Environmental Science and Biotechnology Objective: Summarize the use of biotechnology applications in the field of environmental science.

Biotechnology Applications Bioremediation- Use of living organisms to remove environmental contaminants from water or soil. –Photoremediation- specialized type of Bioremedation utilizing plants to clean soil and water in contaminated sites.

Biotechnology Applications Immunoassay tests- tests utilizing antibodies produced in various animals to test for the presence of antigens in an environment or organism. –Rabbits, Guinea Pigs and other small animals are often used to produce antibodies. –Can be used to indicate the presence of specific pollutants, viruses, bacteria, and a variety of other harmful compounds.

Biotechnology Applications Indicator species- Plant or animal used to indicate increasing levels of contaminants or antigens in an environment. –Often used to prevent dangerous levels of exposure to important plants and animals in a habitat or area. –Biosensors have recently begun to replace indicator species.

Biotechnology Applications Biological control- methods utilizing naturally occurring organisms or compounds to control plant and animal pests. –Decreases the need of harmful chemical pesticides and herbicides. –Often uitilize genetically engineered organisms to kill or resist harmful organisms. EX: Using ladybugs to control insect pests such as aphids. Geese to control weeds in a production orchard

Biotechnology Applications Biofuels- Alternatives to fossil fuels produced from organic matter. Two common varieties: –Ethanol- alcohol based fuel produced from the fermentation of grains and other crops. Burns cleaner and lessons dependency on oil. –Biodiesel- Fuel produced from the inclusion of certain additives into recycled vegetable oil. Consists of almost pure vegetable oil, has almost no harmful emissions, exhaust smells like French fries.

Environmental Science and Biotechnology Objective: Describe the impact of biotechnology on sustainability.

Biotechnology in increasing sustainability Sustainable Agriculture utilizes resources (plants and animals) that may be quickly replaced with little or no environmental impact. –Increase use of insect resistant crops resulted in the use of 46 million pounds of less pesticides. Biotechnology techniques can be used to produce more versatile and effective organisms with increased speed. –Cloning is often used to produce a larger number of organisms useful for sustainable production.

Examples of Sustainable Resources Agriculture prodcution of bamboo as an alternative to mature hardwoods in flooring Production of rapidly reproducing bacteria to manufactor compounds usually extracted from endangered plants and animals. Increased use of biofuels produced from organic material.

Biotechnology techniques and Environmental Preservation Cloning, Artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization and other reproduction techniques have been widely used to preserve and repopulate decreasing plant and animal populations. Cloning could eventually allow the researchers to produce extinct organisms from preserved genetic material.

Concerns over biodiversity The widespread use of conoing and controlled breeding has raised fears over decreasing genetic diversity. –The creation of monoculture in which all organisms are genetically identical can lead to devastation from disease or insects. The use of genetically modified organisms with resistance to certain insects, or other organisms can increase surrounding genetic diversity.

Environmental Science and Biotechnology Objective Use scientific principles to conduct a simple experiment in contained bioremediation.

Experimental Principles in bioremediation Organism Selection- –A wide variety of organisms may be used in bioremediation, though certain varieties or species will be much more effective than others. Experimental Variables- –Altering the temperature, moisture content, and pH of soil or other host material can greatly compact the effectiveness of organisms in bioremediation. –Control group- used for comparison.

Experimental Principles in bioremediation Monitoring Bioremediation success. –Immunoassay tests can be used to monitor the success f bioremediation efforts. –Digital probes are more accurate, take less time, and can provide real-time monitoring capabilities. –Some organisms, such as bacteria, produces gasses as byproducts while functioning.