BIOLOGY 157: LIFE SCIENCE: AN ENVIRONMENTAL APPROACH (Systems

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BIOLOGY 157 LIFE SCIENCE AN ENVIRONMENTAL
APPROACH (Systems Ecosystems Modeling
Environmental Crisis)
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Systems and Planetary Organization

• System
• an interconnected complex of parts and processes
  characterized by many cause-effect pathways

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Subdividing our Planetary System (I)

• Environment - the influences / forces /
  conditions that surround an organism
• Biotic vs. Abiotic
• Macroenvironment vs. Microenvironment
• Habitat - physical place where an organism or a
  community lives
• Macrohabitat vs. Microhabitat

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Subdividing our Planetary System (II)

• Atmosphere - the gaseous envelope around the
  earth
• Hydrosphere - all the water on the earth
• Lithosphere - the earths crust
• Pedosphere - on land, the surface part of the
  lithosphere that has been modified by organisms
  ( the soil!)
• Biosphere - the life layer, a hybrid region
  consisting of those portions of the atmosphere,
  hydrosphere and lithosphere that can support life
  in an active form

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Subdividing our Planetary System (III)
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Subdividing our Planetary System (IV) Layers of
the Atmosphere
JET STREAM
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Subdividing our Planetary System (V)

• Biogeographic Realms - large areas (on land)
  characterized by their flora and fauna
• Biomes - an area (on land) whose biota is
  controlled by (and is in balance with) the
  climate and is distinguished by the dominance of
  certain plants and animals(?? Can you name some
  biomes ??)
• Ecosystems - a unit composed of the biota and the
  environment of a particular area(?? How many
  ecosystems on the earth ??)

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Biogeographic Realms
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Biomes
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Environmental Problems vs.Root Causes

• PROBLEMS
• Global Warming
• Soil Erosion
• Desertification
• Air Pollution

• ROOT CAUSES
• Overpopulation
• Overconsumption
• Inefficiency
• Greed

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Eco Ethics (I)

• FRONTIER SOCIETY ETHIC
• ( Planetary Management Worldview)
• Anthropocentric
• Low Synergy
• -------------------------------------------
• -------------------------------------------
• The earth has unlimited resources.
• When resources are depleted in
• one area, just move to another
• area.
• The value of ones life is
• measured by the accumulation of
• material things

• SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY ETHIC
• ( Earth-Wisdom Worldview, Stewardship Ethic ?)
• Ecocentric / Biocentric
• High Synergy
• ----------------------------------------------
• ----------------------------------------------
• The earth has finite resources.
• We must prevent depletion by
• recycling and developing renewable
• resources.
• The value of ones life is more than
• just the sum of ones material
• wealth

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Eco Ethics (II)

• Economics is everything. It can
• all be boiled down to the cost of
• materials, energy and labor.
• Humans are not a part of
• nature. We are above nature.
• Nature is there for us to use
• and conquer.
• Human activities are expected
• to produce waste and it must
• be tolerated.
• New technology and new laws
• will solve our problems the
• majority can leave the

• The TRUE COST must include
• those things on the left AND also
• take into account the costs to the
• ecosystem and our health.
• We are a part of nature, and
• as such are subject to all of its
• rules.
• We are a part of nature. We
• must work with and within it.
• Waste is not to be tolerated or
• excused. All things should be
• recycled, reused, etc.
• While these things may help,
• we must all be involved in the
• solution of problems.

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Tragedy Of The Commons (I)

• Garrett Hardin
• The concept comes from the concept of common
  lands in medieval England.
• Is this idea coming back?

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Tragedy Of The Commons (II)
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Environmental Crisis ???

• The environmental crisis is real and it is VERY
  complex.
• Why is it so complex?
• the ecosystem itself is very complex
• many environmental problems
• numerous root causes
• problems and / or root causes often interact
• problems and / or root causes often transcend
  political boundaries
• viable solutions may not be available AND even
  when available people may disagree on what, if
  anything, is to be done or how to best go about
  doing something

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Solving Environmental Problems

• must identify the major factors involved
• must decide on a mode of action
• must be committed to the solution
• must allocate the necessary resources

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Models / Modeling

• When investigating something (e.g. as in an
  attempt to solve some type of problem) one
  usually acquires a large amount of data. To try
  to make some sense from the many components to
  our problem we usually must construct some type
  of MODEL.
• DEFINITION - A Model is a physical or abstract
  representation of the structure of a real system.
• Some models may be quite simple while others may
  be quite complex.
• Models do NOT have to be mathematical but most
  will need to be if they are to be of any real use.

