Take 1.

Understanding Our Environment

1. What Is Environmental Science?

1) The Goals of Environmental Science

• One of the major goals of environmental science is to understand and

solve environmental problems.

• To accomplish this goal, environmental scientists study two main types

of interactions between humans and the environment.

• One area of study focuses on how we use natural resources, such as

water and plants. The other area of study focuses on how our actions
alter our environment.

• To study these interactions, environmental scientists must gather and

analyze information
from many different disciplines.
Take 1. Understanding Our Environment

1. What Is Environmental Science?

2) Many Fields of Study

Major Fields of Study That Contribute to Environmental Science

Zoology is the study of animals.

Botany is the study of plants.
Biology is the study
Microbiology is the study of microorganisms.
of living organisms.
Ecology is the study of how organisms interact with their
environment and each other.

Geology is the study of the Earth’s surface, interior processes,

Earth science is the
and history.
study of the Earth’s
Paleontology is the study of fossils and ancient life.
nonliving systems
Climatology is the study of the Earth’s atmosphere and
and the planet as a
climate.
whole.
Hydrology is the study of Earth’s water resources.

Physics is the study

Engineering is the science by which matter and energy are
of matter and
made useful to humans in structures, machines, and products.
energy.
Chemistry is the
Biochemistry is the study of the chemistry of living things.
study of chemicals
Geochemistry, a branch of geology, is the study of the
and their
chemistry of materials such as rocks, soil, and water.
interactions.
Geography is the study of the relationship between human
populations and Earth’s features.
Social sciences are
Anthropology is the study of the interactions of the biological,
the study of human
cultural, geographical, and historical aspects of humankind.
populations.
Sociology is the study of human population dynamics and
statistics.
Take 1. Understanding Our Environment

2. Our Environment Through Time

1) The Agricultural Revolution

• Wherever humans have hunted, grown food, or settled, they have

changed the environment.

• For example, the land where New York City now stands was once an
area where Native Americans hunted game and gathered food.

• The environmental change that has occurred on Manhattan Island over

the last 300 years is immense, yet this period of time is just a “blink” in
human history.

• Eventually many hunter-gatherer groups began to collect the seeds of

the plants they gathered and to domesticate some of the animals in
their environment.

• Agriculture is the practice of growing, breeding, and caring for plants

and animals that are used for food, clothing, housing, transportation,
and
other purposes.

• The practice of agriculture started in many different parts of the world

over 10,000 years ago.

• This change had such a dramatic impact on human societies and their
environment that it is often called the agricultural revolution.
Take 1. Understanding Our Environment

2. Our Environment Through Time

2) The Industrial Revolution

• For almost 10,000 years the tools of human societies were powered
mainly by humans or animals.

• This pattern changed in the middle of the 1700s with the Industrial
Revolution, which involved a shift from energy sources such as animal
muscle and running water to fossil fuels, such as coal and oil.

• The increased use of fossil fuels and machines, such as the steam
engines changed society and greatly increased the efficiency of
agriculture, industry, and transportation.
Take 1. Understanding Our Environment

3. Spaceship Earth

1) World Population: 1600-2000

• Earth has been compared to a ship traveling through space, unable to

dispose of waste or take on new supplies as it travels.

• Earth is essentially a closed system-the only thing that enters Earth’s

atmosphere in large amounts is energy from the sun, and the only thing
that leaves in large amounts is heat.

• A closed system of this sort has potential problems. Some resources will
be used.

• In a closed system, there is also the chance that we will produce wastes
more quickly than we can dispose of them.
Take 1. Understanding Our Environment

4. What Are Our Main Environmental Problems?

1) Type of Resource

Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources

Renewable Nonrenewable

Energy from the sun

Water Metals such as iron, aluminum, and copper

Wood Nonmetallic materials such as salt, sand, and clay

Soil
Fossil fuels
Air
Take 1. Understanding Our Environment

4. What Are Our Main Environmental Problems?

2) Resource Depletion

• You may feel as though the world has an unlimited variety of

environmental problems.

• But we can generally group environmental problems into

three categories: resource depletion, pollution, or loss of biodiversity.

• Any natural material that is used by humans is called

a natural resource.

• Natural resources can be classified as renewable and nonrenewable.

• A renewable resource is a resource that can be replaced relatively

quickly by natural process.

• Fresh water, air, soil, trees, and crops are all resources that can be
renewed.

• A nonrenewable resource is a resource that forms at a much slower rate

than the rate that it is consumed.

• The most common nonrenewable resources are minerals and fossil fuels.
Take 1. Understanding Our Environment

4. What Are Our Main Environmental Problems?

3) Pollution

• One effect of the Industrial Revolution is that societies began to

produce wastes faster than the wastes could be disposed of.

• These waste accumulate in the environment and cause pollution.

• Pollution is an undesired change in air, water, or soil that adversely

affects the health, survival, or activities of humans or other organisms.
Take 1. Understanding Our Environment

4. What Are Our Main Environmental Problems?

4) Loss of Biodiversity

• The term biodiversity refers to the number and variety of species that
live in an area.

• Earth has been home to hundreds of millions of species. Yet only a

fraction of those species are alive today-the others are extinct.

• Extinction is a natural process, and several large-scale extinctions, or

mass extinctions, have occurred throughout Earth’s history.

• For example, at the end of the Permian period, 250 million years ago,
as much as 95 percent of all species became extinct.
Take 2. The Environment and Society

1. “The Tragedy of the Commons”

Hardin observed that when land was held in common(left), individuals

tended to graze as many animals as possible.

When commons were replaced by enclosed fields owned by

individuals(right), people tended to graze only the number of animals that
the land could support.
Take 2. The Environment and Society

2. Economics and the Environment

1) Supply and Demand

• One basic rule of economics is the law of supply and demand, which
states that the greater the demand for a limited supply of something,
the more that thing is worth.

• Many environmental solutions have to take the relationship between

supply and demand into account.

• For example, if the supply of oil decreases, we have three choices:

pay the higher price, use less oil, or find new sources of energy.
Take 2. The Environment and Society

3. Developed and Developing Countries

• Nations classifies countries as either developed or developing.

• Developed countries have higher average incomes, slower population

growth, diverse industrial economies, and stronger social support
systems.

• They include the United States, Canada, Japan, and the countries of
Western Europe.

• Developing countries have lower average incomes, simple and

agriculture-based economies, and rapid population growth.
Take 2. The Environment and Society

4. Population and Consumption

• Most environmental problems can be traced back to two

root causes.

• First, the human population in some areas is growing too quickly for the
local environment to support it.

