Components of Environmental Science

1. Ecology
Ecology is the study of organisms and the environment interacting with one another.
Ecologists, who make up a part of environmental scientists, try to find relations between the
status of the environment and the population of a particular species within that
environment, and if there are any correlations to be drawn between the two.

For example, ecologists might take the populations of a particular type of bird with the
status of the part of the Amazon Rainforest that the population is living in.

The ecologists will study and may or may not come to the conclusion that the bird
population is increasing or decreasing as a result of air pollution in the rainforest. They may
also take multiple species of birds and see if they can find any relation to one another,
allowing the scientists to come to a conclusion if the habitat is suitable or not for that
species to live in.

2. Geoscience
Geoscience concerns the study of geology, soil science, volcanoes, and the Earth’s crust as
they relate to the environment. As an example, scientists may study the erosion of the
Earth’s surface in a particular area. Soil scientists, physicists, biologists, and
geomorphologists would all take part in the study.

Geomorphologists would study the movement of solid particles (sediments), biologists

would study the impacts of the study to the plants and animals of the immediate
environment, physicists would study the light transmission changes in the water causing the
erosion, and the soil scientists would make the final calculations on the flow of the water
when it infiltrates the soil to full capacity causing the erosion in the first place.

3. Atmospheric Science
Atmospheric science is the study of the Earth’s atmosphere. It analyzes the relation of the
Earth’s atmosphere to the atmospheres of other systems. This encompasses a wide variety
of scientific studies relating to space, astrology, and the Earth’s atmosphere: meteorology,
pollution, gas emissions, and airborne contaminants.
An example of atmospheric science is where physicists study the atmospheric circulation of
a part of the atmosphere, chemists would study the chemicals existent in this part and their
relationships with the environment, meteorologists study the dynamics of the atmosphere,
and biologists study how the plants and animals have affected and their relationship with
the environment.

4. Environmental Chemistry
Environmental Chemistry is the study of the changes chemicals make in the environment,
such as contamination of the soil, pollution of the water, degradation of chemicals, and the
transport of chemicals upon the plants and animals of the immediate environment.

An example of environmental chemistry would be the introduction of a chemical object into

an environment, in which chemists would then study the chemical bonding to the soil or
sand of the environment. Biologists would then study the now chemically induced soil to
see its relationship with the plants and animals of the environment.

Environmental science is an active and growing part of the scientific world accelerated by
the need to address problems with the Earth’s environment. It encompasses multiple
scientific fields and sciences to see how all interchange and relate with one another in any
of the above four components.

Top 5 Environmental Science Careers

1. Environmental Scientist
An environmental scientist performs research to pinpoint, minimize the grave impacts of, or
get rid of hazards and pollutants to the environments or the health of the globe’s
population. His or her main aim is to protect and conserve Mother Nature.

Environmental scientist jobs are normally full time, including working over 40 hours a week.
Their main workplaces are laboratories and outdoor field works. You need impeccable skills
set to be an environmental scientist including communication skills, reading comprehension,
and self-discipline.

2. Environmental Engineer
An environmental engineer finds solutions to problems in the environment by leveraging his
or her knowledge of soil science, engineering, biology, and chemistry. His or her area of
focus includes the control of pollution, recycling, and Public health aspects.

A bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering is required to become an environmental

engineer. An environmental engineer should be able to:

 Offer suggestions for maintaining and beefing up the environmental performance

 Find out, evaluate and apply stormwater good management practices for municipal,
industrial and construction stormwater programs
 Evaluate environmental regulations and seek counsel with applicability determination
 He or she should document all environmental incidences
 Develop and keep in line environmental management systems to conform to air and
permit regulations
 Lead from the front in the negotiation and of permit applications
 Liaise with regulatory bodies, prepare required documentation, organize any testing
sessions, and provide more follow-up documentation needed.

3. Environmental Biologist
An environmental biologist deals with the ecosystem and wildlife that reside in it. However,
environmental biologist focuses a lot on the biological side of any ecosystem, which means
his or her duties are more inclined to biology. To qualify as an environmental biologist, you
need a bachelor’s degree in environmental biology. The duties of an environmental
biologist include:
  Administering biological and project schedules using scientific techniques, statistical
tools and in-depth knowledge in the domain
 Scheduling and conducting biological experiments and follow up with field and
laboratory operating processes
 Pinpoint project technicalities and counteract them effectively without compromising
resources and time
 Bring up findings of experiments to colleagues and stakeholders
 Ensure scientific integrity by working with a team in conjunction with peer review
data

4. Environmental Geologist
Environmental geology is a field of study that blends the main cornerstone of environmental
science and puts more emphasis on geology and how to apply it in a real-world scenario to
solve environmental problems.

An environmental geologist goes beyond interest in the environment and correlation

between humans and wildlife in it. He or she also focuses on fossil fuels, non-renewable
resourcesnon, minerals, and the earth’s crust.

