GREEN GENERATION

2015/16

GENERAL CONCEPTS

ECOLOGY

• Individual: a single organism.

• Population: a group of organisms of the same specie in a common location.

• Biological community: an interacting group of various populations of several species in a common location (biotic).

• Ecosystem: a biological community of interacting organisms (biotic) and their physical environment (abiotic).

• Biome: A major ecological community of organisms adapted to a particular climatic or environmental condition on a large geographic area

LIVING STRATEGIES

R-STRATEGISTS K-STRATEGISTS

ECOLOGYINTERACTIONS

COMPETITION

INTRASPECIFIC

INTERSPECIFIC

PREDATION

EXPLOITATION

COMMENSALISM

SYMBIOSIS/MUTUALISM

PARASITISM

ECOLOGY OF COMMUNITIES

TROPHIC CHAIN

TROPHIC WEB

ECOLOGY OF COMMUNITIES

TROPHIC PYRAMIDNUMBERS PYRAMID

Compares the number of individuals in each trophic level. BIOMASS PYRAMID

Compares the total dry weight of the organisms in each trophic level.

ENERGY PYRAMID

Compares the total amount of energy available in each trophic level, measured in kilocalories.

Condensation: process in which water vapor in the air cools and turns into liquid water.

Precipitation: The droplets in the cloud become bigger and heavier and fall down.

Infiltration: the downward movement of water from the land surface into soil or porous rock.

Percolation: process in which liquid passes through a filter (could be different layers of soil). Water is stored in aquifers.

Evaporation: the liquid water heats up and turns into atmospheric water vapor.

Transpiration: the water released by the plants, it escapes through the stomata and then evaporates and turns into atmospheric water vapor.

No new water is created unless under artificial conditions.

The water is being constantly recycled.

The water that you drink could be the same one that dinosaurs drank!

Best solvent found in nature

We all live in a watershed

Area of land that drains to a common body of water.

FRESHWATER Makes aprox. 3% of all the water in the world, only 1% avalaible to us.

It must have < 0.5% of dissolved salts. Freshwater wildflife shows extintion rates 15 times greater than marine

wildlife!

Ice capsIcebergsGlaciers

GroundwaterVernal pools

PondsLakes

MarshesBogsFens

RiversStreams

Underground aquifers

HUMAN ALTERATIONS1- WATER DIVERSION

• To modify the natural course of a river flow.

• Dams are a major factor in water diversion. They are built along rivers to produce reservoirs

• They could cause habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, loss of biodiversity and alteration of life cycle of some species of fishes –anadromous-.

HUMAN ALTERATIONS2- OVERFISHING

Fish catch has risen from 20 million tons/year to over 90 million tons / year

3- INTRODUCTION OF INVASIVE SPECIES

HUMAN ALTERATIONS4-THERMAL POLLUTION

• Change in the water temperatures of lakes, rivers, and oceans caused by man-made industries or practices: water as coolant is warmed returned & to body of water

• Produces alterations in the natural balance of the ecosystems, causes melting of ice caps and rises the level of water.

HUMAN ALTERATIONS5-POLLUTION

Contamination of water bodies producing a degradation of the ecosystems.

HUMAN ALTERATIONS5-POLLUTION

Industrial, residential, commercial, and environmental

POINT SOURCE POLLUTION NON POINT SOURCE POLLUTIONSource is clearly identificable Source is not clearly identificable or there is

more than one.

HUMAN ALTERATIONS Pollutants

Organic compounds

Decomposition of living organisms and their bi-products.

Manure, oil, plastic, gasoline

Inorganicpollutants Dissolved and suspended solids such as…

silt, salts, and minerals

Toxic substances

Substances that are lethal to living organisms.

Metals, chemical compounds

HUMAN ALTERATIONS Pollutants

Microorganisms and parasits

Disease causing pollutants that spread through animal waste

Bacteria, viruses, protozoa and parasitic worms

Radioactive waste

Elements that cause radiation and may lead to the mutation and death of the organisms exposed

Uranium, radium, radon…

ALTERATIONS IN THE NUTRIENT CYCLE

EUTROPHICATION!!

PH

WATER QUALITY

WATER QUALITY

NITROGEN

WATER QUALITYDISSOLVED OXYGEN

WATER QUALITYBIOINDICATORS

A living organism that gives us an idea of the health of an ecosystem.

• Environmental Remediation Strategies• Sustainability Strategies• Nonrenewable vs. Renewable Energy Sources

and Alternate Energy Sources • Everyday Solutions as recycling and

composting • Legislation and Economic Opportunity for

Solving Problems

SOLUTIONS

WATER TREATMENT

Coagulation

Sedimentation

Filtration

Disinfection

Environmental Remediation Strategies

WATER TREATMENT

BIOREMEDIATION

Nonrenewable vs Renewable Energy Sources

BETTER PREVENT THAN RESTORE!

TIPS•Review the water and the nutrients cycles, and each one of the different events and processes really well.

•Review the trophic chains, webs and pyramids of every kind –biomass, numbers, energy-. Also the interaction between organisms! Learn how to read the graphs.

•Types of pollution and pollutants. Water Quality indexes.

•Research about richness, diversity, survivorship and mortality graphs. Learn about ecology of populations, communities and ecosystems.

•Learn about water management and legislation. Measures taken to decrease water pollution. Research about solutions.