• Second, people are using up, wasting, or polluting many natural

resources faster than they can be replaced or cleaned up.
Take 2. The Environment and Society

4. Population and Consumption

1) Consumption Trends

Indicators of Development for the United States, Japan, Mexico, and Indonesia

Measurement U.S. Japan Mexico Indonesia

Health Life expectancy in years 77 81 71.5 68

Population
Per year 0.8% 0.2% 1.7% 1.8%
Growth

Gross national product per

Wealth $29,240 $32,350 $3,840 $640
person

Living
People per square mile 78 829 133 319
space
Take 2. The Environment and Society

4. Population and Consumption

1) Consumption Trends

Indicators of Development for the United States, Japan, Mexico, and Indonesia

Measurement U.S. Japan Mexico Indonesia

Per person per year (millions of

Energy use 351 168 59 18
Btu)

Carbon dioxide from fossil fuels

Pollution 20.4 9.3 3.5 2.2
per person per year (tons)

Garbage produced per person

Waste 720 400 300 43
per year (kg)
Take 2. The Environment and Society

4. Population and Consumption

2) Ecological Footprints

An ecological footprint is a calculation of the amount of land and

resources needed to support one person from a particular country.

The ecological footprint of a person in a developed country is , on average,

four times as large as the footprint of a person in a developing country.
Take 2. The Environment and Society

5. Environmental Science in Context

• As you have learned, environmental problems are complex.

• Simple solutions are rare, and they sometimes cause more damage than
the original problem did.

• To complicate matters, in recent years, the environment has become a

battleground for larger issues that affect human societies.

• For example, how do you balance the rights of individuals and property
owners with the needs of society as a whole?

• Or, when economic or political refugees emigrate-legally or illegally –

what can be done about the devastation they may cause to the local
environment?

• How do human rights relate to the environment?

Take 2. The Environment and Society

6. A Sustainable World

• Despite the differing points of view on the environment,

most people support a key goal of environmental science : achieving
sustainability.

• Sustainability is the condition in which human needs are met in such a

way
that a human population can survive indefinitely.

• A sustainable world is not an unchanging world-technology advances

and human civilization continue to be productive. But at the present
time we live in a world that is far from sustainable.

• The standard of living in developed countries is high because those

countries are using resources faster than they can be replaced.
Summary

TAKE-1 Understanding Our Environment

• Environmental science is an interdisciplinary study of human interactions

with the living and nonliving world. One important foundation of
environmental science is the science of ecology.

• Environmental change has occurred throughout Earth’s history.

• Hunter-gatherer societies cleared grassland by setting fires and may

have contributed to the extinction of some large mammals.

• The agricultural revolution caused human population growth, habitat

loss, soil erosion, and the domestication of plants and animals.

• The Industrial Revolution caused rapid human population growth and

the increased use of fossil fuels. Most modern environmental problems
began during the Industrial Revolution.

• The major environmental problems we face today are resource depletion,

pollution, and loss of biodiversity.
Summary

TAKE-2 The Environment and Society

• “The Tragedy of the Commons” was an influential essay that described

the relationship between the short-term interests of the individual and
the long-term interests of society.

• The law of supply and demand states that when the demand for a
product increases while the supply remains fixed, the cost of the
product will increase.

• Environmental problems in developed countries tend to be related to

consumption. In developing nations, the major environmental problems
are related to population growth.

• Describing how sustainability can be achieved is a primary goal of

environmental science.
Take 1. Scientific Methods

1. The Experimental Method

1) Observing

• Science usually begins with observation. Someone notices, or observes,

something and begins to ask question.

• An observation is a piece of information we gather using our senses –

our sight, hearing, smell, and tough.

• To extend their senses, scientists often use tools such as rulers,

microscopes, and even satellites.
Take 1. Scientific Methods

1. The Experimental Method

2) Hypothesis

• Observations give us answers to questions, but observations almost

always lead to more questions.

• To answer a specific question, a scientist may form a hypothesis.

• A hypothesis is a testable idea or explanation that leads to a scientific

investigation.

• A hypothesis is more than a guess.

• A good hypothesis follows from what you already know and can be
tested.
Take 1. Scientific Methods

1. The Experimental Method

3) Prediction

• Armed with their observations, the students might make the following
hypothesis: phosphate fertilizer from a lawn is washing into the river
and killing dwarf wedge mussels.

• To test their hypothesis, the students make a prediction, a logical

statement about what will happen if the hypothesis is correct.

• The students might make the following prediction: mussels will die when
exposed to high levels of phosphate in their water.
Take 1. Scientific Methods

1. The Experimental Method

4) Hypothesizing and Predicting

The diagram above shows the trends observed by the students at Keene High
School. Site 1 is upstream. Site 3 is downstream.
Take 1. Scientific Methods

1. The Experimental Method

5) Analyzing Data

Pollutant Concentrations (mg/L)

Site Nitrates Phosphates

1 0.3 0.02

2 0.3 0.06

3 0.1 0.07
Take 1. Scientific Methods

1. The Experimental Method

5) Analyzing Data

This graph and the table above it compare the concentrations of phosphates
and nitrates in the Ashuelot River in 2000. Site 1 is upstream of Sites 2 and 3.
Take 1. Scientific Methods

1. The Experimental Method

6) Experimenting

• An experiment is a procedure designed to test a hypothesis under

controlled conditions.

• Good experiments have two essential characteristics: a single variable is

tested, and a control is used.

• The variable is the factor of interest, which, in our example, would be

the level of phosphate in the water.

• The group that receives the experimental treatment is called the

experimental group.

• The group that does not receive the experimental treatment is called the
control group.
Take 1. Scientific Methods

1. The Experimental Method

7) Data

• A scientist cannot rely on experimental results that are based on sloppy

observations or incomplete records.

• The information that a scientist gathers in numeric form, is called data.

• Organizing data into tables and graphic illustrations helps scientist

analyze the data and explain the data clearly to others.
Take 1. Scientific Methods

2. The Correlation Method

• Whenever possible, scientists study questions by using experiments. But

many questions cannot be studied experimentally.

• The question “ What was Earth’s climate like 60 million years ago?”
cannot be studied by performing an experiment because the scientists
are 60 million years too late.

• “Does smoking cause lung cancer in humans?” cannot be studied

experimentally because doing experiments that might injure people
would be unethical.

• When using experiments to answer questions is impossible or unethical,

scientists test predictions by examining correlations, or associations
between two or more events.
Take 1. Scientific Methods

3. Scientific Habits of Mind

Scientists actually approach questions in many different ways. But good

scientists tend to share several key habits of mind, or ways of approaching
and thinking about things.

- Curiosity

- The Habit of Skepticism

- Openness to New Ideas

- Intellectual Honesty

- Imagination and Creativity

ⓒ wikipedia
Take 2. Statistics and Models

1. How Scientists Use Statistics

• Scientists are also interested in comparing things, but scientists use

statistics for a wide range of purposes.

• Scientists rely on and use statistics to summarize, characterize, analyze,

and compare data.

• Statistics is actually a branch of mathematics that provides scientists

with important tools for analyzing and understanding their data.

• Consider the experiment in which students studied mussels to see if the

mussels were harmed by fertilizer in their water.

• Students collected data on mussel length and phosphate levels during

this experiment.

• Some mussels in the control group grew more than some mussels in the
experimental group, yet some grew less. How could the students turn
this data into meaningful numbers?
Take 2. Statistics and Models

1. The Experimental Method

1) What is the Average?

