EGE 312 People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

Module 1 Rich and Poor Countries

Lesson 1: Environmental Challenges Rich (the HAVES) Poor (the

We Face Less than 20% of HAVE-NOTS)
the world’s 82% of the world’s
population population
Human Race
Highly Developed Moderately
➔ The most powerful agent of Countries Developed
environmental change Countries
➔ Overpowers the world with our expanding
population to meet the needs and ➔ Complex ➔ Medium levels
DESIRES industrialized of:
➔ It’s either we’re helping or destroying our bases ◆ Industrialization
home ➔ Low rates of ◆ Per-person
population income
growth
Human Impacts on the Environment ➔ High per-person ➔ Fewer
incomes opportunities for
➔ Generates 7% ◆ Income
Earth’s Central Environmental Problem
of the world’s ◆ Education
➔ There are many people population and ◆ Health care
➔ 2009, 6.8 billion individuals waste
➔ The human population consumes vast
quantities of food and water, energy, and Less Developed
raw materials, and produces much waste Countries

➔ Low levels of:

Poverty ◆ Industrialization
➔ A condition where people are unable to ◆ Per-person
meet their basic needs incomes
➔ One in four people lives in extreme
poverty ➔ Very high rates
➔ Tied to the effects of population of:
◆ (the larger the population, the higher ◆ Population
the demand, the less resources growth
available) ◆ Infant mortality
rates

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 EGE 312 People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

Two Important Generalizations People Overpopulation

➔ Too many people in a given geographic
area
Quantity of resources vital to an
individual’s survival is small.
➔ But rapid population growth overwhelms Consumption Overpopulation
and depletes a country’s soils, forests, ➔ Each individual in a population consumes
and other natural resources. too large a share of resources

HDN, individual demands on natural Ecological Footprint

resources are greater than the
requirements of mere survival ➔ What people consume
◆ Amount of productive land, fresh
➔ Depletes resources through increased
water, and ocean to supply each
consumption of nonessential items
person with resources.

Natural Resources
I=PxAxT
Non-renewable Renewable ➔ I (environmental impact)
Resources Resources ➔ P (number of people)
➔ A (affluence per person/resources
➔ Depleted as ➔ Replaced by
consumed)
they are used natural
➔ T (environmental effects of technologies
➔ Takes millions processes
used)
of years to ➔ Can be used
develop forever
➔ In limited ➔ HOWEVER, if Sustainability and the Environment
supplies overexploited,
there’s a
chance of Sustainability
depletion. ➔ Ensures that the ecosystem can work
◆ Mainly indefinitely without slipping behind the
because of burden that human activities put on
rapid natural systems
population
growth; and
Environmental Sustainability
◆ Economic
growth of ➔ Consuming what we only need.
developing ◆ Consider the effects of our actions
countries ◆ Live within limits
◆ Recognize all costs
◆ Share responsibilities
Population Size and Resource
Consumption

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 EGE 312 People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

Module 1 Population Community

Lesson 2: How Ecosystem Works ➔ Group of the ➔ Two or more

same species populations of
occupying a different species
Ecology common occupying the
➔ Study of household geographical same
➔ Study of environmental house area geographical
➔ Greek words: area
◆ Oikos (household)
◆ Logos (study) ONLY BIOTIC FACTORS
➔ Includes all organisms and all the
functional processes that make the house
habitable. Ecosystem
➔ Community plus its abiotic factors
➔ Ecological System - community and the
Basic Principles of Ecology
non-living environment functioning
together
Levels-of-Organization Hierarchy

Landscape
Levels of organization
➔ Heterogenous area of a cluster of
➔ Hierarchical arrangement of order from ecosystems
ecosphere to cells

Biome Region
Hierarchy System
➔ A large regional ➔ Describes a
➔ Arrangement ➔ Regularly or large geological
into graded interacting and subcontinental or political area
series interdependent system that may
components characterized contain more
forming a by a major than one biome
unified whole vegetation type

Biosystem Ecosphere
➔ A system of biotin and abiotic ➔ Global sum of all ecosystems
components ➔ Known for its self-sufficiency
➔ From genetic systems to ecological ◆ Algae grow using sunlight and feed
systems shrimp, whose waste nourishes the
algae
➔ All biotic factors interacting with the
physical environment as a whole

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 EGE 312 People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

