Environmental Science Objective: Give examples of how parts of the environment interact. Explain how science influences decision-making process.

Environment Environment- everything that surrounds an organism. How would you describe your environment? Why do we study the environment?

Environment Everything that an organism needs is provided by its environment. As conditions change in an environment and organisms may not be able to survive these changes. Keeping the environment healthy is important to keep our biosphere healthy and able to continue to support life.

Environmental Science Is an integrated science It draws from many different fields Biology Physics Chemistry Table 2.1 page 27

Scientists-Water Hydrologist Oceanographer Flow of Earth’s water Ocean environments

Scientists-Air Meteorologist Climatologist Weather and the atmosphere Global weather patterns

Scientists-Land Geologist Seismologist Structure and history of Earth Movements of Earth’s surface

Scientists-Organisms Biologists Structure and behavior of organisms Ecologists Interactions of organisms with their environment Paleontologist Prehistoric life and fossils Anthropologist Structure of human societies Microbiologist Study of microorganisms

Ecology Ecology is the study of the interaction of organisms with their environment and other organism Ecology differs from environmental science in that with ecology the main principles do not change with the addition of man Environmental science incorporates the impact of man

Parts of the Environment Two main factors Biotic factors Abiotic factors

Biotic Factors Biotic factors- all the living parts of the environment Bio- means “living” -ic means “related to” Examples Animals Plants microbes

Abiotic Factors Abiotic factors- all the nonliving parts of the environment. A- means “not” or “without” -bio means “living” -ic means “related to” Examples Temperature Sunlight Soil

Environmental Interactions Organism are affected by the biotic and abiotic factors of their environment and they in turn have an effect on the environment Changes in the environment may require the organisms to make adjustments Changes on one organism could result in effect on another organisms Butterfly and the lupine flower

Coyotes, deer, wolves and mountain lions in the Grand Canyon In the 1900’s coyote, wolves and mountain lions where hunted to almost the point of extinction. They were believed to be of danger to livestock and farmers They are the main predator of deer and without them the deer population exploded. (25 times greater) The deer ate almost all the available vegetation in the area. The area could no longer support such a large population and 60,000 deer starved to death. No one had predicted that the hunting of coyote, wolves and m.lions would lead to the starvation of 60,000 deer.

Review How do the biotic and abiotic factors of an environment interact? How does science influence decision making?