• The mean is the number obtained by adding the data for a characteristic
and dividing this sum by the number of individuals.

• The mean provides a single measure for a given characteristic of a

populations.

• Scientists can compare different populations by comparing their means.

• The mean length of the mussels is about 30 mm.

Take 2. Statistics and Models

1. The Experimental Method

2) Size Distribution of Dwarf wedge Mussels

This bar graph shows the distribution of lengths in population of dwarf

wedge mussels.
For example, the second bar from the left indicates that the population
studied contained four mussels between 20 and 25 mm long.
Take 2. Statistics and Models

1. The Experimental Method

3) Probability & Sample

• The chance that something will happen is called probability.

• In statistics, a sample is a group of individuals or events selected to

represent the population.
Take 2. Statistics and Models

2. Statistics in Everyday Life

• You have probably heard, “There is a 50 percent chance of rain today.”

• An example of a natural event that we often associate with probability-a

thunderstorm.

• You encounter statistics often and use them more than you may think.

• People are constantly trying to determine the chance of something

happening.

• A guess or gut instinct is probably just an unconscious sense of

probability.
Take 2. Statistics and Models

2. Statistics in Everyday Life

1) Thinking About Risk

The graph above shows the sources of oil that pollute

the ocean. Big oil spills are a relatively minor source of oil pollution.
Take 2. Statistics and Models

2. Statistics in Everyday Life

1) Thinking About Risk

Perceptions of Risk by Experts and Ordinary Citizens

High risk Low risk

Oil spills;
Ozone depletion;
Experts Radioactive materials;
Global climate change
Water pollution

Ozone depletion;
Global climate change;
Citizens Radioactive waste;
Water pollution
Oil spills
Take 2. Statistics and Models

3. Models

• You are probably already familiar with models.

Museums have models of ships, dinosaurs, and atoms.

• Architects build models of buildings. Even crash-test dummies are

models.

• Models are representations of objects or systems.

• Although people usually think of models as things they can touch,

scientists use several different types of models to help them learn about
our environment.
Take 2. Statistics and Models

3. Models

This plastic model of a DNA molecule is an example of a physical model.

Take 2. Statistics and Models

3. Models

1) Conceptual Model of Mercury Contamination

Take 3. Making informed Decisions

1. The Experimental Method

1) Decision–making Model

Values That Affect Environmental Decision Making

Value Definition

Aesthetic What is beautiful or pleasing

Economic The gain or loss of money or jobs

Environmental The protection of natural resources

Educational The accumulation and sharing of knowledge

Ethical/moral What is right or wrong

Health The maintenance of human health

Recreational Human leisure activities

Scientific Understanding of the natural world

The maintenance of human communities and their values and

Social/cultural
traditions
Take 3. Making informed Decisions

1. The Experimental Method

1) Decision–making Model

The diagram above shows a simple decision-making model.

Take 3. Making informed Decisions

2. How to use the Decision-Making Model

1) Warbler Population in the Pleasanton Area

Take 3. Making informed Decisions

2. How to use the Decision-Making Model

2) Consider Value

Should Valley County Set Aside a Nature Preserve?

Environmental Economic Recreational

Landowners
whose property
was bought by
the county
Parts of the
Habitat receive a
preserve are
Positive destruction in the payment for their
made available
short-term nature preserve land.
Immediately for
consequences area is slowed or
hiking and
stopped. Property outside
picnicking.
the preserve area
can be developed
with fewer
restrictions.
Property owners
inside the
preserve area do
not make as
Environmental
much money as Michael could
controls are
Negative if they had not think of any
made less strict
short-term developed their negative short-
in parts of the
consequences land. term
county outside
consequences.
the preserve area.
Taxpayers must
pay higher taxes
to buy preserve
land.
Take 3. Making informed Decisions

2. How to use the Decision-Making Model

2) Consider Value

Should Valley County Set Aside a Nature Preserve?

Environmental Economic Recreational

Property near the

preserve
increases in value
because it is near Large areas of
The population a natural area. the preserve are
of warblers available for
increases, and Businesses move hiking and
the bird does not to Valley County picnicking.
become because of its
Positive endangered. beauty and Landowners near
Long-term recreational the preserve may
Consequences Other species of opportunities, develop
organisms are which results in campgrounds
also protected. job growth. with bike trails,
swimming, and
An entire habitat The warbler is fishing available
is preserved. not listed as on land adjacent
endangered, to the preserve.
which avoids
stricter controls
on land use.
Taxpayers must
continue to pay
for maintaining State officials
Other habitat the preserve. might restrict
Negative outside the some recreational
Long-term preserve may be Taxpayers lose activities on
consequences damaged by the tax revenue private land
overdevelopment. that this land within the
would have preserve.
provided if it was
developed.
Summary

TAKE-1 Scientific Methods

• Science is a process by which we learn about the world around us.

Science progresses mainly by the experimental method.

• The experimental method involves making observations, forming a

hypothesis, performing and experiment, interpreting data, and
communicating results.

• In cases in which experiments are impossible, scientists look for

correlations between different phenomena.

• Good scientists are curious, creative, honest, skeptical, and open to new
ideas.
Summary

TAKE-2 Statistics and Models

• Scientists use statistics to classify, organize, and interpret data.

• Measures such as means and probabilities are used to describe

populations and events.

• Statistics provides a powerful tool for evaluating information about the

environment.

• Scientists use models, including conceptual and mathematical models, to

understand the systems they study.
Summary

TAKE-3 Making Informed Decisions

• Making environmental decisions involves gathering information,

considering values, and exploring consequences.

• Decisions about the environment should be made thoughtfully. Using a

decision-making model will provide you with a systematic process for
making knowledgeable decisions.

• Making a table that lists positive and negative short-term and long-term
consequences will help you recognize and weigh your values about an
environmental decision.
Take 1. The Geosphere

1. The Earth as a System

1) The Geosphere

The Earth is an integrated system that consists of the geosphere, the

atmosphere, the hydrosphere, and the biosphere (inset).
Take 1. The Geosphere

2. Discovering Earth’s interior

1) The Geosphere

Seismologists have measured changes in the speed and direction of

seismic waves that travel through Earth’s interior. Through this process,
they have learned that the Earth is
made up of different layers.

Seismic waves
Earthquakes change both
produce seismic speed and
waves that direction as they
travel at pass from one
different speeds physical layer to
through the another.
different layers
of the Earth.

Seismic wave

Path of seismic wave.

Take 1. The Geosphere

2. Discovering Earth’s interior

2) Physical Layers of Earth

Take 1. The Geosphere

3. Plate Tectonics

1) The Geosphere

• You learned that the lithosphere-the rigid, outermost layer of the Earth-
is divided into pieces called tectonic plates.

• These plates glide across the underlying asthenosphere in much the

same way as a chunk of ice drifts across a pond.

• The continents are located on tectonic plates and move around with
them.

