making them available to organisms.
Phosphorus can be released by weathering and taken up by plant roots.

Nitrogen Cycle involves the cycling of nitrogen atoms between the abiotic and biotic
components and among the organisms in an ecosystem. The nitrogen gas present in
the atmosphere (constitutes about 79%) is not absorbable by most organisms. The
cycle is heavily dependent on microorganisms that can convert atmospheric nitrogen
into absorbable forms.
• Ammonifying bacteria convert nitrogen-containing wastes and bodies of dead plants
and animals into ammonia (NH3) and ammonia salts.
• Nitrogen-fixing bacteria (e.g. Rhizobium) convert atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to
ammonia.
• Nitrifying bacteria convert ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrate.
• Denitrifying bacteria convert nitrate to nitrogen gas, thus removing bioavailable
nitrogen and returning it to the atmosphere.
• Anammox bacteria oxidize ammonia by using nitrite as the electron acceptor to
produce gaseous nitrogen.

C. Interactions Among Organisms. Individuals and populations in an ecosystem interact

with each other in different ways. These interactions describe how organisms respond
to and alter their environment.
• In a neutral interaction, two populations interact, but neither would have any effect on
the evolutionary fitness of the other.
• Mutualism is a form of symbiosis in which both organisms benefit from living together.
• Commensalism is a relationship between two species whereby one (the commensal)
benefits from the association, whereas the other neither benefits nor suffers.
• Competition involves the interaction between two or more organisms (for example,
species), that uses a common resource, which is in short supply.
• Amensalism is an association between organisms of two different species in which
one is inhibited or destroyed and the other is unaffected.
• Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats
another organism, its prey.
• Parasitism is a symbiotic relationship between species, where one organism, the
parasite, lives on or in another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is
adapted structurally to this way of life.
• Parasitodism is a form of parasitism wherein an organism (called parasitoid) lives on
or inside the host at one phase in its life cycle, and usually ends up in the death of the
host.
Lesson 4. Environmental
protection Laws
CHAPTER 4
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION LAWS
I. Introduction
This module presents the different Philippine Laws that protect the environment.
II. Objectives of the Lesson
On completion of the module, the learner should be able to:
1. define conservation and preservation; and
2. briefly outline the environmental protection laws of the Philippines.
III. Lesson Proper
A. Conservation and Preservation
Conservation is the sensible and careful management of natural resources while
preservation
involves setting aside undisturbed areas, maintaining them in a pristine state, and
protecting
them from human activities that might alter their “natural” state.
Plowing and plating fields in curves that conform to the natural contours of the land
conserves
soil by reducing erosion.
B. Environmental Protection Laws
1. Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines
• Article II: Declaration of Principles and State Policies
Sec. 15. The State shall protect and promote the right to health of the people and
instilling health consciousness among them.
Sec. 16. The State shall protect and advance the right of the people to a balanced and
healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature.
• Article XII. National Economy and Patrimony
Sec. 4. The Congress shall, as soon as possible, determine by law the specific limits of
forest lands and national parks, marking clearly their boundaries on the ground.
Thereafter, such forest lands and national parks shall be considered and may not be
increased nor diminished, except by law.
2. PD 1151 (1979) – Philippine Environmental Policy
3. PD 1152 (Philippine Environmental Code)
• Air Quality Management
• Water Quality Management
• Land Use Management
• Natural Resources Management and Conservation
4. PD 1121 – Creating the National Environmental Protection Council
5. PD 1067 (1976) – Philippine Water Code
6. RA 8749 – The Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999
7. RA 9275 – The Philippine Clear Water Act of 2004
8. RA 6969 – Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Control Act of 1990
9. RA 9003 – Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000