Concept of Ecosystem Trophic Structure of the Ecosystem

Two layers of the ecosystem
Biotic Organisms Abiotic Organisms
(LIVING) (NONLIVING) Autotrophic Heterotrophic
Stratum (upper) Stratum (lower)
Inseparably interrelated and interact with
each other ➔ Green belt ➔ Brown belt
➔ Self-gaining ➔ Dependent on
➔ Can provide for other things to
Ecosystem themselves and gain energy
➔ Any unit that includes biotic community in others ➔ Soils,
a given area interacting with the physical ➔ (chlorophyll-con sediments,
environment taining plants) decaying
➔ The first in the ecological hierarchy that is matter, roots
complete with all the components
important for survival
Components of an Ecosystem

Organic Substances
➔ C, N, CO2
➔ Important to produce food

Organic Compounds
➔ Comprises of one or more atoms
➔ Open system where things are constantly ➔ Link biotic and abiotic components
entering and leaving ➔ Protein, Carbo, Lipids

Energy Physical Factors

➔ A necessary input ➔ Air
➔ SUN IS THE ULTIMATE ENERGY ➔ Water
SOURCE ➔ Substrate environment
➔ Energy flows out of the system in the ➔ Climate regime
form of heat, organic matter, or pollutants
➔ Energy flow is one-way
➔ Can be stored and fed back but it cannot Producers
be reused. ➔ Autotrophic organisms
➔ Mostly green plants
➔ Produce own food using sunlight
➔ Manufacture food from simple inorganic
substances

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 EGE 312 People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

Phagotrophs Decomposer Organisms

➔ Heterotrophic organisms
➔ Non-green bacteria
➔ Dependent on others to survive (food)
➔ Flagellates
➔ Ingest other organisms
➔ fungi

Saprotrophs
Energy
➔ Decomposers
➔ Recycles energy from the dead by ➔ Ability to do work
absorbing dissolved organic matter
Law of Thermodynamics
Examples of Ecosystems

A pond and on old field Law of Conservation

➔ Energy is TRANSFORMED from one
Abiotic Substance
form to another but is neither created nor
➔ Inorganic and Organic compounds destroyed
➔ Small potion of vital nutrients ◆ Pendulum rocking back and forth
immediately available to organisms
(some held in reserve) Law of Entropy

Producer Organism ➔ There is a degradation of energy from a

concentrated form into a dispersed form
➔ Macrophytes (rooted and large ◆ Food Chain
floating plant sin shallow water)
➔ Phytoplankton (minute floating plants
Food Chain
distributed throughout the pond as
deep as light penetrates) ➔ The transfer of food energy from its
source in autotrophs through a series of
Consumer Organisms organisms that consume and are
consumed
➔ Primary consumers (herbivores) ➔ Quantity of energy declines with each
◆ Zooplankton (animal plankton) transfer
◆ Benthos (bottom forms)
➔ Secondary consumers (carnivores)
◆ Nekton (free-swimming aquatic Grazing Food Chain
organisms) ➔ Starts with plants as the main source of
➔ Tertiary consumers (feed on prior energy
consumers) ➔ Grazing herbivores to carnivores
➔ Detritivores (provides food for
carnivores)
Detritus Food Chain
➔ Starts with the dead remains as a main
source of energy
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 EGE 312 People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

➔ The mechanism that transforms ammonia

into nitrite then nitrate
Food Chain Dynamics
➔ Occurs aerobically and is done by
Bottom-up Top-down prokaryotes alone
hypothesis hypothesis

➔ Driven by the ➔ Predator (1) Ammonia Oxidation to Nitrite

presence or controlled ➔ Performed by microbes known as
absence of the ◆ Tigers keep ammonia oxidizers
producers deer ➔ Uses intermediate hydroxylamine for
➔ Resource-contr population in conversion. With two enzymes:
olled check. If no ◆ Ammonia monooxygenase
◆ Less plants tigers, deer ◆ Hydroxylamine oxidoreductase
- less deers population will
- less tigers increase,
(2) Oxidation of Nitrite to Nitrate
leading to
shortage of ➔ Uses nitrite-oxidizing bacteria
plants to be (prokaryotes)
eaten ◆ Nitrospira
◆ Nitrobacter
◆ Nitrococcus
Biogeochemical Cycles ◆ Nitrospina
➔ Anammox (anaerobic ammonia oxidation)
➔ Chemical elements circulating in the
oxidizes ammonia by using nitrite as the
atmosphere in characteristic pathways
electron acceptor to produce gaseous
➔ From environment to organisms and back
nitrogen
to the environment