• The major tectonic plates include the Pacific, North American, South
American, African, Eurasian, and Antarctic plates.

ⓒ wikipedia
Take 1. The Geosphere

4. Earthquakes

1) What is meant by the magnitude of an earthquake?

The largest and most active earthquake zones lie along tectonic plate
boundaries.
Take 1. The Geosphere

4. Earthquakes

2) The Ring of Fire

Tectonic plate boundaries are places where volcanoes usually form.

The Ring of Fire contains nearly 75 percent of the world’s active volcanoes
that are on land.
A large number of people live on or near the Ring of Fire.
Take 1. The Geosphere

5. Volcanoes

On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens in Washington State erupted. Sixty-
three people lost their lives, and 400 km2 of forest were destroyed in an
eruption that blew away the top 410 m of the volcano.

ⓒ wikipedia
Take 1. The Geosphere

6. Erosion

• Forces at the boundaries of tectonic plates bring rock to the surface of

the Earth.

• At the Earth’s surface, rocks are altered by other forces.

• The Earth’s surface is continually battered by wind and scoured by

running water, which moves rocks around and changes their appearance.

• The removal and transport of surface material is called erosion.

Take 2. The Atmosphere

1. Composition of the Atmosphere

Nitrogen and oxygen make up 99 percent of the composition of the

atmosphere.
Take 2. The Atmosphere

2. Layers of the Atmosphere

Take 2. The Atmosphere

3. Energy in the Atmosphere

• Energy from the sun is transferred in Earth’s atmosphere by three

mechanisms: radiation, convection, and conduction.

• Radiation is the transfer of energy across space and in the atmosphere.

When you stand before a fire or a bed of coals, the heat you feel has
reached you by radiation.

• Conduction is the flow of heat from a warmer object to a colder object

when the objects are placed in direct physical contact.

• Convection is the transfer of heat by air currents. Hot air rises and cold
air sinks. Thus, if you hold your hand above a hot iron, you will feel the
heat because a current of hot air rises up to your hand.
Take 2. The Atmosphere

3. Energy in the Atmosphere

1) Solar Energy that Reaches Earth

Take 2. The Atmosphere

4. The Greenhouse Effect

Take 2. The Atmosphere

4. The Greenhouse Effect

• The gases in Earth’s atmosphere act like the glass in the car.

• Sunlight that penetrates Earth’s atmosphere heats the surface of the

Earth.

• The Earth’s surface radiates heat back to the atmosphere, where some of
the heat escapes into space.

• The remainder of the heat is absorbed by greenhouse gases, which

warms the air.

• Heat is then radiated back toward the surface of the Earth.

• This process, in which gases trap heat near the Earth, is known as the
greenhouse effect.
Take 3. The Hydrosphere and Biosphere

1. The Hydrosphere and Water Cycle

The major processes of the water cycle include

1. Evaporation
2. Condensation
3. Precipitation
Take 3. The Hydrosphere and Biosphere

2. Earth’s Oceans

1) The Geosphere

• We talk about the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean,

the Arctic Ocean, and the Indian Ocean.

• However, if you see that these oceans are all joined.

This single, large, interconnected body of water is called the world
ocean.

• Its waters cover a little over 70 percent of the Earth’s surface.

• As we will see, the world ocean plays many important roles in regulating
our planet’s environment.
Take 3. The Hydrosphere and Biosphere

2. Earth’s Oceans
ARCTIC OCEAN

The pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic Oceans are interconnected into a
single body of water, the world ocean, which covers 70 percent of Earth’s
surface.

ARCTIC OCEAN

ATLANTIC
OCEAN
PACIFIC
OCEAN INDIAN
OCEAN

ⓒ wikipedia
Take 3. The Hydrosphere and Biosphere

2. Earth’s Oceans

1) Ocean Water

This pie graph shows the percentages by weight of dissolved solids found
in ocean water.
Take 3. The Hydrosphere and Biosphere

2. Earth’s Oceans

2) Salinity

• The salinity of ocean water is the concentration of all the dissolved salts
it contains.

• The average salinity of ocean water is 3.5 percent by weight.

• The salinity of ocean water is lower in places that get a lot of rain or in
places where fresh water flows into the sea.

• Salinity is higher where water evaporates rapidly and leaves the salts
behind.
Take 3. The Hydrosphere and Biosphere

2. Earth’s Oceans

3) Water in the Ocean

Take 3. The Hydrosphere and Biosphere

3. Fresh Water

• Most of the water on Earth is salt water in the ocean.

• A little more than 3 percent of all the water on Earth is fresh water.

• Most of the fresh water is locked up in ice caps and glaciers that are so
large they are hard to imagine.

• For instance, the ice sheet that covers Antarctica is as large as the
United States and is up to 3 km thick.

• The rest of Earth’s fresh water is found in lakes, rivers, wetlands, the soil,
rock layers below the surface, and in the atmosphere.
Take 3. The Hydrosphere and Biosphere

4. Groundwater

• Rain and melting snow sink into the ground and run off the land.

• Some of this water ends up in streams and rivers, but most of it trickles
down through the ground and collects as groundwater.

• Groundwater fulfills the human need for fresh drinking water and
supplies water of many agricultural and industrial uses.

• But groundwater accounts for less than 1 percent of all the water on
Earth.
Take 3. The Hydrosphere and Biosphere

5. The Biosphere

• If the Earth were an apple, the biosphere would be its skin.

• This comparison illustrates how small the layer of the Earth that can
support life is in relation to the size of the planet.

• The biosphere is the narrow layer around Earth’s surface in which life
can exist.

• The biosphere is made up of the uppermost part of the geosphere, most

of the hydrosphere, and the lower part of the atmosphere.

• The biosphere extends about 12 km into the ocean and about 9 km into
the atmosphere.
Summary

TAKE-1 Understanding Our Environment

• The solid part of the Earth that consists of all rock, and the soils and
sediments on Earth’s surface, is the geosphere.

• Earth’s interior is divided into layers based on composition and structure.

• Earth’s surface is broken into pieces called tectonic plates, which collide,
separate, or slip past one another.

• Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building are all events

that occur at the boundaries of tectonic plates.

• Earth’s surface features are continually altered by the action of water

and wind.
Summary

TAKE-2 The Atmosphere

• The mixture of gases that surrounds the Earth is called the atmosphere.

• The atmosphere is composed almost entirely of nitrogen and oxygen.

• Earth’s atmosphere is divided into four layers based on changes in

temperature that take place at different altitudes.

• Heat is transferred in the atmosphere by radiation, conduction, and

convection.

• Some of the gases in Earth’s atmosphere slow the escape of heat from
Earth’s surface in what is known as the greenhouse effect.
Summary

TAKE-3 The Hydrosphere and Biosphere

• The hydrosphere includes all of the water at or near Earth’s surface.

• Water in the ocean can be divided into three zones-the surface zone, the
thermocline, and the deep zone-based on temperature.

• The ocean absorbs and stores energy from sunlight, regulating

temperatures in the atmosphere.

