Interactive Lectures: Module 1-9

Interactive Lectures MODULE 1 - Environmental science - interdisciplinary (includes several different topics in one) - Natural sciences, social science, economics, communications, political science, and humanities - draws on the natural and social sciences and the humanities to understand the natural world and our relationship with it - Solution-oriented - Why is it so hard to solve? (Wicked Problems) - There are multiple causes and consequences - Brings together different groups (stakeholders) with other solutions and agendas - Potential tradeoffs - Easter Island - Polynesians found that the island had rich soil, but by the 16th century, 10k people lived there. - They knew how to raise crops, chickens, and gather fish - They built the statues - Used the trees to build homes - The colonists by the 17th century, only the statues remaining - There was a collapse in the population as a result of a degradation of the island's limited resources - They cut more trees down to plant more, gather fuel, make boats and shelter, and roll the statues to their designated places - What is sustainability? - Living within the means of one’s environment - Live in a way that does not diminish the ability to support life in the future. - Sustainable development: development that meets present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to do the same. - 2015: The UN created 17 development goals by 2030 - Ex. no poverty MODULE 2 - - Core Message - We need science in order to face some of our environmental challenges - Some are predictable - Some are unexpected - To understand and solve these problems: - We need physical evidence - Systematically collected and logically analyzed Science: a body of knowledge (facts and explanations) about the natural world and the process used to get that knowledge Interactive Lectures - - - - - It’s not always easy; it is a “process.” Facts, figures, and understandings may change as revisions occur requires testable ideas; must be replicable; must be evaluated by others (peer review) Scientific certainty increases as evidence for a prediction mounds - Science will NEVER reach “absolute proof.” - As a prediction becomes more and more accepted and certain, it becomes a Scientific Theory (widely accepted explanation of a natural phenomenon; extensively and rigorously tested scientifically) Why are observational and experimental studies needed to investigate the natural world? - Experimental Studies: - Manipulate conditions - Achieve more precise results because more variables are isolated for testing. - Observational Studies: - Collect data without intentionally altering any conditions - Enable us to look at whole systems that cannot be manipulated in a lab or field setting Use science to address environmental problems - When problems arise, we have to establish policies to deal with them - Policy: a formalized plan that addresses a desired outcome or goal - Need to be informed by science - Must be flexible and able to adapt to new scientific findings - Ex. PFAS in water, growing policies on utilizing PFAS and filtering them out of our water Precautionary Principle: acting in a way that leaves a safety margin when the data are uncertain or severe consequences are possible Interactive Lectures MODULE 3 - - - - - One of the founding fathers of environmental science is John Muir - Friends with Teddy Rosevelt, one of the creators of Yosemite, created the biocentric preservation idea- other forms of life beyond humans also have a right to life - “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe” Biosphere 2 project - A “mini planet” to see if we could replicate Earth’s life support systems on another planet - In Arizona, 4 men and 4 women; 1993; for 2 years; no imports or exports in the dome; 3,000 plants and animals that were intended to provide sustenance and self-sustainable - Why’d they only last 2 years? - Ecosystems are more complex than we think - We were unable to replicate the natural, self-sustaining systems properly - ⅓ of plants and animals had gone extinct and vines, roaches, ants, and disease were taking over - Ate so many sweet potatoes because everything else was badly affected - Oxygen levels dropped SEVERELY and had to be pumped in; nitrous oxide levels were also extremely dangerous There is No Planet B - Humanity’s entire energy supply would only be enough to send ONE small manned spacecraft per year on an intergalactic journey - It would take about 40 years, but we’d need to travel at 1/10 the speed of light, which would take a TON of energy - Even if we get to that speed, more energy will be needed to slow it down Hierarchy of Organization - Ecologists focus on how all levels interact and affect each other - Biosphere (total area) - Biome (portion of the biosphere with distinct climate) - Ecosystem (portion of a biome) - Community (ONLY living things: plants, animals, fungi, bacteria) - Population (groups of individuals of the same species) - Individual (single member of a population) What characteristics allow ecosystems to be naturally sustainable? Interactive Lectures - - Rely on renewable energy - Inputs of energy are constantly needed - As it keeps getting used, it starts becoming less and less unable - The sun is the largest giver of renewable energy Population control Recycle matter - Organisms can reuse resources like water, manure, etc Depends on local biodiversity MODULE 4 - - Global biomes - Terrestrial biomes- have specific TEMPERATURE and PRECIPITATION conditions - The closer to the equator and the lower you are in altitude, the higher the temperature - Wet areas are found near the equators and 60 degrees north and south - Dry areas are found 30 degrees north and south Florida ecosystems - Different ecosystems are identified by their dominant vegetation communities, but they’re affected by abiotic factors (non-living factors like soil or hydric periods like how much waterfall there is) - Pine Flatwoods - Imperceptible e elevation changes - they’re very subtle but can lead to different ecosystems and habitats existing - Vegetative species - Saw palmetto - Slash pine - It can grow thick and tall, but when fire hits it, it burns to a stump HOWEVER, it can regrow after a few weeks - It prevents the fire from burning the top of the pine tree so the fire only hits the outer layer of the tree bark - With a fire: - New spots open up for trees to grow, AND the ash serves as fertilizer - Some trees NEED fire to open the pinecones and expose the seeds - Well-defined understory (at the top) of slash pines and an understory (at the bottom) of saw palmetto Interactive Lectures - - The soil is very aciditic which limits the amount of plant species that can invade the land - It has a clay hardpan - Gets hard and compact with means it stores less water - Plants have t have really strong roots to break through the thick layer OR they need to be shallow so they can live about the clay hardpan - Plants MUST be drought-tolerant - Florida Scrubs - Highest elevation - Less division between an upper and lower story - It’s less fire dependent but it does serve a purpose - The species that are found are sand pines, scrub oak, and sand pine scrub - Very sandy soils with even open patches of sand - Lake Wale Ridge in central florida has the highest elevation and is entirely scrub - It’s the only part of florida that remained exposed during the interglacial speries Endangered and endemic (not found anywhere else)) species are found there - Florida's Hardwoods Hammock - Lowest elevation - A lot cooler because of all the shave - Fire’s are extremely rare because there is often a mote - Many animal species go to these areas during the hottest parts of the day - Species found: gumbo limbo, oaks, cabbage palm Florida’s Environmental issues - FL is probably most affected by the sea level rise due to our enormous population and infrastructure - Sunny day flooding- sea water during high tide comes up through the storm drains and floods streets and homes - Happens often in November but it’s becoming more common - Invasive non native species - Species are wreaking havoc - Early in fl development, they would bring fast growing trees to drain the plants but now they’re taking over and are limiting space for the native tree species to grow - The pythons. - Causing devastating loss of wildlife like rabbits, raccoons, opposums, etc - Causing endangerment of the florida panther bc now they have less food to eat Interactive Lectures - - Habitat loss and fragmentation - We have a HUGE population, meaning that a lot of our land is gonna be used for housing Has the highest endangered species - Only beat by Cali and Hawaii Polluttion - Water quality is a major issues - Nutrients from fertilizers, septic tanks and animal waste cause: - Excessive growth of algae and aquatic weeds - (and heavy metals) can kill aquatic organisms and contaminate groundwater MODULE 6 - - - Autonomous reef monitoring structures (ARMS) - Sample local diversity of cryptic species(ones people don’t know much about) - A couple placed around jupiter - ARMS project is a global thing - Findings - Florida regal sea goddess nudibranch (predator: turtle; prey: sponges; they “penis fence”; lungs outside the body) - Eunic longisetis (segmented worm; send pheromones to their partners to shed sperm/eggs; bodies elongate as they age) - Slatepencil urchin (start having babies at 2 years old; become teenagers 25 days after being born; firework-looking with primary and secondary spines) - Cataloged over 491 individual species Amazon - One of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet - Hotspots (regions which are known for their high species richness and endemism, species found nowhere else) - Found 700 different types of beetles in a single tree - Threats - Unchecked agricultural expansion (cleared forest= more fires= more money for surrounding developing countries= land for cattle ranching) - After regulations, the numbers of fires were much lower because there was less amounts of fires that were intentionally lit - Illegal and unmitigated gold mining - Illegal logging We should value biodiversity because nature does a lot FOR us Interactive Lectures - - - - - What - Ecosystem services (photosynethsis, pollination, etc) Food, medicine Recreation Economic development we know about biodiversity We have only identified a fraction of the species - Only about 1.9 million when the amount of total species ranges from 3 to 11 million Genetic, species and ecological diversity enhance the ability of an ecosystem to function and for its members to adapt to changing conditions. - Hurting one part of the ecosystem could damage all of it. Anthropocene (period in which human activity has been the dominant factor on our planet) - Habitat destruction and fragmentation (isolates gene pool/diversity) - Invasive species - Pollution - Overexploitation - Climate change Background rate of extinction: the average rate of extinction that occurred before the appearance of humans or that occurs between mass extinction events - 1-2 species out of million/year - The current is MUCH higher - If the number of species lost over the past century were lost at that rate, it would’ve taken 800-10,000 years - Human impact is causing a 6th significant extinction period. Protecting biodiversity - Avoid pesticides - Support sustainable organizations - Remove invasive species - Debt-for-nature swaps MODULE 7 - Galapagos - Group of islands that were formed volcanically and is one of the most active volcanic areas - Darwin visited the islands - At 22 he went on the HMS Beagle to travel around the world and study nature and map out the areas. - He took the book “Principles of Geology” with him - He collected 14 finches Interactive Lectures - He noticed that some of the birds had different shaped beaks and ate several different things - They all had a common mainland ancestor but they became geographically isolated and adapted to different diets. - Populations can adapt to a changing environment when individuals whose inherited traits make them better suited to survive leave more offspring with those traits on average than other, less-suited individuals, a process known as natural selection. - Evolution: the cumulative genetic changes in populations that occur during successive generations - Natural Selection: the process by which organisms best adapted to the environment survive to reproduce, leaving more offspring than less well-adapted individuals - Environment plays a crucial role in which traits are inherited (it puts pressure on the animals to pass on the favorable traits) - Accumulation of favorable traits leads to increased survival (fitness) - Evolution through natural selection - Four observations - High reproductive capacity (a lot of offspring) - Limits on population growth - Inherited different traits (they’ll pass on the best ones) - Differential reproductive success (some will have more offspring than others because they have more favorable traits) - Value of genetic diversity - Genetic diversity: the heritable variation among individuals of a single population or within a species as a whole - The more diverse a population, the more likely there will be individuals present who can withstand or even withstand or even thrive if environmental conditions change - Only HERITABLE traits can influence the evolution of a population - Genetic diversity comes from two main sources - Mutation: change in the dna sequence of sex cells that alters a gene - May be neutral, beneficial, or harmful - Rare - Genetic combination: the production of eggs and sperm results in a shuffling of alleles, which creates new combinations in offspring - The pace of evolution and extinction is not constant or the same for all species - Pinta island tortoise extinction - Overharvesting of tortoises, goats introduced to the island who ate all their food Interactive Lectures - - Tortoises take forever to reproduce, so they can’t evolve fast enough to avoid extinction. Study on Galapagos finches - Darwin collected 14 species of finches - They all live in different islands that have VERY different habitats - This has caused them to evolve very differently - They spent time throughout several years tracking over 1000 birds - In 1977, a drought began, and vegetation practically disappeared except the cactus - The finches now began to compete for food sources - The birds evolved VERY quickly - This was a trend whenever the weather would change - What kept the species from intermixing was their songs - The finches chose their partners based on appearance and song (they’d be able to recognize that the other birds weren’t their kind) MODULE 8 - - - - Water is a molecule that has many interesting particles. Trees have specifically designed capillaries that are created to carry water from roots to the top - The molecules are TINY - A water molecule is polar because the hydrogens are positive and the oxygens are negative - The trees don’t have to spend any energy to move the water because the waters form bonds and basically carry themselves up About water - Freshwater is an essential and limited resource - Water is unevenly distributed on the planet - Consumption is unequal - Wise water use is key to sustainability 97.5% of the earth’s water is saltwater 2.5% of the earth’s water is freshwater - 68.7% in glaciers and ice caps - This water is pretty much inaccessible - 30.1% of groundwater - Comes from rain trapped in the ground - 1.2% in surface water Water is unevenly distributed - More water in the east than in the west The Hoover Dam is starting to dry up Interactive Lectures - - - - - Huge problem because more and more people are moving to Las Vegas, and water consumption is not slowing down - It produces tons of energy through turbines Lake Powell in Arizona is almost entirely dried up Water use is higher in more developed countries Domestic water: indoor and outdoor use of water by households and small businesses - Uses the least amount of water - Water use up as income levels increase Industrial water: use a lot of water to cool down big machinery Global water use by sector - Crop irrigation uses 80% - Surface and groundwater contribute about equally to irrigation - The Ogallala Aquifier is the largest groundwater system in north america and supplies 30% of the irrigation water - Its running out and this affects our food supply Water pollution - The US has some of the dependable purification systems due to the Safe Drinking Water Act but violations happen every day - A major source of pollution is human fecal matter - Oil - Plastic - Pesticies - Abtibiotics - Pharmaceuticals - Heavy metals - Pfas In summary - We have to decrease our water footprint - Freshwater is a precious and limited resource - Access to freshwater is unevenly distributed and this leads to conflict - Best way to preserve water if for everyone just to use less MODULE 9 - 1968 Tragedy of commons - An essay that describes areas called commons that weren’t owned by anyone but people would take their animals to graze. - Overtime people brought more than the land could sustain which caused overgrazing - Proved that when people are given resources with no limits,, they’ll abuse it Interactive Lectures - - - - - - - A similar example is the ocean The planet as a commons - A finite world can support only a finite number of people - Population growth must eventually equal zero - Think about having kids - The more kids you have, the higher the population and the lower the resources everyone has Humans thrive on less than 17% of the earth’s surface and 4% to grow crops - This amount is not consistent with how much we are growing Human population for most of history has grown very slowly - Starting the IR it began to grow far quicker - Current birthrate however has slowed down Reaching zero population growth would stabalize our population for the first time in human history What affects population growth - Pro-natalist pressures - High infant mortality rates - Lack of education or job opportunities for women - Valuing children as help or status symbol - Unmet need for contraception Stages of demographic transition - Stage 1 : pre industrial and groth is slow - Stage 2: industrialixing and rapid - Stage 3: mature industrial and slowing - Stage 4 : postindustrial and very slow China’s one child policy - They were able to slow their rates down - The actions taken show that the policy violated human rights Thailand’s family planning success story - The campaign promotes birth control