Science and the Environment Chapter 1

Vocabulary Use your books to define the following Key Terms – Environmental science – Ecology – Agriculture – Natural Resource – Pollution – Biodiversity

What is Ecology? Ecology – The study of the relationship between organisms (living things) and their environment (nonliving things). – Scientists typically study communities of living things and their environment These are known as Ecosystems – If you specifically look at how humans interact with their environment, that is called Environmental Science end

What is Ecology? For the last 200 years scientists specialized in a specific area – It's now realized that things are way too complicated for people to specialize in 1 subject – Ecology is a type of biology, but it also uses knowledge of Zoology, Botany, Geology, Atmospheric Sciences, Hydrology, and many more end

History of Our Environment Wherever humans go, we change the environment – 300 years ago Manhattan was a beautiful green oasis, Now its paved, congested, and overpriced end

History of Our Environment Hunter-Gatherers – Got food by collecting plants or hunting animals – Humans were in this stage for most of history – Still found today in remote parts of the jungle – How did they affect the environment? Native Americans who hunted buffalo would burn the prairie to stop trees from growing This made sure that they to keep hunting end

History of Our Environment Agricultural Revolution – Raise plants and animals for food – First signs seen ~10,000 years ago – Allows an area to support up to 500 times as many people – How did this affect the environment? Stress the land Destroy habitats end

History of Our Environment Industrial Revolution – Started in the mid 1700s – Change from animal and water energy to fossil fuels – What did this do? Large-scale production of everything Need less people to do the same amount of work Improved the quality of life Caused most of the Environmental Problems we have today end

History of Our Environment The Modern World – Pesticides and fertilizers – Everything we use can be thrown away But it hurts the environment when we put it into the landfills – As life has become easier the human population has grown The world population is 10 times bigger than it was 400 years ago More people mean that small problems become big ones end

Big Environmental Problems 3 big environmental problems: –R–Resource depletion –P–Pollution –L–Loss of biodiversity end

Big Environmental Problems Resource Depletion As the population grows we use more resources to support ourselves – Currently we use resources faster that they can be created – What can we do to fix it? Use less resources Use resources that can be created faster end

Big Environmental Problems Pollution The Industrial Revolution created all kinds of pollution – What types of pollution did it create? Air- Water- Soil- end

Big Environmental Problems Loss of Biodiversity As we destroy were animals live, we start to kill them off – This leads to entire species being killed off – If extinctions are a part of nature, why should we worry about losing species? end

Review Questions Complete questions 1-4 on page 15 with your group. These should be part of your notes

Tragedy of the Commons Essay by ecologist Garrett Hardin, 1968 The basis of the modern environmental movement Conflict between short-term interests and long- term welfare of society – What is going to make you lots of money right now vs. what is better for everyone in the long run end

Tragedy of the Commons end

Tragedy of the Commons People will overuse public land, because they don't have to take care of it But people will take care of their own land, because it is their responsibility What are some examples? end

Population and Consumption As populations increase natural resources are replaced at a slower rate Developed nations use ~75% of the worlds natural resources – But make up only 20% of the population end

Population and Consumption Ecological Footprint –Shows the area needed to support one person –US= 30 acresBritain= 16 acres –Mexico= 7 acresIndia= 3 acres Sustainability –When human needs are met in such a way that a human population can survive indefinitely end

Scientific Methods Scientific Method – An organized plan for gathering, organizing, and communication information – This method is the foundation of ALL modern science Five Steps – Make Observations – Form a Hypothesis – Test your Hypothesis – Draw a Conclusion – Develop a Theory end

The Scientific Method Take a look around and see what is out there end

The Scientific Method If we observe something interesting, then we ask, why did that happen? We then use our knowledge to make an educated guess that explains what we observed. end

The Scientific Method After you create a hypothesis, you must test it to see if you were right. You test by conducting an experiment end

When you finish your experiment, you have to look at the results. If your results don't back up your hypothesis, then you change your hypothesis to fit your data. end

When the results of your experiment support you hypothesis, you still have more work to do. You must continue to test the hypothesis over and over again. end

The Scientific Method Eventually, after thousands of experiments and many years you take your results and develop a theory end

Scientific Laws and Theories Scientific Law – A statement summarizing a pattern found in nature Scientific Theory – A well-tested explanation for a set of observations or experimental results end

Experiments When testing a hypothesis, your experiment will be divided into several small tests These tests should be set up exactly the same – Except for 1 variable (thing that you are testing) The tests were the variable has changed are called experimental groups These tests are all compared to the control group – Group that the variable is not changed end

Experiments Say we wanted to test how sunlight affects a plants growth – What would be the variable that we test? Sunlight – What would be the control group? No sunlight – What type of experimental groups would you have? 1 hr, 6 hr, 12 hr, 18 hr, 24 hr sunlight – What would be the same in all groups? end

Informed Decisions When you are trying to make a decision there are lots of things to consider: – Economical, ethical, health, and environmental effects, just to name a few To make the best decision, you should use a decision-making model – A systematic process for making decisions end

Informed Decisions Research the topic- find out what you are talking about What matters to you the most? Education, Economics, Health, Morals? What are the good and bad things that will happen immediately? What about in the long-term? In the end you have to make a decision. Are you for the topic or against it? Why? end

Natural Selection

Heredity and Natural Selection

Heredity and Natural Selection

Heredity and Natural Selection

Genetic Variation and Natural Selection Genetic Variation and Natural Selection

Genetic Variation and Natural Selection

Species and Genetic Isolation Species and Genetic Isolation

Evolution and Gene Frequency Evolution and Gene Frequency

Adaptation and Genes Adaptation and Genes

Evolution of Resistance

Bellringer