PEOPLE AND EARTH

ECOSYSTEM
 ECOSYSTEM?
AN ECOSYSTEM IS THE BASIC UNIT
OF THE FIELD OF THE SCIENTIFIC
STUDY OF NATURE. ACCORDING
TO THIS DISCIPLINE, AN
ECOSYSTEM IS A PHYSICALLY
DEFINED ENVIRONMENT, MADE UP
OF TWO INSEPARABLE
COMPONENTS:
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 ECOSYSTEM
• THE BIOTOPE (ABIOTIC): A PARTICULAR PHYSICAL
ENVIRONMENT WITH SPECIFIC PHYSICAL
CHARACTERISTICS SUCH AS THE CLIMATE,
TEMPERATURE, HUMIDITY, CONCENTRATION OF
NUTRIENTS OR PH.
• THE BIOCENOSIS (BIOTIC): A SET OF LIVING ORGANISMS
SUCH AS ANIMALS, PLANTS OR MICRO-ORGANISMS,
THAT ARE IN CONSTANT INTERACTION AND ARE,
THEREFORE, IN A SITUATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE.
HOW DO NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS WORK?
NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS ARE “BALANCED” SYSTEMS.
THIS MEANS THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE
DIFFERENT ORGANISMS THAT MAKE UP THE
ECOSYSTEM CONTRIBUTE TO A CERTAIN STABILITY. FOR
EXAMPLE, IN GRASSLAND ECOSYSTEMS, HERBIVORES
CONSUME GRASS, BUT ALSO FEED THE SOIL WITH THEIR
DROPPINGS, WHICH ALLOWS THE GRASS TO GROW
BACK AND ALLOWS SOME SORT OF BALANCE. STILL,
THIS DOESN’T MEAN AN ECOSYSTEM, EVEN A HEALTHY
ONE, IS STATIC. IN REALITY, ECOSYSTEMS ARE
CONSTANTLY EVOLVING AS THEY ARE BASED ON
DYNAMIC PROCESSES THAT ARE CONSTANTLY
CHANGING
ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE
ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE:
CREATION MYTHS
A CREATION MYTH IS A SYMBOLIC NARRATIVE OF THE WORLD
AS UNDERSTAND BY A CULTURE. THESE ARE HANDED DOWN
FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION THROUGH STORIES, SONGS
AND WORK OF ART, AMONG OTHERS.
According to the Genesis of the Bible’s Old Testament, the creation of the
entire cosmos (universe) took six days. The Biblical creation story tells that
God created the Universe.
BIG BANG THEORY
 HOW DID OUR
UNIVERSE STARTED?

1 2 3
ATOM 3 MINNUTES/ BIG BANG
ORANGE THEORY
 4 5 6
AFTER HUNDRED ATOMS THAT ARE 200 -400 MILLIONS
YEARS COMPOSED MAINLY YEARS AFTER THE
OF PROTON, BIGBANG THEORY
ELECTRON AND THE FIRST STAR AND
NEUTRON GALAXIES ARE
FORMED
A BELGIAN PRIEST NAMED GEORGES LEMAÎTRE
FIRST SUGGESTED THE BIG BANG THEORY IN THE
1920S, WHEN HE THEORIZED THAT THE UNIVERSE
BEGAN FROM A SINGLE PRIMORDIAL ATOM.
. THE IDEA RECEIVED MAJOR BOOSTS FROM EDWIN
HUBBLE'S OBSERVATIONS THAT GALAXIES ARE
SPEEDING AWAY FROM US IN ALL DIRECTIONS, AS
WELL AS FROM THE 1960S DISCOVERY OF COSMIC
MICROWAVE RADIATION—INTERPRETED AS ECHOES
OF THE BIG BANG—BY ARNO PENZIAS AND ROBERT
WILSON.
 STEADY STATE
THEORY
DURING THE TIME WHEN THE BIG BANG THEORY WAS STILL BEING
ESTABLISHED, FRED HOYLE AND HIS COLLEAGUES, HERMAN BONDI AND
TOMMY GOLD, PROPOSED ANOTHER THEORY ON THE ORIGIN OF THE
UNIVERSE. THE STEADY STATE THEORY ASSUMED THAT THE UNIVERSE HAS
ALWAYS BEEN AND WILL ALWAYS BE THE SAME.

no beginning but they believe that it is expanding

like the Big Bang Theory
 THE PROPONENTS ALSO BELIEVED THAT NEW MATTER IS
CREATED AS THE UNIVERSE EXPANDS (KEEPING THE DENSITY
THE SAME) AND THAT THE AGE OF STARS WILL STAY THE
SAME.

ACCORDING TO THE STEADY STATE THEORY, SCIENTISTS INITIALLY

CALCULATED THAT THE UNIVERSE IS ONLY A FEW BILLION YEARS
OLD—ALMOST AS OLD AS THE SOLAR SYSTEM—WHICH IS NOT
POSSIBLE
THE STEADY STATE THEORY SHOWING THAT AS
THE UNIVERSE EXPANDED, MATTER IS
CONTINUOUSLY
BEING CREATED KEEPING THE OVERALL DENSITY
CONSTANT.