ESS

Unit 1.1
1-FOUNDATIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS AND SOCIETIES

1.1Environmental values systems

What is an environmental value system? (EVS)

- The way that somebody sees the environmental issues/things
- Ecological point of view
- Lo que nos condiciona a ver el mundo de una forma
- A mi no me parece bien deforestar el bosque (es mi EVS)
- A pepito le parece bien (es su EVS)

Environmental movement
-Green washing ->when you try to wash the image of a company by putting green labels on things but they aren't
even ecological.

Who is involved in the environmental movement?

-Influential individuals (such as Rachel Carson)
- Independent pressure groups (such as Greenpeace)
-Corporate business
-Governments (laws)
-Intergovernmental bodies (such as United Nations->ONU)

-Sustainability ->system that takes natural resources without harming the future of this resource.

Historical influences in environmental movement

- Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1962)
- Bhopal disaster (1984) -> factory lick
- Chernobyl disaster (1986) Kiev,Ukraine
- Fukushima Daiichi (2011)

Categories of EVS (look at the powerpoint)

-Ecocentric -> deep ecologist (they think nature as way more value than humanity and humans have no right
to interfere with the nature , if something isn’t being used by animals or is bad for the environment they would ban it)
->soft ecologist
->educate people about
-Anthropocentrists (view point that puts the humanity in the middle,they say we should be using the resources in a
sustainable way,regulation of the using of the ressources)
->debate about
->to improve the environmental issues they would use taxes
 -Technocentrists -> environmental managers
->cornucopians (something that never ends,infinite resources)
➢ Using technology for the improvement of society and the environment.
➢ They would invent a technology thing to reduce plastic.
➢ There is no bad EVS or good EVS ,everyone has his own and we relate more to one than to another.
➢ Sometimes when you find a solution for a problem,there is another problem appearing because of the solution
➢ For example: when they banned the pesticides,the malaria mosquitoes came back and millions of people died
because of the mosquitoes.

The spectrum of environmental value systems

 1.2 Systems and models

What is a systems approach?

System: Set of inter-related parts working together to make a complex whole

➢ A systems approach is a way of visualizing a complex set of interactions which may be ecological or societal

➢ These interactions produce the emergent properties of the system

Why systems?

-A systems approach can help in the study of complex environmental issues

-The use of systems and models simplifies interactions but may provide a more holistic view without reducing issues
to single processes
-The concept of a system can be applied at a range of scales
-It can be living or non-living

Scales of a system
Flows

➢ Represented by arrows

➢ They provide inputs and outputs of energy and matter

Processes that may be:

Transfers : Change of location

Transformations : change in chemical nature, change in state or change in energy

Types of systems

1. Open systems

2. Closed systems

3. Isolated systems

Open systems

➢ An open system exchanges both energy and matter across its

boundary
➢ Ecosystems are open systems

Closed systems
➢ A closed system exchanges only energy across its boundary

➢ Closed systems are extremely rare in nature (the Earth itself could be an ‘almost’ closed system)

➢ The global geochemical cycles approximate to closed systems

Isolated system
➢ An isolated system is a hypothetical concept in which neither energy nor matter is exchanged across the
boundary

Comparison of systems

Use of models
•A model is a simplified version of reality and can be used to understand how a system works and to predict how it will
respond to change
•A model inevitably involves some approximation and therefore loss of accuracy

Advantages Disadvantages

-Simplify complex systems. -Environmental factors are very complex

-Predict what will happen. -Different models may show different effects using the same data

-Allow inputs to be changed and outcomes examined without having to -Oversimplified and become less accurate
wait a long time.
-Models are as good as data used
-Results to be shown to others.
-Impartiality
-Easier to understand.
-Different conclusions
-Illustrate links between parts of the system.
-Clear overview of complex interactions.
 1.3. Energy and equilibria

Energy in Systems

●1st Law of Thermodynamics: Energy in and isolated system can be transformed but cannot be created or destroyed
●Energy can change from one form to another (light to heat) but no new energy is created
●Sometimes called conservation of energy

1st Law Continued

●What about sunlight? What happens to all of the light that reaches Earth?
○30% reflected back into space
○50% converted to heat
○19% powers hydrologic cycle
○1% used for photosynthesis
○That’s 100%

2nd Law of Thermodynamics

●Entropy of a system increases over time
●Entropy → Measure of the amount of disorder in a system
●An increase in entropy arising from energy transformations reduces the energy available to do work
●Energy = work + heat
○Can you give an example of this law that you may experience often?
○Car engine: Does work but gets very hot. Engineers would love to create an engine that doesn’t lose energy as heat