• Surface currents in the ocean affect the climate of the land they flow
near.

• The biosphere is the narrow layer at the surface of the Earth where life
can exist.

• Earth is a closed system because energy enters and leaves Earth, but
matter does not.
Take 1. Ecosystems: Everything Is Connected

1. The components of an Ecosystem

• In order to survive, ecosystems need certain basic components.

• These are energy, mineral nutrients, carbon dioxide, water, oxygen, and
living organisms.

• Plants and soil are two of the most obvious components of most land
ecosystems.

• The energy in most ecosystems comes from the sun.

Take 1. Ecosystems: Everything Is Connected

1. The components of an Ecosystem

1) Biotic and Abiotic Factors

• An ecosystem is made up of both living and nonliving things.

• Biotic factors are the living and once living parts of an ecosystem,
including all of the plants and animals.

• Biotic factors include dead organisms, dead parts of organisms, such as

leaves, and the organisms’ waste products.

• Abiotic factors are the nonliving parts of the ecosystem.

• Abiotic factors include air, water, rocks, sand light, and temperature.
Take 1. Ecosystems: Everything Is Connected

1. The components of an Ecosystem

2) Organisms & Population

• An organism is an individual living thing. You are an organism, as is an

ant crawling across the floor, an ivy plant on the windowsill, and a
bacterium in your intestines.

• A species is a group of organism that can mate to produce fertile

offspring.

• All humans, for example, are members of the species Homo sapiens.

• A population is all the members of the same species that live in the
same place at the same time.

• The squirrels live in a pine forest. All organisms live in particular places.

• The place an organism lives is called its habitat.

• A howler monkey’s habitat is the rain forest and a cactus’s habitat is a

desert.

• The salamander is in its natural habitat, the damp forest floor.

• Every habitat has specific biotic and abiotic factors that the organisms
living there need to survive.
Take 2. Evolution

1. Evolution by Natural Selection

• Darwin proposed that the environment exerts a strong influence over

which individuals survive to produce offspring.

• Some individuals, because of certain traits, are more likely to survive

and reproduce than other individuals.

• Darwin used the term natural selection to describe the survival and
reproduction of organisms with particular traits.
Take 2. Evolution

1. Evolution by Natural Selection

1) Nature Selects

Evolution by Natural Selection

Premises Conclusion

1. Individuals in a population vary in each

generation.

2. Some of these variations are

genetic, or inherited. Based on these four premises,
individuals with genetic traits that make
them more likely to grow up and
reproduce in the existing environment
3. More individuals are produced than live will become more common in the
to grow up and reproduce. population from one generation to the
next.

4. Individuals with some genes are more

likely to survive and reproduce than
individuals with other genes.
Take 2. Evolution

1. Evolution by Natural Selection

2) Adaptation

These steps show the evolution of thicker fur in a population of deer.

Take 2. Evolution

2. Evolution by Artificial Selection

• Many populations of plants and animals do not live in the wild but are
cared for by humans.

• People control how these organisms reproduce and therefore how they
evolve.

• Over thousands of years, humans bred the ancestors of today’s wolves

to produce the variety of dog breeds.

• The selective breeding of organisms by humans for specific

characteristics is called artificial selection.
Take 2. Evolution

3. Evolution of Resistance

• Resistance is the ability of one or more organisms to tolerate a

particular chemical designed to kill it.

• An organism may be resistant to a chemical when it contains a gene

that allows it to break the chemical down into harmless substances.

• By trying to control pests and bacteria with chemicals,

humans promote the evolution of resistant populations.
Take 3. The Diversity of Living Things

1. The Kingdoms of Life

The Kingdoms of Life

Kingdom Characteristics Examples

Single celled; lack cell nuclei;

Methanogens (live in swamps and
reproduce by dividing in
Archaebacteria produce methane gas) and extreme
half; often found in harsh
thermophiles (live in hot springs)
environments

Proteobacteria (common in soils

Single celled; lack cell nuclei;
and in animal intestines) and
Eubacteria reproduce by dividing in
cyanobacteria (also called blue-
half; incredibly common
green algae)

Absorb their food through

Yeasts, mushrooms, molds, mildews,
Fungi their body surface; have cell
and rusts
walls; most live on land
Take 3. The Diversity of Living Things

1. The Kingdoms of Life

The Kingdoms of Life

Kingdom Characteristics Examples

Most single celled but some Diatoms, dinoflagellates (red tide),

Protists have many cells; most live in amoebas, trypanosomes, paramecia,
water and Euglena

Many cells; make their own

Ferns, mosses, trees, herbs, and
Plants food by photosynthesis;
grasses
have cell walls

Many cells; no cell walls;

Corals, sponges, worms, insects, fish,
Animals ingest their food; live on
reptiles, birds, and mammals
land and in water
Take 3. The Diversity of Living Things

2. Plants

• Plants are many-celled organisms that have cell walls and that make
their own food using the sun’s energy.

• Most plants live on land, where the resources a plant needs are
separated between the air and the soil.

• Sunlight, oxygen, and carbon dioxide are in the air, and minerals and
water are in the soil.

• Plants have roots that access water and nutrients in the soil and leaves
that collect light and gases in the air.

• Leaves and roots are connected by vascular tissue, a system of tubes

that carries water and food.

• Vascular tissue has thick cell walls, so a wheat plant or a tree is like a
building supported by its plumbing.
Take 3. The Diversity of Living Things

2. Plants

1) Gymnosperms & Angiosperms

• Pine trees and other evergreens with needle-like leaves are

gymnosperms.

• Gymnosperms are woody plants that produce seeds, but their seeds are
not enclosed in fruits.

• Most land plants today are angiosperms, flowering plants that produce
seeds in fruit.

• Some angiosperms, such as grasses, have small flowers that produce

pollen that is carried by the wind.
Take 3. The Diversity of Living Things

3. Animals

1) Gymnosperms & Angiosperms

• Animals cannot make their own food like plants can.

They have to take in food from their environment.

• In addition, animal cells have no cell walls, so animals’ bodies are soft
and flexible.

• Some animals have evolved hard skeletons against which their muscles
can pull to move their bodies.

• As a result, animals are much more mobile than plants and all animals
move around in their environments during at least one stage in their
lives.
Summary

TAKE-1 Ecosystems: Everything Is Connected

• Ecosystems are composed of many interconnected parts that often

interact in complex ways.

• An ecosystem is all the different organisms living in an area as well as

the physical environment.

• Organisms live as populations of one species in communities with other

species. Each species has its own habitat, or type of place that it lives.
Summary

TAKE-2 Evolution

• The naturalist Charles Darwin used the term natural selection to describe
the survival and reproduction of organisms with particular traits.

• Darwin proposed that natural selection is responsible for evolution-a

change in the genetic characteristics of a population from one
generation to the next.

• By selecting which domesticated animals and plants breed, humans

cause evolution by artificial selection.