Lesson 3: Sustainability
CHAPTER 3
SUSTAINABILITY AND HUMAN VALUES
I. Introduction
This module presents the sustainability of our environment and the values that we need
to take care
of it
II. Objectives of the Lesson
On completion of the module, the learner should be able to:
1. define sustainable development;
2. outline some of the complexities associated with the concept of sustainable
consumption;
3. contract voluntary simplicity and technological progress;
4. define environmental ethics;
5. discuss distinguishing features of the Western and Deep Ecology overviews; and
6. define environmental justice.
III. Lesson Proper
Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm
resolve to
achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the
joyful celebration
of life. (Earth Charter, 1992)
A. Sustainable Development
It is the economic growth that meet the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of
future generations to meet their needs.
Pollution and degradation of the environment are exacerbated as individuals in a
population
consume large amounts of resources. People living in highly developed nations
typically
consume disproportionately large shares of Earth’s resources and contribute
disproportionately
to environmental degradation
Lifestyle - Include all goods and services bought for food, clothing, housing, travel,
recreation,
and entertainment. In evaluating consumption, all aspects of the product, use, and
disposal of
these goods and services are taken into account, including environmental costs.
B. Sustainable Consumption
It is the use of goods and services that satisfy basic human needs and improve the
quality of life
but also minimize resource use. At the global level, sustainable consumption requires
the
eradication of poverty.
Developing countries should not be expected to avoid
or reduce environmental damage when to do so
hindered socially equitable economic development.
This in turn requires that poor people increase their
consumption of certain essential resources.
Widespread adoption of sustainable consumption will
not be easy. It will require major changes in the
consumption patterns and lifestyles of most people in
highly developed countries.
Voluntary simplicity – individual happiness and
quality of life are not necessarily linked to the
accumulation of material goods
While some individuals choose sustainable
consumption and voluntary simplicity, many people
do not. Many equate these ideas with unnecessary
sacrifice, and object to the idea of compulsory
reductions in consumption.
Continued technological progress
represents a promising opportunity for
maintaining high standards of living
while using fewer resources
C. Ethics
It is a branch of philosophy that is derived through the logical
application of human values. Environmental ethics is a field of
applied ethics that considers the moral basis of environmental
responsibility.
These values are the principles that an individual or a society
considers important or worthwhile.
Environmental ethicists consider such issues as what role we should play in determining
the
fate of Earth’s resources. How we might develop an environmental ethic that is
acceptable in
the short term for us as individuals and also in the long term for our species and the
planet.
Considers also the rights of future generations.
D. Environmental Worldviews
1. Western worldview (expansionist worldview) - based on human superiority over
nature,
the unrestricted use of natural resources, and economic growth to manage an
expanding
industrial base. Humans have a primary obligation to humans and are therefore
responsible
for managing natural resources to benefit
human society.
• Anthropocentric – emphasizes on the
importance of humans as the overriding
concern in the grand scheme of things.
Earth could not support its more than 7
billion humans if each consumed high
level of goods and services sanctioned
by the Western worldview.
• Frontier attitude – desire to conquer
and exploit nature as quickly as possible.
2. Deep ecology overview - based on harmony with nature, a spiritual respect for life,
and the
belief that humans and all other species have an equal worth.
• Biocentric – views humans as one species among others. The world could support
only a
fraction of the existing human population.
• Both human and nonhuman life have intrinsic value.
• Richness and diversity of life forms contribute to the flourishing of human and
nonhuman
life on Earth.
• Humans have no right to reduce this richness and diversity except to satisfy vital
needs
• Present human interference with the nonhuman world is excessive, and the situation
is
rapidly worsening.
• The flourishing of human life and cultures is compatible with a substantial decrease in
the
human population.
• Improving human well-being requires economic, technological, and ideological
changes.
• The ideological change is mainly that high quality of life need not be synonymous with
high levels of consumption.
• Those who subscribe to the foregoing points have an obligation to participate in the
attempt to implement the necessary changes.
E. Environmental Justice
This is the right of every citizen to adequate protection from environmental hazards.
• Eco-justice encompasses environmental inequalities faced by low-income minority
communities.
In the Philippine setting, any organization which advocates Environmental Justice?
Because people in low-income communities frequently lack access to sufficient health
care,
they may not be treated adequately for exposure to environmental contaminants.
Low-income communities may not receive equal benefits from federal cleanup
programs.
The poor tend to bear greater environmental burdens than the wealthy.