(3.1) Dentrification (3.2)

Cycling of Nitrogen
Ammonification
➔ Nitrogen gas (𝑁2) is in 80% of the Earth's
➔ Converts nitrate ➔ If an organism
atmosphere
to nitrogen gas excretes wastes
◆ The resource that limits primary
➔ Returning it to or dies
production in many ecosystems
the atmosphere ➔ Organic
➔ Dinitrogen Gas nitrogen will be
Nitrogen Fixation ( 𝑁2 ) decomposed by
➔ Transforming 𝑁2 into Nitrogen fungi and
prokaryotes and
➔ Nitrogenase (enxyme complex) that inorganic
catalyzes reduction of 𝑁2 into ammonia nitrogen or
(𝑁𝐻3) AMMONIA will
be released
back to the
Nitrification environment

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 EGE 312 People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

Cycling of Phosphorus Niche

➔ Open cycle (Main supplies are present in ➔ The environmental limits of a species
surface water, rivers, lakes, and seas) ➔ The environmental factors that influence
➔ Sedimentary cycle (Main supplies are the growth, survival, and reproduction of
present in rocks and ocean sediments) a species
➔ Phosphorus atoms are released from ➔ Consists of all the factors necessary for
rock through chemical weathering its existence
◆ When, where, and how
Cycling of Sulfur
➔ (1) formation of volatile compound Limiting Factor Principle
dimethylsulfide (DMS) ➔ Too much or too little of any abiotic factor
➔ Anaerobic respiration by sulfate-reducing can limit or prevent growth of a
bacteria population, even if all other factors are at
➔ Volcanic activity or near the optimal range of tolerance

Cycling of Carbon Success of a biotic community depends on

a complex conditions.
1. Carbon stored in long-term storage areas
(sinks) is sent to the air as carbon dioxide
2. Photosynthesis Shelford Law of Tolerance
3. Transfer from food
4. Moves through decomposition (buried) 1. Organisms may have a wide or narrow
5. Through respiration range of tolerance
6. Burning of fossil fuels 2. Organisms with high tolerance are widely
7. Carbon from the atmosphere to the distributed worldwide
oceans as it dissolves into water 3. Limits of tolerance may be reduced for
another ecological factors
4. Organisms in nature are NOT actually
Hydrologic Cycle living at the optimum range of a particular
➔ Main source of water is the ocean physical factor
◆ Sun evaporates water 5. Reproduction is a critical period when
◆ Precipitation environmental factors are most likely to
◆ Stored in solids, lakes, and be limiting
icefields
◆ Back to evaporation and On Land Aquatic Life Zones
precipitation, then repeats
➔ Precipitation ➔ Temperature
➔ Soil nutrients ➔ Sunlight
➔ Too much of an ➔ Nutrient
abiotic factor availability
➔ Temperature ➔ Low solubility
➔ Salinity

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 EGE 312 People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

Regulatory Factors Water

➔ A physiological necessity for all life
Soil
➔ The chief organizing center for land Rainfall Humidity
ecosystem
➔ Determined by ➔ Amount of
➔ Nutrients are regenerated and recycled
large geography water vapor in
during the decomposition in the soil
and by the the air
before they become available for the
pattern of large
primary producers
air movements Absolute humidity
or weather - the actual amount
Fire systems of water in the air
expressed as
➔ The major factor in shaping the history of
0-25 cm (desert) weight of water per
vegetation in most of the terrestrial
25-75 cm unit of air
environment of the world
(grassland,
savanna)
Temperature 75-125 cm (dry
➔ Life can exist ONLY within 300 Degrees forest)
Celcius (-200 to 100) >125 cm (wet
➔ Variability of temperature is extremely forest)
important (organisms used to this usually
gets slowed down by constant
temperature) Types of Interaction

Light Neutralism
➔ Sunlight is the ultimate source of energy ➔ Neither population is affected
➔ Light is a limiting factor at both maximum ◆ Cactuses are unaffected by
and minimum levels tarantulas on deserts
➔ Animals and plants respond to different
wavelengths of light
Competition, direct interference type
➔ Both populations actively inhibit each
other
◆ Male-Male competition in red deer
during rut

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 EGE 312 People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

Competition, resource use type

➔ Affects the other INDIRECTLY in the
struggle for resources
◆ Plants competing with nieghboring
plants for light, nutrients, and space