• We have unintentionally selected for pests that are resistant to

pesticides and for bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics.
Summary

TAKE-3 The Diversity of Living Things

• Organisms can be divided into six kingdoms, which are distinguished by

the types of cells they possess and how they obtain their food.

• Bacteria and fungi play the important environmental roles of breaking

down dead organisms and recycling nutrients.

• Gymnosperms, which include the conifers, are the earliest plants with
seeds. Angiosperms are flowering plants.

• Insects, invertebrates that are the most successful animals on Earth,

affect humans in both positive and negative ways.

• Vertebrates, or animals with backbones, include fish, amphibians,

reptiles, birds, and mammals.
Take 1. Energy Flow in Ecosystems

1. Photosynthesis

During photosynthesis, plants use carbon dioxide, water, and solar energy
to make carbohydrates and oxygen.

Solar
6  6 O
energy

   6
Take 1. Energy Flow in Ecosystems

2. What Eats What

What Eats What in an Ecosystem

Energy source Examples

Makes its own food through

Grasses, ferns, cactuses, flowering
Producer photosynthesis or chemical
plants, trees, algae, and some bacteria
sources

Gets energy by eating

Mice, starfish, elephants, turtles,
Consumer producers or other
humans, and ants
consumers
Take 1. Energy Flow in Ecosystems

2. What Eats What

What Eats What in an Ecosystem

Energy source Examples

Herbivore Producers Cows, sheep, deer, and grasshoppers

Lions, hawks, snakes, spiders, sharks,

Carnivore Other consumers
alligators, and whales

Bears, pigs, gorillas, rats, raccoons,

Both producers and
Omnivore cockroaches, some insects, and
consumers
humans

Breaks down dead

organisms in an ecosystem
Decomposer Fungi and bacteria
and returns nutrients to the
soil, water, and air
Take 1. Energy Flow in Ecosystems

3. Cellular Respiration

Through cellular respiration, cells use glucose and oxygen to produce

carbon dioxide, water, and energy.

   6

Solar
6 6 O
energy
Take 1. Energy Flow in Ecosystems

4. Energy Transfer

• Each time one organism eats another organism, a transfer

• of energy occurs.

• We can trace the transfer of energy as it travels through an ecosystem

by studying food chains, food webs, and trophic levels.

• Food chains, food webs, and trophic levels can tell us how energy is
transferred, as well as how much energy is transferred, between
organisms in an ecosystem.

• Studying the paths of energy between organisms can also tell us which
organisms in an ecosystem depend on other organisms to survive.
Take 1. Energy Flow in Ecosystems

4. Energy Transfer

1) Food Chain

Energy is transferred from one organism to another in a food chain, such

as the one shown side. Algae are the producers in this ocean food chain
Take 1. Energy Flow in Ecosystems

4. Energy Transfer

2) Food Web

This food web shows how the largest organisms, such as a killer whale,
depend on the smallest organisms, such as algae, in an ocean ecosystem.
Take 1. Energy Flow in Ecosystems

4. Energy Transfer

3) Energy Pyramid

This energy pyramid shows how energy is lost from one trophic level to
the next. The grass at the bottom level stores 1,000 times more energy
than the hawk at the top level.
Take 2. The Cycling of Materials

1. The Carbon Cycle

• Carbon is an essential component of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates,

which make up all organisms.

• The carbon cycle is a process by which carbon is cycled between the

atmosphere, land, water, and organisms.

• Carbon enters a short-term cycle in an ecosystem when producers, such

as plants, convert carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into carbohydrates
during photosynthesis.

• Some carbon enters a long-term cycle. For example, carbon may be

converted in to carbonates, which make up hard parts of bone and
shells.
Take 2. The Cycling of Materials

2. The Nitrogen Cycle

• All organisms need nitrogen to build proteins, which are used to build
new cells.

• Nitrogen makes up 78 percent of the gases in the atmosphere. However,

most organisms cannot use atmospheric nitrogen.

• It must be altered, or fixed, before organisms can use it.

• The only organisms that can fix atmospheric nitrogen into chemical
compounds are a few species of bacteria known as nitrogen-fixing
bacteria.
Take 2. The Cycling of Materials

3. The Phosphorus Cycle

• The element phosphorus is part of many molecules that make up the

cells of living organisms.

• For example, phosphorus is needed to form bones and teeth in animals.

• Plants get the phosphorus they need from soil and water, while animals
get their phosphorus by eating plants or other animals that have eaten
plants.
Take 2. The Cycling of Materials

3. The Phosphorus Cycle

• The phosphorus cycle is the movement of phosphorus from the

environment to organisms and then back to the environment.

• This cycle is slow and does not normally include the atmosphere
because phosphorus rarely occurs as a gas.
Take 3. How Ecosystems Change

1. Ecological Succession

• Ecological succession is a gradual process of change and replacement of

some or all of the species in a community.

• Ecological succession may take hundreds or thousands of years.

• Each new community that arises makes it hard for the previous
community to survive.

• For example, the younger beech trees will have a hard time competing
with older beech trees for sun light.

• However, if a shade-loving species of tree began to grow in the forest,

the new species might replace the smaller beech trees.
Take 3. How Ecosystems Change

1. Ecological Succession

1) Primary & Secondary Succession

• Primary succession is the type of succession that occurs on a surface

where no ecosystem existed before, such as on rocks or sand dunes.

• Secondary succession, the more common type of succession, occurs on

a surface where an ecosystem has previously existed.

• Secondary succession occurs in ecosystems that have been disturbed or

disrupted by humans or animals, or by natural processes such as storms,
floods, earthquakes, and volcanoes.
Take 3. How Ecosystems Change

1. Ecological Succession

2) Pioneer Species & Climax Community

• In 1980, the volcano Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington State.

After the eruption, plants began to colonize the volcanic debris.

• Such plants are called pioneer species-the first organisms to colonize

any newly available area and begin the process of ecological succession.

• Over time, pioneer species will make the new area habitable for other
species.

• After 12 years, plants and flowers had covered most of the lava and new
trees and shrubs had started to grow.

• Over time these organisms will eventually form a climax community.

• A climax community is a final and stable community.

Summary

TAKE-1 Energy Flow in Ecosystems

• The majority of the Earth’s organisms depend on the sun for energy.
Producers harness the sun’s energy directly through photosynthesis,
while consumers use the sun’s energy indirectly by eating producers or
other consumers.

• The paths of energy transfer can be followed through food chains, food
webs, and trophic levels.

• Only about 10 percent of the energy that an organism consumes is

transferred to the next trophic level when the organism is eaten.
Summary

TAKE-2 The Cycling of Materials

• Materials in ecosystems are recycled and reused by natural processes.

• Carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus are essential for life. Each of these
elements follows a recognizable cycle.

• Humans can affect the cycling of materials in an ecosystem through

activities such as burning fossil fuels and applying fertilizer to soil.
Summary

TAKE-3 How Ecosystems Change

• After a disturbance, organisms in an environment follow a pattern of

change over time, known as ecological succession.

