ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE &

ENGINEERING

Pooja Nandakumar. N
Assistant Professor
(Chemical Engineering)
CIPET:IPT- CHENNAI
Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary
academic field that integrates physical and
biological sciences (including physics, chemistry,
biology, soil, science, geology and geography) to
the study of the environment, and the solution of
environmental problems.
 ‘Environment’ Environner or environ (‘to surround’).

Environment is defined as the social, cultural and physical

conditions that surround, affect and influence the survival,
growth and development of people, animals or plants.

The environment consists of four segments.

 Atmosphere
 Hydrosphere
 Lithosphere
 Biosphere
Components of the environment

Various types of environments and interactions

between their various elements
Components of the environment
 Scope of Environmental Studies
The scope of environmental studies in numerous
fields is given below:
(i) Conservation and management of natural
resources
(ii) Conservation of biodiversities
(iii) Control of environmental pollutions
(iv) Control of human population
(v) Replacement of development with sustainable
development
Importance of Environmental Studies
A self-perpetuating vicious cycle of poverty,
environmental
degradation and population growth
Population stabilisation, poverty alleviation and
environmental protection are mutually supportive of
and dependent on one another
NEED FOR PUBLIC AWARENESS
Humans are responsible for depletion of natural resources;
degradation of the vital life-supporting systems (like air, water, soil,
etc.); ecological imbalance; deteriorated environment, etc.
Solidwaste disposal, oil pollution, water pollution, air pollution, Itai-
Itai disease, Minamata disease, Chernobyl disaster, Bhopal gas
tragedy, smog, etc., are some of the examples which are
threatening human survival.
To get rid of these problems, environmental awareness is necessary.
It ensures that everyone knows about the consequences of his/her
activities on nature.
To protect global environment for sustainable development, we
should do the following:

(i) Preserve Forest Cover

(ii) Preserve Natural Resources
(iii) Conserve Energy
(iv) Maintain Ecological Balance
(v) Practice Green Technology:
 ECOLOGY
 The term ecology is derived from the Greek word
Oikologie. Literally, Oikos means ‘home or
surroundings’ and logos means ‘study’. Thus,
ecology is the study of nature.
 Ecology can be defined as “the study of
interactions between an organism and its physical
environment; the relationship between animals
and plants and how one species affect another.
 CONCEPT OF ECOSYSTEM
An ecosystem is defined as a natural unit that
consists of living and nonliving parts which interact to
form a stable system.
 Structure of an Ecosytem
 Structure of an ecosystem means:

(i) The Composition of Biological Community It

includes species, their population, etc.

(ii) The Quantity and Distribution of Abiotic Materials

It includes water, soil, nutrients, etc.

iii) The Conditions of Existence It includes

temperature, light, humidity, etc.
Structure of an ecosystem
Function of an Ecosystem
 Ecological Succession

Ecological succession is orderly changes in the

composition or structure of an ecology. It is more
or less predictable.
Types of Ecological Succession
 Primary and Secondary Succession
 Seasonal and Cyclic Succession
 FOOD CHAIN
 Food chain is a feeding hierarchy in which organisms in an
ecosystem are grouped into nutritional (trophic) levels and
are shown in a succession to represent the flow of food
energy and the feeding relationship between them.
Types of Food Chains
ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS
Pyramid of Numbers
The pyramid of numbers represents the number of
individuals at each trophic level. The shape of a
pyramid of numbers can be upright, partly upright
and inverted depending on the type of
ecosystem.
(A) Aquatic and Grassland Ecosystem
(B) Forest Ecosystem
(C) Parasitic Food Chain
Pyramid of Energy Flow (Flow of
Energy in an Ecosystem)
FOREST ECOSYSTEM
 A forest is a community of trees, herbs, shrubs, and
associated organisms that use oxygen, water and
soil nutrients for their growth and reproduction.
 A forest ecosystem is the organisms, soil, air and
water associated with the forest.
 A forest ecosystem is interdependent because
every organism depends on every other living and
nonliving elements of the system.
 Fire, storms, drought, flood, death, disease, etc., are
natural changes in a forest ecosystem. Harvesting,
farming, trails, recreation and development, etc.,
are manmade changes in a forest ecosystem.
Interconnection between food chain
and food web in a forest ecosystem
 AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM
 An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem located
in a body of water.
 Biotic and abiotic components (which are self-
regulating and self-suffi cient)constitute an
aquatic ecosystem.
 About 70% of the earth’s total surface is under
the aquatic ecosystem. Broadly, an aquatic
ecosystem is of the following three types:
Freshwater ecosystem
Marine ecosystem
Estuarine ecosystem
 GRASSLAND ECOSYSTEM
 Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is
dominated by grasses and other nonwoody
plants.
 A grassland ecosystem is a biological community
that contains grasslands.
 About 32% of the plant cover of the world is
covered with grasslands. The most fertile and
productive soils in the world have developed
under grasslands.
 Generally, the natural species have been
replaced by cereals (cultivated grasses).
DESERT ECOSYSTEM
 Desert refers to a region or landscape in which
the rainfall is negligible; and annual rainfall is less
than 250 millimetres. They occupy about 17% of
the earth’s surface.

