APES year in review

1. APES year in review 2012, The year everyone gets a 5!

2. Chapter 1: Introduction Understand how natural world works Understand how human systems interact with natural system Accurately determine environmental problems Develop and follow a sustainable relationship with natural world

3. Easter Island Sustainability - A system/process can continue indefinitely without depleting resources used. *no sacrifice to future generations* Stewardship Caring for something that does not belong to you Sound Science Use the scientific method

4. A. Human population growth • More than 6.3 billion people currently • last 25 yrs population grew by 2 billion • projected that population will be 10 billion by 2050 • increase pop → increase need for resources

5. B. Soil degradation • Demand for food destroys the soil • erosion • minerals in soil are depleted • salinization • increased use of pesticides • Overuse of fresh water

6. C. Global Atmospheric Changes Global Warming • CO2 produced from fossil fuel burning acts like a blanket around the earth. • Plants take CO2 out of the atmosphere through photosynthesis • 6CO2 +6H2O => 602 + C6H12O6 Ozone depletion • Chemicals released from the surface of the earth destroy our ozone shield. • No stratospheric ozone, no protection from the UV rays of the sun.

7. Rachel Carson was a scientist who wrote Silent Spring in 1962. • It addressed the growing use of pesticides (DDT) and their unpredicted effects on song birds. • Original users of pesticides did not know that the poisons used to kill insects would accumulate in other living things and kill them too. BIOACCUMULATION

8. More Cool Environmentalist • John Muir – Sierra Club • Ansel Adams – Photography (Yosemite) • Aldo Leopold – Sand County Almanac • Henry David Thoreau – Walden • Garrett Hardin – Tragedy of the Commons

9. Earth’s Energy Budget Figure 2.8

10. Tropics receive more concentrated insolation (2.5x more) than the poles due to the Earth’s curvature Figure 2.9

11. Varied Habitat calls for varied forms Biomes determined by latitude and precipitation

13. Notice, more precipitation bigger the plant life

15. Habitats are dynamic… constantly changing.. Succession

16. Hydric succession • Mother nature is always busy. • Wet moves to dry • Notice replacement organisms

17. Primary Succession Where there was no life previously Examples -after a lava flow and at the edge of a receding glacier.

18. Secondary Succession- re-colonization Secondary succession- from abandoned field to mature forest

19. Succession and Chemical Cycling

21. Basic Concepts of Biological Diversity • Bio diversity refers to the variety of life forms in an area. • Expressed as # of species in an area • Or # of genetic types in an area • Genetic diversity: • total # of genetic characteristics of a specific species, sub species or group of species. • Habitat diversity: • the different kinds of habitat in a given unit area. • Species diversity: • Species richness- total # of sp • Species evenness- the relative abundance of sp • Species dominance- the most abundant sp

22. Species Diversity Merely counting the number of species is not enough to describe biological diversity.

23. Questions? • Take a few minutes to look over the spread sheet • Write down 3 observations • Which ecosystems are more diverse; those with larger DI numbers or smaller ? Explain • Compare Ecosystems A and B- How do their indices compare? Each has 10 different species, Ecosystem A has only 29 organisms and Ecosystem B has over 300 • Which has a healthier Diversity Index? Why • Compare the last two Ecosystem indices. What do you notice? • Why is it important to use a Diversity Index?

24. DI Samp

25. Species Richness (diversity) • Species richness not very informative • Each community has 5 spp & 50 individuals

26. Simpson Diversity Index (D) Ds = (n1(n1 -1)/N(N-1)) Where: Ds = Bias corrected form for Simpson Index n1 = number of individuals of spp 1 N = Total number of spp in community In this form as diversity increases index value gets smaller

27. D. Loss of Biodiversity • Habitat destruction is the major cause of loss of Diversity • exact # of species lost is unknown because not all species are identified • strong ecosystems need biodiversity • 1959-1980 25% of all prescription drugs from natural resources • We are in the middle of the 6th great extinction

28. Ch 2: Ecosystems Levels of organization of matter Universe Ecosphere/biosphere Ecosystems Communities Populations Organisms Cells Atoms

29. Ecosystems Plants and animals interacting with their abiotic environment. Ecosystems exist in biomes. Climate – ave temperature over time *Weather – daily variations in temp and precipitation Microclimate and Other Abiotic Factors * light intensity * Soil type * topography

30. Physics • Energy is measured in calories • Calorie – amount of heat needed to raise 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius. • Kilocalorie = 1,000 calories • 1st law of thermodynamics • Energy cannot be created nor destroyed, only change forms (light to chemical) • 2nd law of thermodynamics • Energy transformation increases disorder (entropy) of the universe. • Heat is the lowest grade of energy.