Amensalism
➔ One population is inhibited, the other is
not affected
◆ Elephants stepping on ants

Commensalism
➔ One population is benefited, the other
neutral
◆ Tree frogs using plants for
protection

Parasitism
➔ One benefits, other is inhibited
➔ Depends on a host to survive and spread
◆ Whales and Barnacles

Predation
➔ One population affects the other by direct
attack
➔ Depends on the other
◆ Owls hunting mice

Protocooperation
➔ Both populations benefits but not
obligatory
◆ Cattle egret and animals

Mutualism
➔ Both populations benefits
➔ Neither can survive without the other
◆ Bees and flowers

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 EGE 312 People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

◆ Precipitation: 50 cm per year

Module 1
◆ Soil: acidic and mineral poor
Lesson 3: The Ecosystems (permafrost deep under the surface)
➔ Has numerous ponds and lakes
➔ World’s top source of industrial wood
Biome and wood fiber
➔ A large, relatively distinct terrestrial
region with similar biotic and abiotic Flora:black and white spices, balsam fir,
organisms regardless of where it occurs eastern larch, and other conifers (these have
in the world drought-resistant adaptations like needle-like
➔ Has many interacting ecosystems leaves)
➔ Temperature and precipitation have a
predominant effect on biome distribution Fauna: Caribou (from tundra), wolves, brown
and black bears, moose, rodents, rabbits,
lynx, sable, and mink (+ birds and insects)
Arctic Tundra
➔ Treeless biome
Temperate Rain Forest
◆ Loc: far north
◆ Temp: harsh cold winters and ➔ Coniferous biome
extremely short summer ◆ Loc: Northwest coast of North
◆ Precipitation: 10-25 cm America, Southeastern Australia,
◆ Soil: nutrient-poor and have little Southern South America
detritus (Permafrost beneath) ◆ Temp: mild winters, cool summers
➔ Oil and natural gas exploration and (slows the activity of bacterial and
military use have caused damage to fungal decomposers)
tundra ◆ Precipitation: 127 cm
◆ Soil: nutrient-poor but high organic
Flora: cotton plants, lichen, mosses/Caribou content
Moss, Labrador Tea, Arctic Willow, Bearberry ➔ Rich wood producer, supplying lumber
(grows taller than 30 cm) and pulpwood

Fauna: Lemming and Ptarmigan (few species Flora: western hemlock, douglas fir, western
but large populations) red cedar, sitka spruce, western arborvitae,
mosses, lichens, ferns
➔ Alpine Tundra - located in the higher
elevations of mountains Fauna: Squirrels, wood rats, mule deer, elk,
birds, amphibians, reptiles

Boreal Forest (Taiga)

➔ Region of coniferous forest
◆ Loc: Northern Hemisphere, south of
Tundra
◆ Temp: winters are extremely cold and
severe
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 EGE 312 People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

Temperate Deciduous Forest Chaparral

➔ Forest biome ➔ Vegetation is typically small-leaved
◆ Loc: in temperate areas evergreen shrubs and small trees
◆ Temp: hot summers and cold winters ◆ Loc: N/A
◆ Precipitation: 75-126 cm ◆ Temp: mild, moist winters and hot, dry
◆ Soil: topsoil rich in organic material summers
and a deep, clay-rich lower layer ◆ Precipitation: less than 10cm?
➔ One of the first biomes converted to ◆ Soil: thin and often not very fertile
agricultural use ➔ Wildfires occur naturally and frequent in
late summer and fall
Flora: Broad-leaved hardwood treas (dense
canopy) Flora: Scrub Oak (3 to 10 ft tall), evergreen
shrubs, drought-resistant pine
Fauna: Puma, wolves, bisons, deers, bears
(large mammals), birds Fauna: Black Tailed Jackrabbit, golden jackal,
puma, cactus wren, mule deer, wood rats,
chipmunks, lizards, birds
Tropical Rain Forest
➔ Lush, species-rich forest biome
◆ Loc: Central and South America, Temperate Grassland
Africa, and Southeast Asia ➔ Grassland
◆ Temp: warm and moist throughout the ◆ Loc: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota,
year (high year-round making Nebraska, Kansas, Midwestern States
decomposition go rapid) ◆ Temp: hot summers, cold winters
◆ Precipitation: 200-450 cm ◆ Precipitation: 25-75 cm
◆ Soil: ancient, highly weathered, ◆ Soil: has considerable organic
mineral-poor soil material
➔ Has three distinct stories: ➔ Periodic wildfires
◆ emergent story - very tall trees (50m)
◆ Canopy - 30-40m trees (90% Flora: Grasses that grow knee-high or lower
organisms are adapted to live here) dominate
◆ Understory - smaller plants
Fauna: wolves, coyotes, prairie dogs, grouse,
Flora: Bromeliad, evergreen flowering plants reptiles, insects, pronghorn elk

Fauna: Sloths and Monkeys

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 EGE 312 People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

Savanna 3 Main Ecological Categories of

Organisms
➔ Tropical grassland with widely scattered
trees or clumps of trees
◆ Loc: Africa, South America, Western Plankton
India, Northern Australia
◆ Temp: varies little throughout the year ➔ Very small
◆ Precipitation: 85-150 cm cm ➔ Carried by the waves
◆ Soil: somewhat low in essential
nutrient materials Nekton
➔ Converted into rangeland for cattle and
➔ Swimmers
other domestic animals

Flora: Acacia Benthos

➔ Fixed, burrowed, walks on the bottom
Fauna: antelope, giraffe, elephants,
wildebeest, zebra, lions, hyenas
Freshwater Ecosystems
➔ 2% of the Earth’s surface
Desert
➔ Plays an important role in the hydrologic
➔ Has low water vapor content cycle
◆ Loc: in temperate and tropical regions
◆ Temp: daily temperature extremes of
heat and cold Standing-water Ecosystem
◆ Precipitation: less than 25 cm ➔ Body of freshwater surrounded by land
◆ Soil: low in organic material but often ➔ Water does not flow
high in mineral content (salts) ➔ Zonation:
◆ Littoral - shallow water area around
Flora: cacti, yuccas, Joshua trees, and the edge. Contains the emergent
sagebrush (adapted to conserve water) vegetation
◆ Limnetic: open, sunlit water away
Fauna: insects, arachnids, desert tortoise, from the shore. Where planktons and
gila monster, mojave rattlesnake, kangaroo nektons are
rats, mule deer, jackrabbits, owl ◆ Profundal: Beneath the limnetic zone.
Accentuated by thermal stratification
(temperature change). With detritus
Aquatic Ecosystems
and benthos

Factors affecting distribution of

organisms
➔ Salinity - concentration of dissolved salts
in a body of water
➔ Dissolved oxygen
➔ Nutrient minerals
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 EGE 312 People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

Flowing-water Ecosystem Mangrove Forests

➔ Highly variable, surrounding environment ➔ 70% of tropical coastlines
changes greatly between the source and ➔ Fauna: pelicans, herons, egrets, roseate
its mouth spoonbills
➔ One shaded, one exposed
➔ Groundwater - cool in the summer, warm
Major Ocean Life Zones
in the winter
➔ With fast currents (organisms adapts like
suckers, flattened bodies, and muscular Intertidal Zone
fishes)
➔ Area of shoreline between low and high
tides
Freshwater Wetlands ➔ Organisms are exposed to wave action
➔ Lands that shallow fresh water covers for ◆ Mussels (tough, threadlike
at least part of the year anchors)
➔ Marhes (with grasslike plants), swamps ◆ Barnacles (binding glue)
(woody trees or shrubs) ◆ Burrows underneath
➔ Soils: waterlogged, rich in accumulated ◆ Small crabs
organic materials
➔ Fauna: beaver, otters, muskrats, game Benthic Environment (Ocean Floor)
fish
➔ Consists of sediments
➔ Ecosystem Services (benefits)
➔ Benthos organisms
◆ Clean air to breathe
➔ Bacteria are common (at 1625 ft)
◆ Clean water to drink
➔ Three zones
◆ Fertile soil for crops to grow
◆ Bathyal
◆ Abyssal
Freshwater Swamps ◆ Hadal
➔ Inland areas covered by water and
dominated by trees Coral Animals
➔ Baldcypress
➔ Small, soft-bodied animals
➔ Live in hard cups, or shells, of limestone
Brackish Ecosystems ➔ CAPTURE FOOD AT NIGHT
➔ Surrounded by land with access to the
open oceans Coral Reefs
➔ Large supply of fresh water from a river
➔ Found in warm, shallow seawater where
➔ Water levels rise (depends on tides)
light penetrates
➔ Organisms have high tolerance for
➔ Requires light for zooxanthellae
changing conditions
(symbiotic algae) that live and
photosynthesize in their tissues
Salt Marshes ➔ THE MOST DIVERSE OF ALL MARINE
➔ Shallow wetlands ENVIRONMENTS