 Deserts are characterised by

(i) scanty flora and fauna,
(ii) hot days and cold nights, and
(iii) soils with abundant nutrients but little or no
organic matter.
 Biodiversity
 Biodiversity is the diversity of plant and animal life
in a particular region or in the world as a whole.
 It is often used as a measure of the health of
biological systems.
 Being a combination of genes, species and the
ecosystem itself, biodiversity can be considered
at three levels:
 Genetic diversity
 Species diversity
 Ecosystem diversity
 Genetic Diversity
 Living things contain in their cells, the basic
instructions (which are called genes) for their own
development.
 Many of these instructions result in physical
characteristics that affect the way organisms
interact with their environment.
 Variations in such characteristics within the same
species give rise to genetic diversity.
 Species diversity

 Itis a measure of the diversity within an ecological

community that incorporates the number of
species in a community and the evenness of
species abundances.
 Ecosystem Diversity
 It indicates the variation in the structure and
functions of ecosystems. It tells about trophic
levels, energy fl ow, food and total stability of
ecosystems.
 The ecosystems can be of various types as
governed by the species composition and the
physical structure.
 Following are a few examples:
(i) Terrestrial ecosystems
(ii) Aquatic ecosystems
(iii) Artifi cial or man-made ecosystems
 VALUES OR BENEFITS OF
BIODIVERSITY
 Intrinsic Values
 Agricultural Values
 Medicinal Values
 Pest Control Values
 Recreational and Aesthetic Values
 Instrumental Values
 Nonconsumptive Values
 Consumptive and Productive Values
 Ecological Values
 BIOGEOGRAPHIC ZONES OF
INDIA
The biogeographical classification uses the
following four levels of planning:
(a) Biogeographic Zone
(b) Biotic Province
(c) Land Region
(d) Biome
Biogeographic Zones of India
 Trans-Himalayan Zone
 Himalayan Zones
 North-East India
 North-West Desert Zone
 Gangetic Plain
 Semi-Arid Zone
 Deccan Penninsula Zone
 Eastern and Western Sea Coasts
 Western Ghat Zone
 Islands Zone
 HOT SPOTS OF BIODIVERSITY
The areas on earth which exhibit high species richness as
well as high species endemism are termed hot spots of
biodiversity.

 To qualify as a hot spot, an area must satisfy the

following criteria:
(i) It must support 0.5% of the global plant species.
(ii) It must have lost more than 70% of its original habitat.
 There are 34 hot spots of biodiversity on a global level,
out of which the following are present in India:
(a) The Western Ghats
(b) The Eastern Himalayas
Endemic Species of India
 ENDANGERED AND ENDEMIC
SPECIES
Endemic species can be defi ned as those species
that have very restricted distribution and are confined
over relatively small ranges.
Examples: Lion-tailed Macaque, Nilgiri leaf monkey.

CATEGORIES
 Extinct
 Extinct in the wild
 Critically endangered
 Endangered
 Vulnerable
RARE AND THREATENED SPECIES
 Rare species, although are not vulnerable or
endangered, have a very small population in the
world.
 Threatened species are those species which may
become extinct if not protected.
 They include the rare, vulnerable and
endangered species.
Examples : Elephant, chinkara, Nilgiri tahr, Indian
wild ass, lion-tailed macaque, tiger, cheetah, sloth
bear, rhinoceros, etc.
 THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY
In the last 150 years, the rate at which species are
disappearing is about thousands per decade; while
the natural extinction rate is only one or two species
per decade.
Some of the main causes are as follows:
 Degradation of Habitat
 Overexploitation of Resources
 Pollution
 Extinction of Weaker Species due to Aggressive
Non-native Species
 Poaching of Wildlife
 HUMAN–WILDLIFE CONFLICTS
Human–wildlife confl ict occurs when wildlife
requirements overlap with those of humans,
creating loss to both.
 CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY
Aims
 The protection, preservation, management or
restoration of natural resources.
Objectives
Types
Conservation of biodiversity can be carried out in
the following ways: