Chapter 2: Human Dependence on Environment

Md Rezwan Siddiqui
Senior Lecturer
Department of Social Relations
East West University

rezsid@ewubd.edu
 Earth's Energy Balance
The Earth’s climate is a solar powered system

71 percent of the total incoming solar energy is absorbed by the Earth system.
?
 Biological and Nutrient Cycle

How many nutrient cycle can you name?

Biogeochemical and Nutrient Cycle
 Biogeochemical and Nutrient Cycle
• The energy used by organisms must be obtained in the
biosphere and must be constantly supplied for life to
continue.

• When an organism dies, its body is broken down and the

nutrients in it become available for use by other organisms.

• This flow of energy allows life on Earth to continue to exist.

 Biogeochemical and Nutrient Cycle
The nutrient cycle describes how nutrients move from the
physical environment into living organisms, and subsequently
are recycled back to the physical environment.

In any particular environment, the nutrient cycle

must be balanced and stable if the organisms that
live in that environment are to flourish and be
maintained in a constant population
 Biogeochemical and Nutrient Cycle
The Earth has a limited quantity of chemical elements from when
it was formed; and the only way more elements are obtained is
from occasional meteorites striking the Earth from outer space.

Because the chemicals on Earth function in a closed system,

neither significantly increasing nor decreasing in quantity, they
are recycled throughout the Earth’s biological and geological
cycles.

These cycles include both the living biosphere, and the nonliving
lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere. The main
biogeochemical cycles describe the movement of carbon,
nitrogen and phosphorus.
What is Ecosystem?
An Ecosystem consists of a community of
organisms together with their physical environment.

The concept of nature as divided into basic functional units called ecosystems
reflects scientists’ recognition of the complex manner in which living organisms
interact with each other and with the nonliving (or abiotic) components of their
environment to process energy and cycle nutrients.

Think about some examples of Ecosystem

NASA | Satellite Tracks Saharan Dust to Amazon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygulQJoIe2Y
An ecosystem has no defining size limitations: an abandoned tire
casing containing trapped rainwater, microorganisms, and swarms of
mosquito larvae can be regarded as an ecosystem; so can a family-
room aquarium, a city park, a cornfield, a tide pool, a cow pasture, or,
indeed, the entire planet Earth. Any of these widely diverse situations
can be considered an ecosystem so long as living and nonliving
elements are present and interacting to process energy and cycle
materials
 Importance of Mangrove Ecosystem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhLlqdPB_Rs
 Components of Ecosystem
Abiotic / Physical omponents
The abiotic components of an ecosystem are all of the nonliving elements. They
include the water, the air, the temperature and the rocks and minerals that make up
the soil. Abiotic components of an ecosystem might include how much rain falls on
it, whether it is fresh water or salt water, how much sun it gets or how often it
freezes and thaws. The biotic components of the ecosystem both live on and
interact with the abiotic components.

Producers at the Base

Producers are the living organisms in the ecosystem that take in energy from
sunlight and use it to transform carbon dioxide and oxygen into sugars. Plants, algae
and photosynthetic bacteria are all examples of producers. Producers form the base
of the food web and are generally the largest group in the ecosystem by weight, or
biomass. They also act as an interface with the abiotic components of the
ecosystem during nutrient cycles as they incorporate inorganic carbon and nitrogen
from the atmosphere.

https://sciencing.com/four-basic-components-ecosystem-9557.html
 Components of Ecosystem
Consumer
Consumers are living organisms in the ecosystem that get their energy from
consuming other organisms. Conceptually, consumers are further subdivided by
what they eat: Herbivores eat producers, carnivores eat other animals and
omnivores eat both. Along with producers and decomposers, consumers are part of
what is known as food chains and webs, where energy and nutrient transfer can be
mapped out. Consumers can only harvest about 10 percent of the energy contained
in what they eat, so there tends to be less biomass at each stage as you move up
the food chain.

Decomposers
Decomposers are the living component of the ecosystem that breaks down waste
material and dead organisms. Examples of decomposers include earthworms, dung
beetles and many species of fungi and bacteria. They perform a vital recycling
function, returning nutrients incorporated into dead organisms to the soil where
plants can take them up again. In this process they also harvest the last of the
sunlight energy initially absorbed by producers. Decomposers represent the final
step in many of the cyclical ecosystem processes.

https://sciencing.com/four-basic-components-ecosystem-9557.html
Food chain is a linear sequence of
organisms through which nutrients and energy
pass as one organism eats another. Producers
make their own organic food. Consumers get
food and energy by eating other organisms,
Decomposers, are that break down dead
organic material and wastes.
Food web consist of many
interconnected food chains and
are more realistic representation
of consumption relationships in
ecosystems.
 Ecosystem services
Ecosystem services are the benefits
people obtain from ecosystems.

These include provisioning services such as food and

water; regulating services such as regulation of floods,
drought, land degradation, and disease; supporting
services such as soil formation and nutrient cycling;
and cultural services such as recreational, spiritual,
religious and other nonmaterial benefits.
 Ecosystem services
Ecosystem services are the benefits
people obtain from ecosystems.

These include provisioning services such as food and

water; regulating services such as regulation of floods,
drought, land degradation, and disease; supporting
services such as soil formation and nutrient cycling;
and cultural services such as recreational, spiritual,
religious and other nonmaterial benefits.
A precarious water budget appears to be an almost necessary condition
for the rise of a morally concerned High God

A low water budget and a resulting harsh natural environment would

provide starker dilemmas involving personal interests versus the greater
good of the society and thereby heighten the importance of all
community members' developing the ability to use conventional moral
reasoning in the service of societal maintenance
John Snarey (1996) The Natural Environment's Impact upon Religious Ethics: A Cross-Cultural Study
Biodiversity is a term that represents the total variety of all life
on Earth— thousands of different habitats, millions of different species, and
the trillions of characteristics they all have.

Why is biodiversity so important?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK_vRtHJZu4

What is biodiversity?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US58f-SwO0k