31. Trophic Relationship Food webs • Trophic levels * producers * herbivores *primary carnivores 10 % rule- only ten percent of the energy can be passed from one trophic level to the next. 90% energy lost as heat from web

32. Be able to fill in Kcal when given one level. All biomass gets its energy from the sun Only 10% of energy from one trophic level moves to the next trophic level Energy released is high potential energy molecules (like glucose) then converted to low potential energy molecules (like carbon dioxide)

33. Numbers Pyramid

34. Relationships Mutualism * Flowers & insects Commensalism Predator/prey host parasite Competition habitat vs. niche

35. Limiting Factors Temperature, light, oxygen, carbon dioxide, precipitation • Optimum levels • Zones of stress • Limits of Tolerance • Range of Tolerance Synergistic effects – The interaction of two or more factors is greater than the sum of the effects when each acts alone. Example: pollution and disease Phosphorous is limiting factor in fresh water ecosystems Add a limiting factor…. Result cultural eutrophication

36. MATTER CYCLED …………………………ENERGY FLOWS Ch 3: Ecosystems, how they work • Recycle or Die • All matter is recycled through the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. • Nothing is created nothing is destroyed • All stable ecosystems recycle matter and get energy from the sun

37. Energy... laws • High Quality Energy: organized & concentrated; can perform useful work (fossil fuel & nuclear) • Low Quality Energy: disorganized, dispersed (heat in ocean or air wind, solar) • First Law of Thermodynamics: energy is neither created nor destroyed, but may be converted from one form to another (Law • of Conservation of Energy) • Second Law of Thermodynamics: when energy is changed from one form to another, some useful energy is always degraded • into lower quality energy, usually heat

38. Photosynthesis Building organic from inorganic • Photosynthesis (Only 1% of the energy from the sun is used) • Chlorophyll – absorbs light to drive photosynthesis • Plants use glucose to: • Construct other molecules • Build their cell wall • Store energy • Source of energy Respiration Getting the energy out of food

39. Carbon cycle

40. Nitrogen cycle • Main reserve in the atmosphere N2 unusable! • Living things must get N from ammonium (NH4) or nitrate (NO3) for DNA, proteins • N from the atmo must be fixed • Change N2 into ammonium or nitrate • Rhizobium (bacteria living in roots of legumes) fig 3-10 • Industrial • Lightning • Burning fossil fuels

41. Nitrogen Cycle

42. KNOW these Terms • Nitrogen fixing: because atmospheric N2 cannot be used directly by plants it must first be converted into ammonia (NH3) by bacteria (rhizobium) • Ammonification: decomposers convert organic waste into ammonia • Nitrification: ammonia (NH3) is converted to nitrate ions (NO3)- • Assimilation: inorganic nitrogen is converted into organic molecules such as DNA/amino acids & proteins • Denitrification: bacteria convert nitrate (NO3)- and nitrite (NO2)- back into N2 gas

43. Phosphorus cycle • No gas phase, only solid and liquid • Man-made fertilizers contain organic phosphates • Because P is a limiting factor in aquatic systems, it leads to eutrophication • The rain forest is very good at recycling P, except when we cut it down…

45. Biosphere II (remember ecocolumns) • Purpose: recreate conditions of Earth (Biosphere I) * to understand our world better * space travel • 5 acres in Arizona, 4000 species, 10 humans * problem: 02 + CO2 were absorbed by concrete * ants and cockroaches took over

46. Fires in Ecosystem • Maintain balance of species and energy in ecosystems over the long run. • Beneficial b/c provide nutrients for soil • We avoid natural fires, but the problems like Crown Fires- (not natural) kill the whole tree • 1988 Yellowstone fires changed climax ecosystems of white bark pine trees to huckle berries. Grizzlies eat both

47. Succession - One species gradually replaced by another in an ecosystem • Primary – new ecosystem where there were no living things before. Cooled lava, receded glacier, mud slide • Secondary- ecosystem used to be there. Fire, humans clear an area • Aquatic – lakes taken over by terrestrial ecosystem • Climax ecosystem- in balance only changes if major interference

48. Primary succession • Must create new soil for plants to grow • The first plants to come in are called • pioneer species • Lichen • Moss • Microbes

49. Why do species change? • Environmental resistance and biotic potential • Selective pressure on mutations • Speciation * creation of a new species based on reproductive isolation Populations isolated by rivers, mts, civilization

50. Natural Selection • Some individuals may be better suited to the environment than others. • Those better able to survive and reproduce leave more offspring. Bird of Paradise • Their descendants form a larger proportion of the next generation.