F. Overall Plan for Sustainable Living

1. Eliminate poverty and stabilize the human population
2. Protect and restore Earth’s resources
3. Provide adequate food for all people
4. Mitigate climate change
5. Design sustainable cities

Lecture on Lesson 2: The

Environmental Challenges we face
CHAPTER 2
THE ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES WE FACE
I. Introduction
This module presents the human impacts on the environment.
II. Objectives of the Lesson
On completion of the module, the learner should be able to:
1. distinguish among highly developed countries, moderately developed countries, and
less developed countries;
2. relate human population size to natural resources and resource consumption;
3. describe the three factors that are most important in determining human impact on
the environment;
4. define sustainability;
5. Identify human behaviors that threaten environmental sustainability;
6. Define environmental science; and
7. Outline the steps of the scientific method
III. Lesson Proper
A. The most significant factor impacting the health of the Earth’s environment is A
LARGE ANDGROWING HUMAN POPULATION. In 2011, the human population as a
whole passed 7 billion individuals in a brief span of time. More than 7 billion people
consume vast quantities of food and water, occupy or farm much of the most productive
land, use a great deal of energy and raw materials, and produce much waste.
The world population may stabilize toward the end of the 21st century, given the family
planning efforts that are currently underway. The fertility rate varies, from 1.7 in highly
developed countries to 4.5 in some of the less developed countries. Despite most
countries’ involvement with family planning, population growth rates don’t change
overnight. The coming decades may very well see many problems.
Poverty incidence among Filipinos in the first semester of 2015 was estimated at 26.3%.
Poverty is a condition in which people are unable to meet their basic needs for food,
clothing, shelter, and education. Or health. A family of five needed at least Php 6,365
every month to meet the basic food needs. Poverty is associated with a short life
expectancy, illiteracy, and inadequate access to health services, safe water, and
balanced nutrition.
Consumption – the human use of material and energy.
Economic growth – the expansion in output of a nation’s goods and services.
• The world’s economy is growing at an enormous rate, yet this growth is unevenly
distributed across the nations of the world.
B. Gap Between Rich and Poor Countries
1. Highly developed countries – with complex industrialized bases, low rates of
population growth, and high per person incomes (18% of the world’s population): United
States of America, Canada, Most of Europe, and Japan
2. Moderately developed countries – fewer opportunities for income, education, and
health care: Turkey, South Africa, Thailand, and Mexico
3. Less developed countries – cheap, unskilled labor is abundant, but capital investment
is scarce: Haiti, Bangladesh, Rwanda, and Laos
The amount of resources essential to an individual’s survival is small, but rapid
population growth tends to overwhelm and deplete a country’s soils, forests, and other
natural resources. In highly developed nations, individual demands on natural resources
are far greater than the requirements for mere survival. Many people in more affluent
nations deplete resources and degrade the global environment through increased
consumption of energy, material goods, and agricultural products.
C. Types of Resources
1. Nonrenewable resources – natural resources that are present in limited supplies and
are depleted as they are used.
2. Renewable resources – resources that are replaced by natural processes and that
can be used forever, provided that they are not overexploited in the short term: trees,
fishes, fertile agricultural soil, and fresh water.
The effects of population growth on natural resources are particularly critical in
developing countries. The economic growth of developing countries is frequently tied to
the exploitation of their natural resources often for export to highly developed countries.
Continued growth and development in highly developed countries now relies
significantly on the importation of these resources from less developed countries.
A larger population consumes more resources and causes more environmental damage
than does a smaller population. However, not all people consume the same amount of
resources. Variation in consumption is associated with economic status, geography,
culture, and other
social and personal factors. Highly developed countries account for the lion’s share of
total resources consumed:
86% of aluminum used
76% of timber harvested
68% of energy produced
61% of meat eaten
42% of the fresh water consumed
These nations also generate 75% of the world’s pollution and waste.
D. Sustainability and the Environment
Sustainability – achieved when the environment can function indefinitely without going
into a
the decline from the stresses that human society imposes on the natural system.