• Primary succession occurs on a surface where no ecosystem existed

before. Secondary succession occurs on a surface where an ecosystem
existed before.

• Climax communities are made up of organisms that take over an

ecosystem and remain until the ecosystem is disturbed again.
Take 1. What Is a Biome?

1. Biomes and Vegetation

• Biomes are described by their vegetation because the plants that grow
in a certain region are the most noticeable characteristics of that region.

• The plants, in turn, determine the other organisms that can live there.

• For example, mahogany trees grow in tropical rain forests because they
cannot survive cold, dry weather.

• Organisms that depend on mahogany trees live where trees grow.

Take 1. What Is a Biome?

2. Biomes and Climate

• Biomes are defined by their plant life, but what factors determine which
plants can grow in a certain area? The main factor is climate.

• Climate refers to the weather conditions, in an area over a long period

of time.

• Temperature and precipitation are the two most important factors that
determine a region’s climate.
Take 1. What Is a Biome?

2. Biomes and Climate

1) Temperature and Precipitation

Temperature and precipitation help determine the type of vegetation in an

ecosystem.
Take 1. What Is a Biome?

2. Biomes and Climate

2) Latitude and Altitude

Latitude and altitude affect climate and vegetation in similar ways.

Take 2. Forest Biomes

1. Tropical Rain Forests

• Of all the biomes in the world, forest biomes are the most widespread
and are home to the greatest diversity of plants, animals, and other
organisms.

• Trees need a lot of water, so forests exist where precipitation is plentiful.

• Tropical forests, temperate forests, and taiga are the main forest biomes.
Take 2. Forest Biomes

1. Tropical Rain Forests

1) Tropical Rain Forests (Limon, Costa Rica)

The world’s tropical rain forests have heavy rainfall during much of the
year and fairly constant, high temperatures.
Take 2. Forest Biomes

1. Tropical Rain Forests

2) Layers of the Rain Forest

• In tropical rain forests, different types of plants grow in different layers.

• The four main layers above the forest floor are the emergent layer, the
upper canopy, the lower canopy, and the understory.

• The top layer is called the emergent layer. The next layer, considered the
primary layer of the rain forest, is called the canopy.

• The canopy can be split into an upper canopy and a lower canopy.

• Below the lower canopy, very little light reaches the next layer, called
the understory.
Take 2. Forest Biomes

1. Tropical Rain Forests

2) Layers of the Rain Forest

The plants in tropical rain forests form distinct layers.

The plants in each layer are adapted to a particular level of light. The taller
trees absorb the most light, while the plants near the forest floor are
adapted to growing in the shade.
Take 2. Forest Biomes

1. Tropical Rain Forests

3) Epiphytes

• The lower canopy receives less light than the upper canopy does.

• Plants called epiphytes, such as the orchid use the entire surface of a
tree as a place to live.

• Epiphytes grow on tall trees for support.

• Some grow high in the canopy, where their leaves can reach the sunlight
needed for photosynthesis.
Take 2. Forest Biomes

2. Temperate Forests

• Temperate rain forest occurs in North America, Australia, and New

Zealand.

• Temperate rain forests have large amounts of precipitation, high

humidity, and moderate temperature.
Take 2. Forest Biomes

3. Temperate Deciduous Forest

1) Temperate Deciduous Forest (Stuttgart, Germany)

The difference between summer and winter temperatures in temperate

deciduous forests is extreme.
Take 2. Forest Biomes

3. Temperate Deciduous Forest

• If you walk through North American deciduous forest in the fall, you will
immerse yourself in color.

• Leaves in every shade of orange, red, and yellow crackle beneath your
feet. Most birds have flown south.

• The forest is quieter than it was in the summer.

• You see mostly chipmunks and squirrels gathering and storing the food
they will need during the long, cold winter.
Take 2. Forest Biomes

4. Taiga

1) Taiga (Edmonton, Canada)

The taiga has long, cold winters and small amounts of precipitation, as
shown in the climatogram above.
Take 3. Grassland, Desert, and Tundra Biomes

1. Savannas

1) Tropical Savanna (Nairobi, Kenya)

Savannas have periods of heavy rainfall followed by periods of drought.

Take 3. Grassland, Desert, and Tundra Biomes

2. Temperate Grassland

1) Temperate Grassland(Wichita, Kansas)

Temperate grasslands are characterized by small amounts of rainfall,

periodic droughts, and high temperatures in the summer.
Take 3. Grassland, Desert, and Tundra Biomes

2. Temperate Grassland

2) The Root Systems

The height of grassland plants and the depth of their roots depend on the
amount of rainfall that the grasslands receive.

Shortgrass prairie Mixed or middle grass prairie Tallgrass prairie

(about 25cm rain per year) (about 50cm rain per year) (up to 88cm rain per year)
Take 3. Grassland, Desert, and Tundra Biomes

3. Chaparral

1) Chaparral (Santa Barbara, California)

Chaparral biomes are located in areas that have Mediterranean climates.

Take 3. Grassland, Desert, and Tundra Biomes

4. Deserts

1) Desert (Cairo, Egypt)

Deserts are the driest places on Earth. They typically receive less than 25
cm of precipitation a year.
Take 3. Grassland, Desert, and Tundra Biomes

5. Tundra

1) Tundra (Reykjavik, Iceland)

The precipitation that the tundra biome receives remains frozen much of
the year.
Take 3. Grassland, Desert, and Tundra Biomes

5. Tundra

• The tundra biome is located in northern arctic regions.

• The winter is too cold and dry to permit the growth of trees in this
biome.

• In many areas of the tundra, the deeper layers of soil, called permafrost,
are permanently frozen throughout the year. As a result, the topsoil is
very thin.

• In the summer, when the thin topsoil layer thaws, the tundra landscape
becomes quite moist and spongy and is dotted with bogs.

• These wet areas are ideal breeding grounds for enormous numbers of
swarming insects, such as mosquitoes and black flies, and for the many
birds that feed on the insects.
Summary

TAKE-1 What Is a Biome?

• Scientists classify the ecosystems of the world into large areas called
biomes.

• Biomes are described by their plant life because specific climate

conditions support the growth of specific types of vegetation.

• Climate determines which plants can grow in an area. Latitude and

altitude affect climate in similar ways.
Summary

TAKE-2 Forest Biomes

• Major forest biomes include tropical rain forest, temperate rain forest,
temperate deciduous forest, temperate evergreen forest, and taiga.

• Tropical rain forests have high rainfall and high temperatures

throughout the year. They are the most diverse of all biomes.

• Temperate forests experience seasonal variations in precipitation and

temperature. Their vegetation is adapted to surviving these changes.

• Forest biomes are threatened by deforestation through logging,

ranching, and farming.
Summary

TAKE-3 Grassland, Desert, and Tundra Biomes

• Savannas are located north and south of tropical rain forests and have
distinct wet seasons.

• Temperate grasslands get too little rainfall to support trees. Grasslands

are dominated mostly by different types of grasses and flowering plants.

• Deserts are the driest biomes on Earth.

