SZL 211: FANDAMENTALS OF ECOLOGY

Lecture 2: Science, Matter, Energy

and Systems
Prof. Dr William A. Shivoga (Professor of Aquatic Ecology)
Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology
Department of Biological Sciences
E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
Tel. 0721 264334
Core Case Study: A Story About
a Forest

o Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New

Hampshire, USA
o Compared the loss of water and nutrients from
an uncut forest (control site) with one that had
been deforested (experimental site)
o Deforested site:
o 30-40% more runoff
o More dissolved nutrients
o More soil erosion
The Effects of Deforestation on the
Loss of Water and Soil Nutrients
What Do Scientists Do?

o Scientists collect data and develop

theories, models, and laws about how
nature works
o Science is a search for order in nature
 Scientists Use Observations, Experiments and
Models to Answer Questions

o Steps in the scientific method

1) Identify a problem
2) Find out what is known about the problem
3) Ask a question to investigate
4) Perform an experiment, collect data, and analyze data to answer
the question
5) Propose a scientific hypothesis to explain the data
6) Use the hypothesis to make projections that can be tested
7) Test the projections with further experiments or observations
8) Accept or revise the hypothesis
o Scientific theory
o Well-tested and widely accepted hypothesis
 Identify a problem

Find out what is known

about the problem
(literature search)

Ask a question to be
investigated

Perform an experiment
to answer the question
and collect data

Scientific law
Analyze data
Well-accepted
(check for patterns)
pattern in data

Propose an hypothesis
to explain data

Use hypothesis to make testable

predictions

Perform an experiment
to test predictions

Accept Revise Make testable

hypothesis hypothesis predictions

Test
predictions
Scientific theory
Well-tested and
widely accepted
hypothesis
 Scientists are Curious and Skeptical, and They
Demand Evidence

Four important features of the scientific

process:
o Curiosity
o Skepticism
o Reproducibility
o Peer review
 Scientific Theories and Laws:

o The most important and certain results of science

o Scientific theory
o Rarely overturned unless new evidence
discredits them
o Scientific law and the law of nature
o A well-tested and widely accepted description
of what we find happening repeatedly and in the
same way in nature
 The Results of Science Can Be Tentative,
Reliable or Unreliable

o Tentative science, frontier science

o Not yet considered reliable by the scientific
community
o Reliable science
o Widely accepted by experts
o Unreliable science
o Has not been through peer review or has been
discredited
Science Has Some Limitations

o Scientists cannot prove or disprove anything

absolutely
o Scientists are not free of bias about their own
hypotheses and results
o Systems in the natural world involve a huge
number of variables and complex interactions
What Is Matter and What Happens When
It Undergoes Change?
o Matter
o Consists of elements and compounds, which are in turn
made up of atoms, ions, or molecules
o The law of conservation of matter
o Whenever matter undergoes a physical or chemical change,
no atoms are created or destroyed
o Matter can change form through physical and chemical
changes, but through any of these changes, matter is
conserved.
o Law of Conservation of Mass: The same amount of matter
exists before and after the change—none is created or
destroyed.
Loss of Nitrates (NO3 ) from a Deforested
Watershed

Undisturbed Disturbed
(control) (experimental)
watershed watershed

1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972
Organic Compounds Are the Chemicals of
Life
o Organic compounds
o Contain at least two carbon atoms
o Types:
o Hydrocarbons and chlorinated hydrocarbons
o Simple carbohydrates
o Macromolecules: complex organic molecules
o Complex carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic
acids, and lipids
Matter Comes to Life through Cells, Genes,
and Chromosomes

o Cells:
o Fundamental units of life
o All organisms have one or more cells
o Genes:
o Sequences of nucleotides within DNA
o Instructions for proteins
o Create inheritable traits
o Chromosomes: composed of many genes
A human body contains trillions
of cells, each with an identical set
of genes.

Each human cell (except for red

blood cells) contains a nucleus.

Each cell nucleus has an identical set

of chromosomes, which are found in
pairs.

A specific pair of chromosomes

contains one chromosome from each
parent.

Each chromosome contains a long

DNA molecule in the form of a coiled
double helix.