Equilibrium

●Tendency of a system to return to an original state following disturbance

○A rubber band can be stretched but it will ‘always’ return to its original shape
●Open systems tend to exist in a state of equilibrium
●Stable Equilibrium: System returns to same equilibrium after disturbance
●Steady-State Equilibrium: No change over the long term but small changes over the short term
●Unstable Equilibrium: System returns to a NEW equilibrium after disturbance (Climate?)
Ecosystem Equilibrium

Stable Equilibrium
 Tipping Point

●The minimum amount of change within a system that will destabilize it, causing it to reach a new equilibrium or stable
state.
○Can you think of any human impacts on the environment that might lead to a tipping point?

Positive and Negative Feedback

●Most systems are affected by feedback- the processes, energy, or matter that change the system
●Positive Feedback: Encourages a change
●Negative Feedback: Discourages further change
 Positive Feedback

●Causes a system to change further

●Drives the system towards a tipping point where a new equilibrium is adopted
●Destabilizer
●Example: Climate Change

Negative Feedback

●Causes a system to change in opposite direction it is moving or causes it to slow down

●Stabilizer
●Ex. Thermostat

Resilience of a System
●Ecological or social, it refers to its tendency to avoid such tipping point
●Example → Ball in a bowl, the higher the walls of the bowl, the more resilience the system has

Factors affecting ecosystem resilience

●Diversity and the size of storages within systems can contribute to their resilience and affect their speed of response
to change
●Humans can affect the resilience of systems through reducing these storages and diversity
 1.4 SUSTAINABILITY
●Sustainability is the use and management of resources that allows full natural replacement of the resources
exploited and full recovery of the ecosystems affected by their extraction and use
●Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive
harmony.

Sustainability indicators
We could measure sustainability with any ecological and socio-economic indices like air quality, water poverty or
US$ GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita

Resources in terms of natural income

Natural Resources → Raw materials from nature

Natural Capital → Natural capital is a term used for natural resources that can produce a sustainable natural
income of goods or services.
Natural Income → Natural income is the yield obtained from natural resources

Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs)

●Report prepared before a development project to change the use of a land

●Factors such as biodiversity, pollution, population, or climate may be used quantitatively as environmental
indicators of sustainability
●They can be applied at a local or global level

Ex: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA)ç

→ The MA gave a scientific appraisal of the condition and trends in the world’s ecosystems and the services they provide using
environmental indicators, as well as the scientific basis for action to conserve and use them sustainably
 Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs)
●EIAs incorporate baseline studies before a development project is undertaken
●They assess the environmental, social and economic impacts of the project, predicting and evaluating possible
impacts and suggesting mitigation strategies for the project
●They are usually followed by an audit and continued

Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs)

●EIAs provide decision-makers with information in order to consider the environmental impact of a project. There is
not necessarily a requirement to implement an EIA’s proposals, and many socio-economic factors may influence
the decisions made
●Criticisms of EIAs include: the lack of a standard practice or training for practitioners, the lack of a clear definition
of system boundaries and the lack of inclusion of indirect impacts

Ecological Footprint

●An ecological footprint (EF) is the area of land and water required to sustainably provide all resources at the rate at
which they are being consumed by a given population.
●If the EF is greater than the area available to the population, this is an indication of unsustainability.
●On average, and American uses 10 hectares of land (about 20 football fields)
●A person from India on the other hand only uses about 0.8 Hectares.
 2-Ecosystems and Ecology

2.1 Species and Populations

Significant ideas

A species interacts with its abiotic and biotic environments, and its niche is described by these interactions.

Populations change and respond to interactions with the environment.

Any system has a carrying capacity for a given species

Species:

A species is a group of organisms that share common characteristics and that

interbreed to produce fertile offspring
Humans, Giraffes, Pine Trees

Species are given scientific name with genus and then species (in italics)

Humans → Homo sapiens

Wolf → Canus lupus

Habitat:

Habitat → The environment where a species normally lives

Includes Abiotic and Biotic Factors

Niche:

Describes the particular set of abiotic and biotic

conditions and resources to which an organism
or population responds

Example: Small fish in a coral reef share the

same habitat, but each species has a different
niche.
Fundamental and realised niches:

Fundamental niche → Describes the full range of conditions and resources in which species could survive and
reproduce

Realised niche → Describes the actual conditions and resources in which species exists due to biotic
interactions