An environmental geologist will spend most of his or her work life serving as a consultant,
assisting in the mitigation of soil and groundwater contamination by determining the right
location for new landfills and drawing up a plan for underground waste disposal.

He or she also ensures water supplies and soils that are responsible for growing food stay
clean and uncontaminated without affecting or limiting access to any organism or animal
that relies on them for survival.

5. Environmental Biotechnologist
This professional synchronize engineering and biology to create and utilize procedures that
correct contaminated sites. For instance, there is a wide range of bacteria, microbes, and
fungi that are able to consume pollutants and later break them down into safe elements
over time.

An environmental biotechnologist finds out, utilize, and create necessary microbes for
correcting a specific area and the pollutants unique to it. Contaminated soil might be
corrected or remedied on-site or loaded into containers and transported for treatment. 
Environmental biotechnologists perform the following duties:

 Develop plant-based bioplastics

  Transform plants into biofuels
 Draw up correction plans for specific sites that abide by environmental regulations
 Develop procedures to convert waste into biogas or other cleaner sources of energy
 Develops cleaner industrial processes by substituting chemicals with biological
processes
 Utilize GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to pinpoint contaminated sites and
distribution of pollutants
Typically, one needs to have master’s and doctorate degrees to qualify as an environmental
biotechnologist. However, the exponential growth of the domain has opened up a whole lot
of opportunities for those having bachelor’s and associate’s degrees.

Five Types of Ecological Relationships

Organisms occupy what are called niches. A niche includes the physical space in
which they live, how they use the resources that are in that space, and how they
interact with other organisms in that space. The interaction among organisms within or
between overlapping niches can be characterized into five types of relationships:
competition, predation, commensalism, mutualism and parasitism. The last three
subtypes are classically defined as relationships exhibiting symbiosis, but predation
and competition can also be considered as forms of symbiosis. Symbiosis refers to a
close relationship in which one or both organisms obtain a benefit.

Competition & Predation

Predation is when one organism eats another organism to obtain nutrients. The
organism that is eaten is called the prey. Examples of predation are owls that eat
mice, and lions that eat gazelles. Competition is when individuals or populations
compete for the same resource, and can occur within or between species. When
organisms compete for a resource (such as food or building materials) it is called
consumptive or exploitative competition. When they compete for territory, it is called
interference competition. When they compete for new territory by arriving there first, it
is called preemptive competition. An example is lions and hyenas that compete for
prey.

Commensalism

Commensalism is a relationship in which one organism benefits while the other is

neither helped nor harmed. Examples are barnacles that grow on whales and other
marine animals. The whale gains no benefit from the barnacle, but the barnacles gain
mobility, which helps them evade predators, and are exposed to more diverse feeding
opportunities. There are four basic types of commensal relationships. Chemical
commensalism occurs when one bacteria produces a chemical that sustains another
bacteria. Inquilinism is when one organism lives in the nest, burrow, or dwelling place
of another species. Metabiosis is commensalism in which one species is dependent
on the other for survival. Phoresy is when one organism temporarily attaches to
another organism for the purposes of transportation.

Parasitism

Parasitism is a relationship in which one organism benefits and the other organism is
harmed, but not always killed. The organism that benefits is called the parasite, and
the one that is harmed is the host. Parasitism is different from parasitoidism, which is
when the host is always killed, such as when one organism lays its egg inside another
organism that is later eaten by the hatchlings. Parasites can be ectoparasites -- such
as ticks, fleas, and leeches -- that live on the surface of the host. Parasites can also
be endoparasites -- such as intestinal worms – that live inside the host. Endoparasites
can be further categorized into intercellular parasites, that live in the space between
cells, or intracellular parasites, which live inside of cells. There is also something
called hyperparasitism, which is when a parasite is infected by another parasite, such
as a microorganism living in a flea, which lives on a dog. Lastly, a relationship called
social parasitism is exemplified by an ant species that does not have worker ants,
living among another ant species that do, by using the host species’ workers.

Mutualism

Mutualism is a relationship in which both species benefit. Mutualistic interaction

patterns occur in three forms. Obligate mutualism is when one species cannot
survive apart from the other. Diffusive mutualism is when one organism can live with
more than one partner. Facultative mutualism is when one species can survive on its
own under certain conditions. On top of these, mutualistic relationships have three
general purposes. Trophic mutualism is exemplified in lichens, which consist of fungi
and either algae or cyanobacteria. The fungi's partners provide sugar from
photosynthesis and the fungi provide nutrients from digesting rock. Defensive
mutualism is when one organism provides protection from predators while the other
provides food or shelter: an example is ants and aphids. Dispersive mutualism is when
one species receives food in return for transporting the pollen of the other organism,
which occurs between bees and flowers.