Genes are segments of DNA on

chromosomes that contain instructions
to make proteins—the building blocks
of life.
 Matter Undergoes Physical, Chemical,
and Nuclear Changes

o Physical change -No change in chemical

composition
o Chemical change - Change in chemical
composition
o Nuclear change:
o Radioactive decay
o Nuclear fusion
o Nuclear fission
 We Cannot Create or Destroy Atoms:
The Law of Conservation of Matter

o We can change elements and compounds

from one physical or chemical form to
another
o We cannot create or destroy atoms
What is Energy and What Happens When It
Undergoes Change?

o Whenever energy is converted from one form to

another in a physical or chemical change, two
changes may happen:
o No energy is created or destroyed (First Law of
Thermodynamics)
o We end up with lower quality or less-usable
energy than we started with (Second Law of
Thermodynamics)
 Energy Comes in Many
Forms

o Kinetic energy:
o Energy of movement
o Heat
o Electromagnetic radiation
o Potential energy:
o Stored energy
o Can be changed into kinetic energy
Wind’s Kinetic Energy Moves the Turbine
 The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Visible light

Shorter Gamma UV Infrared Longer

TV, Radio waves
wavelengths rays X rays radiation radiation Microwaves wavelengths
and higher and lower
energy energy

Wavelengths
(not to scale) Nanometers Micrometers Centimeters Meters
 Potential Energy

© Cengage Learning 2015

Renewable and Nonrenewable Energy

• Renewable energy:
– Gained from resources that are replenished
by natural processes in a relatively short time
• Nonrenewable energy:
– Resources can be depleted and are not
replenished by natural processes within
human timescales

© Cengage Learning 2015

 Fossil Fuels

© Cengage Learning 2015

 Some Types of Energy Are More
Useful Than Others

• High-quality energy
– High capacity to do work
– Concentrated
– Examples:
• High-temperature heat, strong winds, and fossil
fuels
• Low-quality energy
– Low capacity to do work
– Dispersed
© Cengage Learning 2015
 Energy Changes Are Governed by Two
Scientific Laws

• First Law of Thermodynamics:

– Law of conservation of energy
• Energy is neither created nor destroyed in physical and
chemical changes
• Second Law of Thermodynamics:
– Energy always goes from a more useful to a less
useful form when it changes from one form to
another

© Cengage Learning 2015

 What Are Systems and How Do They
Respond to Change?

• Systems have inputs, flows, and outputs

of matter and energy, and feedback can
affect their behaviour

© Cengage Learning 2015

 Systems Respond to Change through
Feedback Loops

• System
– Set of components that interact in a regular
way
– Examples:
• Human body, the earth, and the economy
• Feedback
– Any process that increases or decreases a
change in a system

© Cengage Learning 2015

 Inputs, Throughput, and Outputs of
an Economic System

Inputs Outputs
Throughputs
(from environment) (to environment)

Energy Work or
resources products

Matter System Waste and

resources processes pollution

Information Heat

© Cengage Learning 2015

 Systems Respond to Change through
Feedback Loops (cont’d.)

• Positive feedback loop

– Causes system to change further in the same
direction
– Can cause major environmental problems
• Negative, or corrective, feedback loop
– Causes system to change in opposite direction

© Cengage Learning 2015

 Positive Feedback Loop
Decreasing
vegetation...

... which causes more

vegetation to die.

... leads to erosion

and nutrient loss...

© Cengage Learning 2015

 Negative Feedback Loop

House warms

Temperature reaches
desired setting and
furnace goes off

Furnace on Furnace off

House cools

Temperature drops
© Cengage Learning 2015
below desired setting
and furnace goes on Fig. 2-17, p. 46
It Can Take a Long Time for a System to
Respond to Feedback

• Time delay
– Amount of time between the input of a
feedback stimulus and the response to it
• Tipping point, threshold level
– Fundamental shift in the behavior of the
system

© Cengage Learning 2015

 System Effects Can Be Amplified
through Synergy

• Synergistic interaction and synergy

– Two or more processes combine in such a
way that combined effect is greater than the
two separate effects
• When is a synergistic interaction helpful?
When might it be harmful?

© Cengage Learning 2015

 Three Big Ideas

• You cannot really throw anything away

– According to the law of conservation of
matter, no atoms are created or destroyed
whenever matter undergoes a physical or
chemical change
– Thus, we cannot do away with matter; we can
only change it from one physical state or
chemical form to another

© Cengage Learning 2015

 Three Big Ideas (cont’d.)

• You cannot get something for nothing

– According to the first law of thermodynamics,
or the law of conservation of energy,
whenever energy is converted from one form
to another in a physical or chemical change,
no energy is created or destroyed
– This means that in causing such changes, we
cannot get more energy out than we put in

© Cengage Learning 2015

 Three Big Ideas (cont’d.)

• You cannot break even

– According to the second law of
thermodynamics, whenever energy is
converted from one form to another in a
physical or chemical change, we always end
up with lower-quality or less usable energy
than we started with

© Cengage Learning 2015

 Tying It All Together

• The Hubbard Brook Forest Experiment

and Sustainability
– Revealed that clearing a mature forest
degrades natural capital
– How far can we go expanding our ecological
footprints without threatening our own quality
of life?
– We need to maintain balance

© Cengage Learning 2015