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 EGE 312 People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

Sea Grasses
➔ Flowering plants (adapted to salty ocean
water)
➔ In shallow water (10 m), enough to
photosynthesize
◆ Eelgrass (North America)
◆ Manatee grass and Turtle grass
(Caribbean Sea)
➔ The roots and rhizomes help stabilize
sediments, reducing erosion and
provisioning food and habitat for many
organisms

Two Provinces

Neritic Province Oceanic Province

➔ From the shore to ➔ Most of the

200 meters Ocean
➔ Nektons ➔ Deep sea
➔ Euphotic zone - ➔ Fishes are
upper level adapted to
➔ With large darkness and
number of scarcity of food
phytoplankton ◆ Slow
➔ With swimming
zooplanktons ◆ Reduced
bones
◆ Lightproducing
organs
◆ Filter feeders,
scavengers,
predators
(depends on
marine snow)
➔ Invertebrates
in great sizes
◆ Giant squid (59
ft/18 m)

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 EGE 312 People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

Module 2 Biotic Potential

➔ The maximum rate at which a population
Lesson 1: Human Population Change
the Environment could increase in terms of the ideal
condition

Population
Life History Characteristics
➔ Individuals of a larger organization
➔ Whether a particular species has a large
or a small biotic potential
Population Ecology
➔ Branch of Biology Larger Organisms Microorganisms
➔ The number of individuals of a particular
species found in an area ➔ Smallest biotic ➔ Greatest biotic
➔ Why does it increase or decrease over potentials potentials
time?

Exponential Population Growth

Growth Rate
➔ Growing population with optimal
➔ Rate of change of a population’s size conditions allowing a constant
➔ Percentage per year reproductive rate
➔ Natural increase in human populations

Global Scale Environmental Resistance and

Carrying Capacity
r=b-d

Environmental Resistance
Dispersal
➔ Environment sets limits
➔ Movement from one region or country to ➔ Limited food, water, and shelter
another ➔ As the population increases so does
environmental resistance
Immigration (i) Emigration (e)
Carrying Capacity (K)
➔ Enter ➔ Exit
➔ Increase ➔ Decrease ➔ The largest population a particular
environment can support sustainably

In local populations
Population Crash
r = (b - d) + (i - e)
➔ Sudden decrease in population due to a
decrease in resources
Maximum Population Growth

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 EGE 312 People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

Human Population Patterns Total Fertility Rate (TTR)

➔ Average number of children born to
each woman
Thomas Malthus (1766–1834)
➔ A British economist
➔ Recognizes why human population The Demographic Transition
cannot increase indefinitely ➔ From high to low birth and death rates
➔ Population increases faster than food
supply. Consequences would be:
Age Structure of Countries
◆ Famine
◆ Disease
◆ War Age Structure
➔ Number and proportion of people at
Zero Population Growth each age in a population
➔ Population remains the same size
➔ Birth rate = Death rate Age Structure Diagram
➔ The number of males and females at
Demographics of Countries each age, from birth to death

Demographics Population and Urbanization

➔ Applied branch of sociology

➔ Population statistics Urbanization
➔ People move from rural areas to cities
Infant Mortality Rate
➔ Number of deaths of infants under age 1 Environmental Problems of
per 1000 live births Urban Areas
➔ Suburban sprawl
Per person GNI PPP ➔ Brownfields (abandoned)
➔ Gross National Income (GNI) ➔ Air pollution
➔ Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) ➔ Blocked water flow
➔ The amount of goods and services an ➔ Contaminated runoff
average citizen of a country could buy
Environmental Benefits of Urbanization
Replacement-level Fertility ➔ Well-planned city
➔ Number of children a couple must ➔ Compact development
produce to replace themselves ➔ Cultural exchange & diversity
➔ Economic development
➔ 50% of the world’s population

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 EGE 312 People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

Module 2 Poverty and Food

Lesson 2: People and Agriculture

Poverty
➔ Main cause of undernutrition
World Food Problems
➔ Most susceptible: infants, children, and
➔ Average adult human needs at least 2.6k elderly
calories per day
➔ Types of malnutrition:
World’s Poorest People
➔ Developing countries that do not own
Undernutrition Overnutrition
land on which to grow food
➔ Underconsmptio ➔ Overconsumpti
n of calories and on of calories 2 Types Of Agriculture
nutrients

