Republic of the Philippines

PARTIDO STATE UNIVERSITY

Camarines Sur
College of Engineering and Technology

MODULE 1
Major Components of Global Environment

Course Code: A-3 Week/Period: 2

Course Title: Environmental Science and Engineering Name of Faculty: Engr. Moriel L. Prado
Term: First Semester, Academic Year 2020-2021

Learning Objectives
At the end of this module, students should be able to:
• Define and describe the meaning and concept of environments and ecosystems and other
important terms.
• Identify biotic and abiotic factors within an environment and provide examples.
• Analyze the difference between the biotic and abiotic factors.

Lesson/Topics

Overview
Engineers make designs for housing, cities and many types of buildings to specific environments and
ecosystems in which we live adapted to our needs. They use their knowledge on the concepts of environment
and ecosystems to make designs and construct the human-built environment. Likewise, they use engineered
ecosystems as blueprints on how living and non-living things are linked together in those natural
environments. They also collaborate to use this information in predicting the availability of resources for
communities.

Warm-Up
Give three things that you expect you will learn in this module.
1. ________________________________________________________________
2. ________________________________________________________________
3. ________________________________________________________________

Answer the questions in quizlet.com with the link: https://quizlet.com/_8hf7en?x=1qqt&i=2xg1fu

1. Copy and paste the link given above in your browser.
2. Click Match under Play.
3. Match the items given.

Reading Activity
Read about Environment and Ecosystem by accessing the following materials using the links
provided.

1. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328306598_Ecology_and_Ecosystem
2. https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/cub_bio_lesson01
3. https://www.toppr.com/guides/biology/ecosystem/components-of-ecosystem/

While reading, please consider the following guided questions;

1) What is an environment? An ecosystem?

2) What are the major components of global environment?
3) What are examples of biotic and abiotic factors?

Prepared by: Engr. Moriel L. Prado A-3 1

 Republic of the Philippines
PARTIDO STATE UNIVERSITY
Camarines Sur
College of Engineering and Technology

Discussion
Definition of Environment and Ecosystem

 Environment is derived from French word “environ” which means “encircle”

 An environment is the surrounding area in which an organism lives, including nature
environment/natural (air, water, food and energy required for that organism to survive) and
human environment/human made/artificial (activities, creations and interaction among
human beings).
 The term “eco” refers to a part of the world and “system” refers to the organizing units.
 An Ecosystem is a naturally occurring assemblage of life and the physical environment.
 An interaction of biotic and abiotic factors.
 An ecosystem may be natural or artificial, land-based or water-based.

Natural Ecosystem Examples

Coral reef Freshwater Forest

Artificial Ecosystem Examples

Garden Cropland Aquarium

Components of an Ecosystem

Biotic - include all living organisms and their products. This group includes all animals, plants,
bacteria, fungi and their waste products like fallen leaves or branches or excreta.

Based on their activity, biotic components are classified into four categories as
a) producers
b) consumers
c) decomposers
d) transformers

Producers
 Producers are called energy transducers. They convert solar energy into chemical energy,
with the help of organic and inorganic substances.
 The producers are called as autotrophic (auto = self; troph = nourishing) organisms.
 They are capable of synthesizing food from non-living inorganic compounds.
Prepared by: Engr. Moriel L. Prado A-3 2
 Republic of the Philippines
PARTIDO STATE UNIVERSITY
Camarines Sur
College of Engineering and Technology

 They are largely represented by green plants on land (trees, grasses, crops) and
phytoplanktons on water.

Consumers
 Consumers are the organisms, whose food requirement are met by feeding on other
organisms.
 They consume the food materials prepared by the producers (autotrophs). Hence,
consumers are called as heterotrophic organisms.
 Animals belong to this category.
 Depending upon their food habits, consumers are classified into primary, secondary and
tertiary consumers.

The PRIMARY CONSUMERS (herbivores) are solely feed on plants/plant eaters

Examples:

Grasshopper Rabbit Goat Zebra

The SECONDARY CONSUMERS (Carnivores) feed on some primary consumers/flesh eaters.

Examples

Bird Frog Fish Shrew

OMNIVORES (Biophages ) - eat both vegetables and flesh

Examples

Human Cockroach Fox Bear

Prepared by: Engr. Moriel L. Prado A-3 3

 Republic of the Philippines
PARTIDO STATE UNIVERSITY
Camarines Sur
College of Engineering and Technology

TERTIARY CONSUMERS are the predators of predators. They are mostly larger animals.

Examples:

Lion Hawk Tiger Shark

Decomposers
 They are also called as microconsumers.
 They depend on dead organic matter for their food.
 They are mainly microorganisms like bacteria and fungi.
 They break the complex organic matter found in plant and animal bodies, and release simple
substances.
 These substances will be used by autotrophs once again.
 Some invertebrate animals like protozoa and earthworms use these dead organic matter for
their food.
 They are called as secondary decomposers.

