Environmental Biology for

Educators
EBE 3772

Dr. L. Hart
 INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL
SCIENCE AND ECOLOGY

Objectives of UNIT 1
 Distinguish between environmental science and ecology
 Describe the levels of organization in ecology
 Describe the “Principle of hierarchical control (Odum
1996)” and its significance
 Environmental Biology (Unit 1)

• The study of the environment and its interactions with the

living organisms in it
• Ecology is a major component of Environmental Biology.
• However, Ecology ≠ Environmental Science
• Environmental science includes a wide range of scientific
disciplines that allow for understanding and management of
earth systems and the many interactions among physical,
chemical, and biological components
• Allows understanding of how the environment functions and
how human actions (anthropogenic effects) affect
environmental processes
• Most modern world problems require the attention of more
than one discipline – interdisciplinary
 What is Ecology?

• Word Ecology: derived from Greek word Oikos = household, home,

place to live
• Some definitions of ecology:
• ‘scientific natural history’ Elton (1927)
• ‘the study of nature and its functions’ Odum (1963)
• ‘the scientific study of the interactions that determine the
distribution and abundance of animals’ Andrewartha (1961)
• ‘the scientific study of the relationships between organisms and
their environment’ McNaughton & Wolfe (1979)
• ‘the study of the relationships between organisms and the
totality of the physical and biological factors affecting them or
influenced by them’ Pianka (1988 )
 Ecology
• Study of the structure & function of nature (Odum1963)
• Structure: Distribution and abundance of organisms
• Influenced by
• biotic (plants/ animals/microbes)
• abiotic elements (physical and chemical substances)
• inorganic elements & compounds : calcium, and oxygen,
water and carbon dioxide, carbonates and phosphates,
• organic compounds
• physical factors / gradients: moisture, winds, currents, tides,
and solar radiation with its associated light and heat
• Function:
• All aspects of growth
• Interactions: competition, predation, parasitism
• Energy flow and nutrient cycling
 Why study Ecology?

(http://www.gogetpapers.com)
• To understand the principles of operation of natural
systems and to predict their responses to change.
• Curiosity: How does the world around us work? How are
we shaped by our surroundings?
 Responsibility

• How do our actions change our environment?

• How do we minimize the detrimental effects of our actions?
• Overfishing, habitat destruction, loss of biodiversity, climate change
 Nature as a guide

• The living world has been around much longer than we have
and has solved many problems with creative solutions
• Ecological systems are models for sustainability
• How can we feed our growing population?
• Where will we live?
 Nature as a guide

• Sustainability: a property of human society in which

ecosystems (including humans) are managed such that the
conditions supporting present day life on earth can
continue
• Ecology helps us understand complex problems

From: www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/.../anglais/Henry/envir.htm
Ecology is Interdisciplinary

Atmospheric
Sciences
Molecular
Geology
Biology

ECOLOGY
Physiology Geography

Biochemistry Behavior
 Foundations of Ecology

• Genetics: "currency of life”

• Evolution: process by which the existing life originated
• Behavior (Ethology): the response of organisms to stimuli
• Physiology: study of the functions and activities of life and
the physical and chemical phenomena involved
• Ecology: context of life and evolution
 Levels of Organization
ATOM

• Pathways MOLECULE
followed by ORGANELLE
energy and
CELLS Organism level:
matter as it how individuals are
move among TISSUES affected by (and how
living and they affect) their
ORGANISM environment
non-living
elements POPULATION Population level:
concerned with the
COMMUNITY presence or
Community ecology: absence of
composition and ECOSYSTEM particular species
organization of
ecological BIOME
communities
BIOSPHERE
Ecosystem
• Organisms and their physical & chemical environments together in a
particular area
• “an energy-driven complex of a community of organisms and its
controlling environment” (Billings 1978)

Biome
• Large scale areas of similar vegetation and climatic characteristics.
 Biosphere

• Thin film on the surface of the Earth in which all life exists
• The biologically inhabitable soil, air and water
• Includes all of the earth’s ecosystems functioning together
• Highly ordered system, held together by the energy of the sun
• Including interaction with the elements of the lithosphere,
geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere
• Lithosphere: rocks, sediments, mantle, and core of the earth
• Hydrosphere: surface and ground water
• Atmosphere: set of layers of gases surrounding a planet
Principle of hierarchical control (Odum):
• As components combine to produce larger functional wholes in a
hierarchical series, new properties emerge
• One cannot explain all the properties at one level from an understanding
of the components at the one below
• Each level in a hierarchy influences what goes on at adjacent levels
• Allows us to study ecology at any one of the levels without having to
learn everything about adjacent levels
• It is important to recognize the unique characteristics of the level
selected and then devise appropriate questions, methods of study and /
or interaction

Species level study Community level study

 The Environment (Unit 2)

What factors affect organisms’ behavior/distribution?

Abiotic features: physical and chemical environment; climate, soil
conditions (texture and structure), pH, salinity etc.

Biotic features: diseases, predation, competition – interspecific and

intraspecific

Leads to adaptations: genetic change in response evolution

(Please read extra information on the theory of natural selection of Charles Darwin)

Leads to speciation and diversity

 Resources in the environment

… are consumed and change in value over time

• May be renewable because of the continuous open energy-driven
properties of ecosystems
• Can be lost or disrupted by human impacts on ecosystems and their
functioning
• An abiotic environmental factor that influences the functioning of living
organisms e.g. temperature, relative humidity , pH, salinity, concentration
of pollutants etc.
• May be modified by the presence of other organisms e.g. temperature,
humidity & soil pH may be altered under a forest canopy
• Environmental conditions ≠ resources → conditions are not consumed or
used up by organisms
• Tolerance to environmental conditions affect the ecological niche of
organisms
 Niche vs Habitat

• Niche ≠ place in which an organism lives

• Habitat: physical setting / place in which an organism lives e.g. a forest or
desert
• Ecological Niche: range of conditions that the organism can survive in, e.g. for
a coral reef organism - water temperatures, salinities, wave action, nutrients
and light level required to survive, the food it consumes, competitors it
forages with and the predators that consume it, all make up its niche
• The niche describes how, rather than just where an organism lives
• Each habitat provides many different niches
• Habitat = organisms “address”
• Niche = organisms “profession”
• Because the physical environment is dynamic, individuals and species must be
able to tolerate a range of ecological conditions along each niche axis
• The niche for a particular organism is thus multi-dimensional
 The study of the environment and its interactions with the
Environmental Science
living organisms in it

The scientific study of the distribution and abundance of living

Ecology organisms and how it is affected by interactions between the
organisms and their environment.

The re-orientation of education to achieve values and attitudes

Environmental Education / that will help people to peacefully co-exist, respect the rights
Education for Sustainable of each other and of nature and to create a world with less
Development suffering, poverty and hunger as a result of an increased
conservation of natural biodiversity

Population Different species living in the same area and interacting

Different populations within the same area, interacting with

Community
each other

Ecosystem The living and non-living components within a specific area

Various ecosystems within a geographical area that shares a

Biome
similar climate and vegetation.

Hierarchy The formal organization within a group

 Self Study Questions

1. Give an example of organisms modifying their surroundings.

2. What is the relationship between ecology and
environmentalism?
3. Give an example of an ecosystem, and explain what the
associated community would consist of.
4. Distinguish between a fundamental niche and a realized
niche.
5. What is meant by “an ecosystem is the energy-driven
complex of a community”?
6. Distinguish between the “biosphere” and the “ecosphere”.