E. Environmental Science
This deals with the study of our environment, either globally or locally, and its living and
nonliving components.
1. Natural sciences – Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Physics, and Medicine
2. Social sciences – Economics, Political Science, Sociology, History, Philosophy, and
Ethics
3. Other sciences – Mathematics, Statistics, Technology, Business and Management,
Law, Religion, Morality, and Aesthetics
Goals of Environmental Science
1. To develop a sustainable world – a world in which the supply of food, water, building
materials, clean air, and other resources can sustain the human population to continue
to exist indefinitely with a high standard of living and health.
2. To study environmental problems and issues; priorities regarding acceptable
environmental preservation of natural species and habitats; freedom of nations to do as
they please, within their own potential boundaries, and issues on the quality of life,
fairness, and ethics. In order to apply the principles of Environmental Science, Scientific
Method should be used. This is the way a scientist approaches a problem, by
formulating a hypothesis (a statement of an expectation) and then testing them to form
theories (Integrated explanation of numerous
hypotheses, supported by a large body of observations and experiments).

Lecture on Lesson 1: Introduction

to Ecology
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO ECOLOGY, BIODIVERSITY, ECOSYSTEM, CLIMATE, AND
POPULATION GROWTH
I. Introduction
This module presents an introduction to the course on People and the Earth’s
Ecosystems.
II. Objectives of the Lesson
On completion of the module, the learner should be able to:
1. identify the different personalities that contributed on the study on Ecology and the
Ecosystem;
2. describe the components of Biodiversity;
3. internalize the effects of Biodiversity on the different species;
4. differentiate between Weather and Climate; and
5. illustrate the key features of a Population.
III. Lesson Proper
A. Ecology is the study of interrelationship of different organisms with each other and
with their
environment. It is also concerned with the general principles that apply to both animals
and
plants.
The word Ecology came from the word Oikos which means house, habitat, or place of
living and the word Logos means to study (Ernst
Haeckel, 1869)
Objectives of Ecology
1. It is important for humanity to understand its environment because we have the ability
to modify it through the use of technology and through the overexploitation of natural
resources as a result of greed or sheer pressure of numbers.
2. Therefore, Ecology is more than just the understanding of the interrelationships
between organisms and their environment; it also has social, political, economic, and
technological dimensions.
3. It also is a study of the evolutionary development of organisms, biological
productivity, and energy flow in the natural system.
4. To develop mathematical models to relate the interaction of parameters and to
predict the effects.
B. Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth and the essential interdependence of
all living things.
Scientists have identified more than 1.4 million species. Tens of millions still remain
unknown. The tremendous variety of life on Earth is made possible by complex
interactions among all living things, including microorganisms.
Three components of biodiversity
1. Diversity of genes - It is the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic
makeup of a species. It is distinguished from genetic variability, which describes the
tendency of genetic characteristics to vary. In an ecosystem, diversity can refer to the
number of different species or ecological niches that are present.
2. Diversity of a number of species – monkeys, dragonflies, and meadow beauties are
all different species.
3. Variety of ecosystems – lakes, ponds, and rivers are all freshwater ecosystems.
Rocky coast, sand dune, estuary, salt marsh, coral reef are all marine ecosystems
C. Ecosystem (Sir Arthur George Tansley, 1935) is the system resulting from the
interaction of all the living and nonliving factors of the environment. An
ecosystem consists of the biological community that occurs in some locale and the
physical and chemical factors that make up its non-living or abiotic environment.
D. Climate is an area’s long-term pattern of weather.
E. Population is all the individuals of a species that live in an area. Demography is the
statistical
study of populations, allows predictors to be made about how a population will change.
Three key features of the population
1. Size – number of individuals in an area. This is determined by the growth rate, which
is how
many individuals are born versus how many die
2. Density – measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. Population density
is the number of individuals per unit of space.
How do you affect density?
a. Immigration is the movement of individuals into a population
b. Emigration is the movement of individuals out of a population
c. Density-dependent factors. Biotic factors in an environment that have an
increasing effect as population size increases
d. Density-independent factors. Abiotic factors in the environment that affect
population regardless of their density
3. Dispersion – the spatial pattern of individuals in a population relative to one another.