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Ecology and Environmental Protection

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Ecosystem Services• Ecosystem services are the benefits that

people obtain from ecosystems. They include provisioning, regulating, and cultural services that directly affect people, and supporting services needed to maintain the other services. Biodiversity underlies all ecosystem services (source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report, http://www.maweb.org//en/Products.Synthesis.aspx).

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http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art28/figure1.html, 9/28/2006

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Fig. 2. Eight categories of ecosystem service trade-offs, classified according to their spatial and temporal scales, and their degree of reversibility (Excerpted from Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 2005. Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Scenarios, Volume 2. Copyright © 2005 by the author. Reproduced by permission of Island Press, Washington, D.C.).

http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art28/, accessed 9/28/2006 1/30/2007 6

Fig. 3. Generalized schematic sequence of land-cover changes from before human settlement to the human domination of the landscape (adapted from DeFries et al. 2004

http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art28/, accessed 9/28/2006

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Fig. 4. Relative change in provision of ecosystem services (ES) in the four scenarios. Red polygons (“stars”) indicate the state of each ES at the end of the scenario storyline relative to a starting point of zero (indicated by green stars). A positive value (between 0 and 1) indicates an increase in the supply of a particular ES. A negative value (between 0 and -1) indicates a decrease in supply. Therefore, as the red stars are bigger, the overall supply of ES increases, but as they decrease, the overall supply of ES decreases (Excerpted from Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 2005. Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Scenarios, Volume 2. Copyright © 2005 by the author. Reproduced by permission of Island Press, Washington, D.C.).

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Ecosystem Service Trade-offsGlobal Orchestrationo Society focuses primarily on the provisioning ES that generate

tangible products to improve human well-being; o Believing its ability to develop technological replacements or

enhancements for regulating and supporting ES; o In many cases, the replacements are not possible or because

they take so long and cost so much to develop that society losesboth economically and in terms of net well-being.”

o Urban growth into wetlands and along coastlines, iin the short term, provides wealth, food, and comfort for humans, but ultimately causes the diminishment of nutrient cycling and water purification and the elimination of fish habitat within these areas. People in this scenario typically ignore these negative effects until they are a serious problem.

o Emphasis on free trade and global policy causes many cultures to be subsumed into an overall “global culture.” For example, even though some aspects of Asian culture may be integrated into western business practices, many of the traditional practices, such as religious ceremonies, are eliminated as these cultures strive to become part of the global community. (Rodriguez et al. 2006,

o http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art28/, accessed 9/28/2006

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Ecosystem Service Trade-offsOrder from Strength • Places little value on ES, because rich and poor countries are

both focused on increasing their wealth and power through economic growth and defense of their borders..

• In rich countries, ecosystems are believed to be robust and, therefore, are used without restrictions in order to improve human well-being. Representative samples are preserved in order to have a “natural database” for developing appropriate technologies to repair or replace them.

• Provisioning ES are likely to be favored without considering the impacts on other ES (e.g., harvesting that causes erosion, decline in water or air quality, or loss of amenity) In poor countries, the conservation of ES is not considered a priority, because alleviation of poverty by the fastest means possible is essential.

(Rodriguez et al. 2006, http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art28/, accessed 9/28/2006

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Ecosystem Service Trade-offsAdapting Mosaic • No dominant ES trade-off paradigm,

although trade-offs tend to decline over time.

• No single trade-off dominates, because conditions vary globally and societies only focus on their local set of conditions and problems.

• Over time, local management improves throughout the world.

Rodriguez et al. 2006, http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art28/, accessed 9/28/2006

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Ecosystem Service Trade-offsTechnoGarden• Assigns high values to ES, but mainly from a pragmatic

perspective. This means that cultural ES are more likely to be traded-off and lost than other types of services.

• As key societal ES are identified and replaced by technological equivalents, society becomes more likely to trade-off any existing ES for their engineered alternatives.

• In the short term, society will predominantly trade-off cultural ES for other types of services;

• In the long term, all types of services may be traded-off as key ES are identified and technologically optimized.

Rodriguez et al. 2006, http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art28/, accessed 9/28/2006

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Is Environmental Degradation Worsening?

• Yes: Climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, nitrogen loading, chemical risks, disaster, biodiversity, freshwater, marine and coastal areas, urban impact.

• No: Science and technology, increased food production, improved productivity, chemicals and preservatives and refrigeration, biotechnology, alternative sources of energy.

Source: Harf, J.E. and M.O. lombardi. 2005.Taking Sides. 3rd ed. McGraw-Hill/Dushkin. Dubuque, Iowa.

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• How do we view our environment? A physical system or a living system?

• What is the ultimate goal of environmental management?

• How do we manage exotic species such as zebra mussels?

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Discussion Questions

• What are the ecological principles?• What are their implications to

resource management?• What can we learn from the carbon,

nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles?• How do social, economic, and cultural

factors affect ecosystems?

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Ecology• Entropy• Population; Community; Ecosystem• Photosynthesis• Respiration• Primary producers, primary consumers• Food chain; Foodwebs; • Pyramid of energy• Trophic level• Environmental resistance • Limiting factors• Biomass• C, N, P cycle• The Law of tolerance• The competitive exclusion principle• Niche• Biological succession; Primary succession; Secondary succession

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Ecology

• A discipline that studies the interrelationships between the organisms and their environment.

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Ecological Concepts

• Environment: any factor or a group of factors outside the study organism (s) but act upon them.

• Population: total number of organisms within an area.

• Community: all living organisms occupying a given locality.

• Ecosystem: the integration of a community and its environment.

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Basic Concepts• Law of conservation of matter:

Matter can be changed from one to another but can not be destroyed or created.

• First law of energy: energy can be transformed from one to another but not be created or destroyed.

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Basic Concepts• Second law of energy: whenever energy is

converted from one form to another, a certain amount is lost in the form of heat.

• Entropy: the measurement of the degree of disorder of a system.

• Energy moves from highly organized state (food or fuel) to a more dispersed or disorganized (motion and heat) state.

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• Photosynthesis: the process by which solar energy is used in the conversion of CO2 and water into sugar.

CO2+H2 O =C6 H12 O6 + O2

• Respiration: the process of breaking the carbon hydrate in a complex series of chemical reactions.

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• Primary (net) Production: the total amount of organic matter produced by photosynthesis.

• Gross production: the total amount of energy captured by the plant during photosynthesis.

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• Food chain: the sequence of organisms through which energy and nutrients move.

• Food webs: an interconnected series of food chains.

• Pyramid of energy: the structure of a food web that contains energy.

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• Trophic level: each feeding level in a food web. First trophic level includes all the producers (plants).

• Biomass: the dry weight of the living substance in an organism, population, or a community.

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Principles of Ecology

• The Law of tolerance: an ecosystem has a range of tolerance to adapt to the environmental conditions.

• The competitive exclusion principle: no two species of plants or animals can occupy the same ecological niche indefinitely.

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Three Spine Stickle Back Fish

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Artificial Reef

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Principles of Ecology

• Niche: the habitat and function of an organism in an ecosystem.

• Biological succession: the replacement of one community of organisms by another in an orderly and predictable manner.

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Principles of Ecology

• Primary succession: succession occurring in an area not previously occupied by organisms.

• Secondary succession: succession in an area that was previously occupied by organisms.

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• Biomes: the largest terrestrial community that can be easily recognized.

• Tundra: an area in the northern latitudes with small amount of solar energy and bitter winter cold and the short, six-week growing season.

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Bioaccumulation

• The concentration of a pollutant keeps accumulating in species with the increasing trophic level.

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Over 8 million fold

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