Industrialized Agriculture
Kwashiorkor
➔ More technology, less manpower
➔ Severe protein deficiency ➔ High-input agriculture
➔ Swollen belly ➔ With high-rate production, can produce
more food, may lead to overnutrition
Marasmus ➔ In highly developed countries

➔ Low in both calories and protein

➔ Slowing of growth and extreme wasting Subsistence Agriculture
of muscles ➔ More manpower, less technology
➔ Produce just enough for a family
Population and World Hunger ➔ Takes long and is not enough for a
growing population, may lead to
undernutrition
Food Insecurity ➔ Developing countries
➔ People living with chronic hunger and
malnutrition due to low resources of food Shifting Cultivation
➔ Short periods of cultivation followed by
Economic Development longer periods of fallow (land being left
➔ Best way to raise the standard of living uncultivated)

According to National Geographic, by Slash-and-burn Agriculture

2030, farmers will have to grow 30% more ➔ Chop and burn trees
grain to feed 8.3 billion people. ➔ Clearing small patches of tropical forest
to plant crops
➔ Move every 3 years
ODIONG, A.K.D | BSNEd 3
 EGE 312 People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

Nomadic Herding The Green Revolution

➔ Supported by livestock ➔ Norman Borlaug
➔ Must continually move to find adequate ➔ High-yield varieties (to combat
food for animals undernutrition)
➔ Requires use of fertilizers, pesticides,
and mechanized machinery
Intercropping
➔ Critics
➔ Growing a variety of plants in the same ◆ Dependent
field simultaneously ◆ Energy cost
◆ Environmental impact
Monoculture Polyculture ◆ Future demand
◆ Genetic engineering
➔ Only one type of ➔ Several kinds of
plant over a seasonal plants
Increasing Livestock Yields
large area
➔ Use of hormones and antibiotics to
increase animal production
Challenges of Agriculture
Hormones
Decline in Prime Farmlands ➔ Ear implants
➔ Prime farmland - suitable for producing ➔ Faster growth
crops. A nutrient-rich soil
Antibiotics
Loss of Agricultural Land ➔ To gain weight (4%-5%)
➔ Converting lands to buildings, etc.
➔ Urbanization & suburban sprawl Solutions to Agricultural Problems

Global Decline in Domesticated Plant

Sustainable Agriculture
and Animal Varieties
➔ Maintain soil productivity and a healthy
➔ Favors uniformity and maximum
ecological balance
production
➔ To preserve the quality of agricultural soil
➔ Germplasm - a plant or animal material
◆ Crop rotation, conservation tillage,
used in breeding
contour plowing
◆ Organic agriculture - no pesticides
Increasing Crop Yields ◆ Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
➔ Use of fertilizers and pesticides - limited use of pesticides
◆ Second Green Revolution - trend
away from intensive techniques that
produce high yields

ODIONG, A.K.D | BSNEd 3

 EGE 312 People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

Genetic Engineering
➔ Manipulation of genes to produce a
particular trait
➔ Produce more food (containing all amino
acids) and animals
➔ Production of vaccines
➔ Concerns:
◆ Harm natural ecosystems
◆ Develop food allergies

ODIONG, A.K.D | BSNEd 3

 EGE 312 People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

Module 2

Lesson 3: Mining and Environment

Effects of Mining
➔ Disturbs large areas of land
➔ Destroys vegetation
➔ Land is prone to erosion
➔ Air pollution
➔ Water erosion
➔ Depletion of groundwater

Acid Mine Drainage

➔ Caused by sulphuric acid, lead, arsenic,
and cadmium wash from mines

Tailings
➔ Left in giant piles on the ground or in
ponds
➔ Contains toxic materials: cyanide,
mercury, & sulfuric acid
➔ Contaminates air, soil, water

Restoration of Mining Lands

➔ Land can be reclaimed or restored to a
seminatural condition

Reclamation Restoration

➔ To reclaim ➔ Restoration of
one’s land plants or trees
➔ Prevents to make the
further area visually
degradation attractive
and erosion of
the land
➔ Make the land
productive
➔ Eliminate toxic
pollutants
ODIONG, A.K.D | BSNEd 3