• Plants and animals found in each biome adapt to the environment in

which they live.
Take 1. Freshwater Ecosystems

1. Characteristics of Aquatic Ecosystem

• Three groups of aquatic organisms include plankton, nekton, and

benthos.

• Plankton are organisms that cannot swim against currents, so they are
drifters.

• Drifting plants, called phytoplankton, are the food base for most aquatic
ecosystems.

• Nekton are free-swimming organisms, such as fish, turtles, and whale.

• Benthos are bottom-dwelling organisms, such as mussels, worm, and

barnacles.
Take 1. Freshwater Ecosystems

2. Lakes and ponds

• Lakes, ponds, wetlands, rivers, and streams make up the various types of
freshwater ecosystems.

• Lakes, ponds, and wetlands can form naturally where groundwater

reaches the Earth’s surface.

• As well, beavers can create ponds by damming up streams.

• Humans intentionally create artificial lakes by damming flowing rivers

and streams to use them for power, irrigation, water storage, and
recreation.
Take 1. Freshwater Ecosystems

2. Lakes and ponds

1) Life in a Lake

• In the nutrient-rich littoral zone near the shore, aquatic life is diverse
and abundant.

• Plants, such as cattails and reeds, are rooted in the mud underwater,
and their upper leaves and stems emerge above water.

• Dead and decaying organisms reach the benthic zone, the bottom of a
pond or lake, which is inhabited by decomposers, insect larvae, and
clams.
Take 1. Freshwater Ecosystems

2. Lakes and ponds

2) Pond or Lake Ecosystems

In a pond or lake ecosystem, the most diverse and abundant life occurs
near the shore, where sunlight and nutrients are plentiful. In the open
water, sunlight at and near the surface supports drifting phytoplankton.
Take 1. Freshwater Ecosystems

2. Lakes and ponds

3) Eutrophication

• Eutrophication is an increase in the amount of nutrients in an aquatic

ecosystem.

• As the amount of plants and algae grows, the number of bacteria

feeding on the decaying organisms also grows.

• These bacteria use the oxygen dissolved in the lake water.

• Eventually, the reduced amount of oxygen kills oxygen-loving organisms.

• Lakes naturally become eutropic over a long period of time. However,

eutropication can be accelerated by runoff.

• Runoff is precipitation, such as rain, that can carry sewage, fertilizers, or

animal waste from land into bodies of water.
Take 1. Freshwater Ecosystems

3. Freshwater Wetlands

• Freshwater wetlands are areas of land that are covered with fresh water
for at least part of the year.

• The two main types of freshwater wetlands are marshes and swamps.

• Marshes contain nonwoody plants, such as cattails, while swamps are

dominated by woody plants, such as trees and shrubs.
Take 1. Freshwater Ecosystems

3. Freshwater Wetlands

1) Environmental Function of Wetlands

• Trapping and filtering sediments, nutrients, and pollutants, which keep

these materials from entering lakes, reservoirs, and oceans

• Reducing the likelihood of a flood, protecting agriculture, roads,

buildings, and human health and safety

• Buffering shorelines against erosion

• Providing spawning grounds and habitat for commercially important fish

and shellfish

• Providing habitat for rare, threatened, and endangered species

• Providing recreational areas for activities such as fishing, bird- watching,

hiking, canoeing, photography, and painting
Take 1. Freshwater Ecosystems

4. Rivers

• Many rivers originate from snow melt in mountains.

At its headwaters, a river is usually cold and full of oxygen and runs
swiftly through a shallow riverbed.

• As a river flows down a mountain, it becomes warmer, wider, and slower,

containing more vegetation and less oxygen.

• A river changes with the land and the climate through which it flows.

• Runoff, for example, may wash nutrients and sediment from the
surrounding land into a river.

• These materials affect the growth and health of the organisms in the
river.
Take 2. Freshwater Ecosystems

1. Costal Wetlands

1) Estuary

The mixing of fresh water and salt water at the mouth of a river creates a
nutrient-rich estuary.
Take 2. Freshwater Ecosystems

1. Costal Wetlands

2) Salt Marshes

• In estuaries, where rivers deposit their load of mineral-rich mud, salt

marshes form.

• Here, thousands of acres of salt marsh support a community of clams,

fish, and aquatic birds.

• The marsh also acts as a nursery in which many species of shrimps,

crabs, and fishes find protection when they are small.

• As they grow to maturity and migrate to the sea, they are eaten by
larger fish or caught by commercial fisheries.

• Salt marshes, like other wetland, absorb pollutants and protect inland
areas.

ⓒ wikipedia
Take 2. Freshwater Ecosystems

1. Costal Wetlands

3) Barrier Islands

This barrier island is located off the coast of Long Island, New York. Barrier
islands are separated from the mainland and help protect the shore of the
mainland from erosion.
Take 2. Freshwater Ecosystems

2. Coral Reefs

• Coral reefs are limestone ridges built by tiny coral animals called coral
polyps and the algae that live inside them.

• Coral polyps secrete skeletons of limestone (calcium carbonate), which

slowly accumulate and form coral reefs.

• Thousands of species of plants and animals live in the cracks of coral

reefs, which makes coral reefs among the most diverse ecosystems on
Earth.
Take 2. Freshwater Ecosystems

3. Oceans

• Because water absorbs light, sunlight that plants can use for
photosynthesis penetrates only about 100 m (330 ft) into the ocean.

• As a result, much of the ocean’s life is concentrated in the swallow,

coastal waters.

• Here, sunlight penetrates to the bottom and rivers wash nutrients from
the land.

• Seaweed and algae grow anchored to rocks, and phytoplankton drift on

the surface.

• Invertebrates and fish that feed on these plants are also concentrated
near the shore.
Summary

TAKE-1 Freshwater Ecosystems

• Aquatic ecosystems can be classified as freshwater ecosystems or marine

ecosystems. The plants and animals in aquatic ecosystems are adapted
to specific environmental conditions.

• Freshwater ecosystems include lakes, ponds, freshwater wetlands, rivers,

and streams. The types of freshwater ecosystems are classified by the
depth of the water, the speed of the water flow, and the availability of
minerals, sunlight, and oxygen.

• Freshwater wetlands serve many functions within ecosystems. They trap

and filter sediments and pollutants; reduce the likelihood of a flood; and
buffer shorelines against erosion.
Summary

TAKE-2 Marine Ecosystems

• Marine ecosystems are identified by the presence of salt water and

include coastal wetlands, coral reefs, oceans, and polar ecosystems.

• Estuaries are among the most productive of ecosystems because they

constantly receive fresh nutrients from a river and from an ocean.
Estuaries provide habitat for a multitude of plants and animals.

• Coral reefs are susceptible to destruction because they must remain at

tropical temperatures and they must receive a large amount of sunlight.
Coral reefs provide habitat for approximately one-fourth of all marine
species.

• Almost every person has an impact on aquatic ecosystems. Through

understanding how we affect aquatic ecosystems, we can reduce the
negative effects we have on them.