Abiotic Vs. Biotic

Abiotic factors → Non-living physical factors that

influence the organism and ecosystem

Biotic factors → Interactions between organisms

Populations

Population → A group of individuals of the same species living in the same area at the same time, and which
are able to interbreed

Population Growth and Changes

Exponential Growth: Occurs when no limiting

factors slowing growth

Usually produces a J-Curve

Examples: Bacteria in a petri dish / Humans

Limiting Factors

Factors able to slow the population growth as it approaches the carrying capacity of the system

Carrying capacity (K) → Maximum number or load of individuals that an environment can carry or support

Population Curves
J-Curve S-Curve
S-Curve reality J-Curve Reality

S-Curve

-Start with exponential growth, however above a certain population size the growth rate slows down
gradually until it’s constant.
-Growth slows down more in larger populations.

Typical of large mammals and humans

J-Curve

-Boom and Bust pattern

-Population grows exponentially at first and then suddenly collapses
-Collapses are called “diebacks.” Often the population exceeds carrying capacity before the dieback
occurs

Typical of microbes, invertebrates, fish, and small mammals

K- and r-strategists: Reproductive strategies

K-Selected Species

-Have small numbers of offspring but invest large amounts of energy in parental care.
-Most offspring survive, long lives
-Good competitors and population is usually close to carrying capacity
-Can outcompete r-strategists in good conditions

Examples: Humans / Large mammals

r-Selected Species

-Have extremely large numbers of offspring, but invest little or no time raising them.
-Reproduce quickly, but short lived
-Colonize new habitats rapidly
-Usually exceed carrying capacity and populations collapse.
-Predominate in unstable ecosystems

Examples: Invertebrates and fish

K- and r-strategist

Interactions

➢ Predation
➢ Herbivory
➢ Parasitism
➢ Mutualism
➢ Disease
➢ Competition
 2.2. Communities and ecosystems

Significant Ideas

The interactions of species with their environment result in energy and nutrient flows

Photosynthesis and respiration play a significant role in the flow of energy in communities

The feeding relationships of species in a system can be modeled using food chains, food
webs, and ecological pyramids

Review

What’s a community?

A group of populations living and interacting with each other in a common habitat

What’s an Ecosystem?

A community and the physical environment with which it interacts.

Respiration

-Conversion of organic matter into carbon dioxide and water in all living organisms, releasing energy

glucose+oxygen → water+ carbon dioxide

C6H12O6 + 6O2 → 6H2O + 6CO2

-Large amounts of energy are lost as heat → Increasing the entropy of the ecosystem

-The rest of the energy is used for movement, respiration, sensitivity, growth, reproduction, excretion,
and nutrition
Photosynthesis

-Primary producers such as green plants (autotrophs) use photosynthesis to

make their own food from water and carbon dioxide

-Light energy is converted to chemical energy

Carbon dioxide + water → glucose + oxygen

6CO2 + 6H2O → C6H12O6 + 6O2

-Photosynthesis produces the raw material for producing biomass

Trophic Levels

Trophic Level → The position that organism occupies in the food chain,
or the position of a group of organisms in a community that occupy the
same position in food chains

Trophic Level 1: Producer

Trophic Level 2: Herbivore (primary consumer)

Trophic Level 3: Carnivore/ Omnivore (secondary consumer)

Trophic Level 4: Carnivore (tertiary consumer)

1)Producers (autotrophs)

-Typically plants or algae that produce their own food using photosynthesis

-Form the first trophic level in a food chain

-Exception might be chemosynthetic organisms such as certain types of bacteria that produce food without
sunlight
 2)Consumers

Includes primary, secondary, and tertiary

Primary Consumer: Eats autotrophs (plants). Herbivores.

Secondary Consumer: Eat primary consumers but may also eat producers. Carnivores and Omnivores.

Tertiary Consumer: Eat secondary consumers or feed off dead bodies of other animals.

3)Decomposers

-Organisms that break down complex organic matter into simple organic matter

-They get energy from decaying plants and animals

-Mostly includes fungi and bacteria

4)Detritivores

-Consumers that derive food from detritus or decomposing organics.

Detritus includes: dead organism, feces, snake skin, crab shell.

-Includes snails, slugs, maggots, and vultures

Food chains

1. Shows the flow of energy from one organism to the next

2. Shows feeding relationships between species in an ecosystem

Food Webs

Complex network of interrelated food chains

Ecological Pyramids

-Include pyramids of numbers, biomass, and productivity

-Are quantitative models that are measured for a given area and time.