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Examples Of Models (I)

• The generalized equations shown below are
  examples from chemistry of very simple models.
• A B ? C
• A B ?? C D

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Examples Of Models (II)
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Examples Of Models (III)
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Examples Of Models (IV)
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Examples Of Models (V)(Text, chapter 15)
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Parts Of A Model

• No matter how complex a model might appear,
  there are, at most, three main components.
• Variable ( systems variable)a number
  representing the state of a particular component
  in the model
• Transfer Functiona number representing the flow
  or exchange between compartments (between
  variables) of a model.
• Forcing Functiona number representing the
  magnitude of some particular thing which
  affects a system but is NOT affected back by the
  system (may be present or absent).

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Feedback Loops In A System

• The parts of a model (variables, etc.) are
  interconnected in various ways and usually have
  effects on each other. They form pathways. Some
  of these become FEEDBACK LOOPS. These loops can
  be
• NEGATIVEtends to keep things the same (at or
  near the set point)
• POSITIVEmoves things away from the set point

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Building A Model For Population Growth (I)

• Factors which could account for increase /
  decrease in population size
• 1) BIRTH RATE (a measure of fertility)the number
  of births is affected by the number of people
  present nutritional status (famine or plenty of
  food) degree of medical technology as it might
  relate to treating infertility or to providing
  means of birth control
• 2) SURVIVABILITYmedical advances which allow for
  more people to live to reproductive maturity and
  / or to just live longer
• 3) FOOD AVAILABILITYagricultural productivity,
  distribution networks, income

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Building A Model For Population Growth (II)

• 4) SOCIETAL INFLUENCESReligion, Pride,
  Nationalism, Political Views, Economics, etc. can
  influence whether or not large or small families
  are "in".
• 5) RESOURCE AVAILABILITYResources can affect the
  ability to develop and support technology or to
  trade for technology and / or food necessary to
  support the population.
• 6) ENVIRONMENTIncluding disasters such as
  droughts, floods, plagues, crop failure from
  pests, war, pollution, etc. - all can affect the
  ability to support a larger population

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Building A Model For Population Growth (III)

• Now, think for a minute how you would go about
  connecting these. Remember some may connect to
  quite a few. Then think about the magnitude (the
  size or degree) of the effect that each would
  have. Remember, we might have to add a few more
  factors to this in order to make it a reasonably
  'good' model.

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HISTORY LEADING TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

• To look at the development of the environmental
  problem we might find it advantageous to look at
  our 'roots'. That is to say we should look at
  the evolution of our species and the development
  of various major societal periods in the recent
  history of Humans.

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HUMAN preHISTORY
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LUCY SKELETON
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RECENT EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY LEADING TO MODERN
HUMANS

• Dryopithecus (25mya) (Dawn Ape)
• Australopithecus (4-5mya)
• Homo habilis (2.5mya 1st humans
  'Lucy')
• Homo erectus (1.5mya)
• Homo sapiens (0.2 mya) (
  200,000 ya)
• (Cromagnon or
  'modern humans,
  about 40,000ya)
• In the last 40,000 years (or even a bit longer)
  it has been much more cultural and technological
  changes rather than physical (or mental)
  evolution that has accounted for the changes we
  see in humans and their societies.

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HUMAN 'SOCIETAL' SYSTEMS (I)

• 1) Hunter-Gatherer Societypopulations more or
  less NOMADIC more than 10,000 years ago
  minimal impact due to small population size
  minimal possessions, minimal resource use, thus
  also providing for minimal impact slow pop.
  growth rate
• 2) Agricultural Societypopulations sedentary
  started about 10,000 years ago
• Subsistencefed your own family villages small,
  impacts a bitlarger than H-G but still generally
  minimal
• Surplus (starting approx. 5,000 years
  ago)allowed for or resulted in city formation,
  resource movement (depletion - pollution),
  changes in ideas, specialization, crafts, etc.

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HUMAN 'SOCIETAL' SYSTEMS (II)

• 3) Industrial Society
• a) EARLY --- 1760's to WWII
• b) LATE --- Post WWII
• The use of resources, pollution, dislocations,
  population growth, etc. accelerates with each
  stage and it is not an arithmetic progression,
  but rather it is generally a logarithmic
  progression.

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IMPACTS OF SOCIETIES
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TO SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS

• To solve our environmental problems (and possibly
  other types of problems as well) we need to
• 1) adopt a high synergy sustainable society ethic
• 2) control population size
• 3) use resources wisely (reduce amounts required
  by using only where and when necessary and
  by using only the amounts really necessary)
• 4) reuse and recycle
• 5) use renewable resources whenever possible
  (e.g. - solar energy instead of coal and oil)

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ADDITIONAL things from chapter 15 for YOU to
investigate

• 1) What does the EPA do?
• 2) What is Adaptive Management?
• 3) Compare and Contrast Environmental
  Literacy and Environmental Policy
• 4) BEFORE THE NEXT CLASS Google Wikipedia
  for the terms wicked problem and
  precautionary principle. What
  relationships might these have to the
  information in chapter 15?