Examples

Transformers
 Transformers are certain types of bacteria.
 They attack on materials excreted by other living organisms (even dead plants and animals).
 They transform the above into either organic or inorganic substances.
 These substances are suitable for the nutrition of green plants.
 Transformers help in recycling the nutrients which came as waste already.

Prepared by: Engr. Moriel L. Prado A-3 4

 Republic of the Philippines
PARTIDO STATE UNIVERSITY
Camarines Sur
College of Engineering and Technology

Examples

Source: https://slideplayer.com/slide/4022960/

Abiotic – include all the non-living components of the ecosystem.

They are of three categories

1. Climatic and physical factors
 air, water, soil and sunlight; rainfall, temperature, humidity, soil texture and geomorphic
conditions.

2. Inorganic substances
 include all nutrient elements and compounds that are involved in the cycling of materials in
the ecosystems.
 carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorous, carbon dioxide, water, etc.

Diagram illustrating the supply of inorganic substances for the maintenance of living matter

Prepared by: Engr. Moriel L. Prado A-3 5

 Republic of the Philippines
PARTIDO STATE UNIVERSITY
Camarines Sur
College of Engineering and Technology

3. Organic compounds
 they largely form the living body and link the abiotic compounds with the biotic factors.
 these are proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, humic substances, etc.

Diagram illustrating the supply of inorganic substances for the maintenance of living matter

The abiotic factors determine the type of organisms that can successfully live in a particular area.
 Sunlight is necessary for photosynthesis; it influences organisms and their environment; it
has a profound effect on the growth and development of life.
 Water is the elixir of life; all living things require water for their survival, but some can live
with lesser amounts
 Temperature - all living things have a range of temperatures in which they can survive;
beyond those limits it will be difficult for them to live.
 Oxygen - many living things require oxygen; it is necessary for cellular respiration, a process
used to obtain energy from food; others are actually killed by the presence of oxygen
(certain bacteria)
 Soil - the type of soil, pH, amount of water it holds, available nutrients, etc determine what
type of organism can successfully live in or on the soil; for example, cacti live in sand, cattails
in soil saturated with water.
 The inorganic substances like nitrates, carbonates and phosphates occur either freely or in
the form of compounds dissolved in water and soil.
 Some of them are recycled by microorganisms on the dead bodies of plants and animals.

Prepared by: Engr. Moriel L. Prado A-3 6

 Republic of the Philippines
PARTIDO STATE UNIVERSITY
Camarines Sur
College of Engineering and Technology

Summary

https://www.toppr.com/guides/biology/ecosystem/components-of-ecosystem/

Prepared by: Engr. Moriel L. Prado A-3 7

 Republic of the Philippines
PARTIDO STATE UNIVERSITY
Camarines Sur
College of Engineering and Technology

Learning Activity
1. Students will be asked to join the class in google classroom by sending them the class code to
access the learning materials.
2. Students familiarize themselves with the materials through classification exercises.
3. The students will be grouped to 3-4 members for group discussions via group chats/messages,
video conferencing, etc.
4. Videos will be provided to students for supplemental lessons.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAHy_LdA7-4
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWPj2IkeklI

Assessment

1.6.1 Pre-Lesson Assessment

Warm-Up Quiz: Administer the Warm-Up Quiz to the class before beginning any discussion on Unit 1:
Introduction. Then, after completion of the lesson, administer the same (post-unit) quiz to the students and
compare pre- to post- scores.

1.6.2 Post-Lesson Assessment

Writing and Drawing/Drafting Reflection: Ask students to write a paragraph in their notebook or on a sheet
of paper that describes themselves and where they live. They should include a description of their
environment, habitat and community, and consider themselves as part of a population. Add a drawing or
drafting component by having students place themselves in an environment of their choice and design a living
space to protect themselves from the conditions of that environment. Remind students that engineers
sometimes create these types of designs.

Group Discussion: As a class, have the students engage in open discussion. Solicit, integrate and summarize
student responses, writing their ideas on the classroom board. All ideas should be respectfully heard. Take
an uncritical position and discourage criticism of ideas. Have students raise their hands to respond. Ask the
students:

 What different types of environments can you think of?

 (For each environment) What is the climate like? What kind of weather might occur? (Dry or humid?
Sunny or foggy? Hot or cold? Snowstorms or tornados?)
 (For each environment) What types of plants and animals live there?

References
1. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328306598_Ecology_and_Ecosystem
2. https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/cub_bio_lesson01
3. https://www.toppr.com/guides/biology/ecosystem/components-of-ecosystem/
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAHy_LdA7-4
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWPj2IkeklI

Prepared by: Engr. Moriel L. Prado A-3 8