-Allow us to easily examine energy transfers and losses

-For example, due to 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, numbers and quantities of biomass and energy decrease
along food chains, so pyramids become narrower towards to the apex (top)

-Only 10% of energy in one trophic level is transferred to the next. That’s a 90% energy loss

Numbers Pyramids

-Shows the number of organisms at each trophic level in a food chain

-Length of the bar gives a measure of relative numbers

-Producers are always at the bottom, often in greater numbers

-However, some may have a large, single plant as the producers so the base may be small, but it supports
many consumers

-Snapshot

Units → N/m2

Biomass Pyramids

Contains biomass (mass of each individual × number of each individual) at each trophic level

Biomass → The quantity of (usually dry) organic material in an organism, population, particular trophic level,
or ecosystem

Snapshot

Units → g/m2
Productivity Pyramids

-Contains the flow of energy through each trophic level

-Shows the energy being generated and available as

food to the next trophic level during a fixed period of time

-Always pyramid shaped if ecosystem is healthy

Units → J/m2yr (Energy per unit area during a time)

Bioaccumulation and biomagnification

Bioaccumulation → The build-up of persistent or non-biodegradable pollutants within an organism or trophic

level because they cannot be broken down.
Can eventually lead to disease and/or death

Biomagnification → The increase in concentration of persistent or non-biodegradable pollutants along a food

chain

Example: A plant is contaminated. An herbivore eats many plants and therefore is extremely contaminated.
A carnivore eats the herbivore and dies due to extreme concentrations

DDT and mercury accumulate along the food chain due to a decrease in biomass and energy
Minamata Bay Mercury Disaster: Case Study of Bioaccumulation and magnification

-1932-1968: Chisso plastics released 27 tons of mercury into Minamata

Bay, Japan

-In 1950’s, people began suffering from mercury poisoning

-Bacteria changed mercury to methylmercury that can be absorbed by skin

of fish and shrimp

-People then ate the fish and got sick

 2.3 Flows of Energy and Matter

Significant Ideas

Ecosystems are linked together by energy and matter flows

The Sun’s energy drives these flows, and humans are impacting the flows of energy and matter both locally
and globally

Solar radiation

As solar radiation (insolation) enters the Earth’s atmosphere,

some energy becomes unavailable for ecosystems as this
energy is absorbed by inorganic matter or reflected back into
the atmosphere.

Pathways of radiation through the atmosphere involve a loss

of radiation through reflection and absorption as shown in the
figure

Pathways of Energy in an Ecosystem

-Conversion of light energy into chemical energy (ex: photosynthesis)

-Transfer of chemical energy from one trophic level to another with varying efficiencies (moving up
the food chain/food web)

-Overall conversion of ultraviolet, infrared and visible light to heat energy by an ecosystem

-Re-radiation of heat energy into the atmosphere

Biomass and Productivity

Productivity → The conversion of energy into biomass over a given period of time
Biomass → Living mass of an organism or organisms (sometimes referred to as dry mass)
Gross → Refers to the total amount of something
Net → Refers to the amount left over after deductions
Gross Income → $60,000 per/year
Net Income → $50,000 per/year after taxes, social security, retirement, health care, etc.
Primary Production → to do with plants
Secondary Production → to do with animals
 Gross vs. Net Productivity

Gross Productivity → Total gain in energy or biomass per unit area per unit time
Biomass that can be gained before deductions
But almost all organisms have to respire to stay alive so some energy is used up to stay alive instead
of used to grow.
Net Productivity → Gain energy or biomass per unit area per unit time that remains after deductions
due to respiration.

Gross Primary Productivity (GPP)

● All light energy fixed by plants is converted to sugars

● Can estimate plant’s energy uptake by measuring the amount of sugar produced: Gross Primary
Productivity.
● However, measuring sugar produced is difficult because it is used almost as soon as it is produced
● Easier to measure Net Primary Productivity (NPP)
Net Primary Productivity (NPP)

NPP → An ecosystem’s NPP is the rate at which plants accumulate dry mass (actual plant material)
Units → g/m2 (in a period of time)
It is a measure of potential food for consumers in the ecosystem
Calculation → NPP = GPP – R(respiratory loss)
In theory, any glucose that’s left over after photosynthesis and respiration should be material
deposited in and around cells to form new plant matter

Gross Secondary Productivity (GSP)

GSP → Total energy/biomass assimilated by consumers and is

calculated by subtracting the mass of fecal loss from the mass of
food eaten

Net Secondary Productivity (NSP)

Dry mass of plants that is stored in new tissue (the tissue of an

animal) → NSP = GSP – R
 Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY)

MSY → Largest crop or catch that can be taken from the stock
of a species without depleting the stock
Equivalent to the NSP or NPP of system

Matter Flows

→ Matter flows through ecosystems linking them

together. The flow of matter involves transfers
and transformations

→ To illustrate this flow of matter using flow

diagrams we usually use the carbon and nitrogen
cycles

Carbon Cycle

Storages in the carbon cycle:

Organic storages → Organisms

Inorganic storages → Atmosphere, soil, fossil fuels and oceans

Flows in the carbon cycle:

➢ Consumption (feeding)
➢ Death and decomposition
➢ Photosynthesis
➢ Respiration
➢ Dissolving
➢ Fossilisation
Nitrogen Cycle

Storages in the nitrogen cycle:

Organic → Organisms
Inorganic → Soil, fossil fuels, atmosphere, and water bodies

Flows in the nitrogen cycle:

➢ Nitrogen fixation by bacteria and lighting
➢ Absorption
➢ Assimilation
➢ Consumption (feeding)
➢ Excretion
➢ Death and decomposition
➢ Denitrification by bacteria in waterlogged
soils
 2.4 Biomes, zonation and succession

Significant ideas

-Climate determines the type of biome in a given area, although individual ecosystems may vary due to
many local abiotic and biotic factors

-Succession leads to climax communities that may vary due to random events and interactions over
time. → This leads to a pattern of alternative stable states for a given ecosystem

-Ecosystem stability, succession and biodiversity are intrinsically linked

Biomes

-Biomes are collections of ecosystems sharing similar climatic conditions

They can be grouped into five major classes: aquatic, forest, grassland, desert and tundra. Each of
these classes has characteristic limiting factors, productivity and biodiversity

Biomes factors:

Insolation, precipitation and temperature are the main factors governing the distribution of biomes

The tricellular model

The tricellular model of atmospheric circulation explains the distribution of precipitation and temperature
and how they influence structure and relative productivity of different terrestrial biomes
Does climate change affect the biomes?

Climate change is altering the distribution of biomes and

causing biome shifts

Zonation (Spatial phenomenon)

Changes in a community along an environmental gradient due to factors such as changes in altitude,
latitude, tidal level or distance from shore (coverage by water)

Succession (Temporal phenomenon)

-Process of change over time in an ecosystem involving

pioneer, intermediate and climax communities

-During succession, the patterns of energy flow, gross

and net productivity, diversity, and mineral cycling change
over time
Types of succession

→ Ecological successions are made up of several communities – several intermediate plant

communities, from pioneer to climax. There are a number of different examples of succession:

Hydrosere: Succession in a body of freshwater. In this process small lakes may disappear and be
replaced by the plant communities.
Halosere: Succession in salt water marshes.
Psammosere: Succession along sand dunes. This stabilises the dunes and stops them shifting.
Lithosere: Succession starting from bare rock. This is seen most often on lava flows.
Xerosere: Succession in dry areas.

Pioneer community Climax community

Organism survival strategy r-strategists k-strategists

Energy flow Simple Complex

NPP High Low

GPP Low High

Diversity Low High

Mineral cycling Slow and limited volume Quicker and higher volume

Soil depth None Fertile and deep

Productivity High Low

 K- and r- strategists in the different communities

K- and r-species have reproductive strategies that are better

adapted to pioneer and climax communities, respectively

Is productivity related to succession?

When do you think the net productivity of the community is going to be higher? Pioneer stage or climax
stage? And the gross productivity?

● In early stages of succession, gross productivity is low due to the unfavourable initial conditions and
low density of producers.
→ The proportion of energy lost through community respiration is relatively low too, so net productivity is
high
→The system is growing and biomass is accumulating

● In later stages of succession, with an increased consumer community, gross productivity may be high
in a climax community. However, this is balanced by respiration, so net productivity approaches 0 and
the productivity–respiration (P:R) ratio approaches 1

Stability of ecosystems

-In a complex ecosystem, the variety of nutrient and energy pathways contributes to its stability

-There is no one climax community, but rather a set of alternative stable states for a given
ecosystem.
→ These depend on the climatic factors, the properties of the local soil and a range of random
events that can occur over time
Human activity and succession

-Human activity is one factor that can divert the progression of succession to an alternative stable
state by modifying the ecosystem
EX: the use of fire in an ecosystem, the use of agriculture, grazing pressure, or resource use (such
as deforestation)

-This diversion may be more or less permanent depending upon the resilience of the ecosystem

Resistance of an ecosystem

An ecosystem’s capacity to survive change may depend on

its diversity and resilience