Our Environment
Notes
Everything around us that affects our life is known as environment
Waste management
Biodegradable waste : The waste that can be decomposed into simpler substances by
microorganisms like bacteria and fungi due to presence of enzymes are known as biodegradable
waste
The waste that is obtained from plants and animals is biodegradable for example vegetable
please paper cardboard leather cotton clothes
Biodegradable waste should be disposed off into pits by digging the ground and converted into
Manure by composting
The waste which is biodegradable causes short-term problems like:
1.Bad smell
2.The place at which the garbage is disposed acts like breeding grounds for mosquitoes and
disease causing germs.
Nonbiodegradable waste.
The waste that cannot be decomposed by microorganisms due to absence of enzymes
responsible for breaking down substance into simpler components is called non-biodegradable.
The waste material which is not obtained from animals and plants is nonbiodegradable. For
example plastic glass bottle, medicine wrappers, bubble packs etc.
Nonbiodegradable waste cause long-term problems all this person like:
1. Cause air-pollution due to poisonous gases released on burning the waste
2. Damages The porous nature of soil and hence affect the fertility.
Ecosystems
All the interacting organisms taken together in an area together with the nonliving constituents
of the environment forms an ecosystem.
Following are the two components:
1. Biotic :living
2. Abiotic: physical factors like temperature ,Rainfall ,soil and minerals
BIOTIC
Ecosystems are of two types:
1. Natural ecosystems: for example forests ,desert ,pond,Lake rivers oceans earth etc
2. Man-made ecosystems: for example aquarium, kitchen Garden ,crop field etc
Importance of decomposers
1. Decomposers keep the earth clean as the breakdown complex organic substances into simple
or inorganic substances.
2. They help in maintaining ecological balance.
3.They replenish the lost nutrients to their source by completing the biogeochemical cycles.
NOTE: aquarium is a man-made ecosystem in which the biotic components comprise of fishes
and turtles and the abiotic components comprise of water ,aerator ,sunlight pebbles etc ,it is not
a self sustaining system due to the following reasons:
1. Fish food is supplied by us.
2.An aquarium is regularly cleaned due to the absence of natural cleansing agents that is an
aquarium is regularly cleaned due to the absence of natural cleansing agents ie.microorganisms.
★ FOOD CHAIN: it is the sequence of living organisms in which one organism it’s the other for the
transfer of energy. For example:
Grass—>grasshopper—->frog—>snake—>hawk
Trophic levels: each step in a food chain forms a trophic level.
Producers - 1st trophic level(green plants)
Pr.Consumers-2ndtrophicleve(herbivores)
Sec.Consumer-3rdtrophic level(carnivores/omnivores)
Tert.Consumer-4th tropic level(top carnivores)
Ten percent law: Energy available for transfer from one traffic level to another in a food chain is
only 10% of the previous traffic level.
★FLOW OF ENERGY IN BIOSPHERE
1. The ultimate source of energy is sun
2. The plants are going to trap only 1% of the total solar energy available to them
3. The total energy transferred from one traffic level to another is only 10% of the previous traffic
level.
4.Some heat is lost in to the environment through respiration.
5. The transfer of energyin biosphere is said to be unidirectional because The energy that is
captured by the autotrophs does not revert back to the solar input and energy which passes to
the herbivores does not come back to the producers.
IMPORTANT NOTES
1. Smaller food chains are more advantageous in terms of energy.
2. The number of steps in a food chain are limited because very little energy is awailable for the
next level as all food chains are governed by 10% law.
3. There are generally a greater o number of organisms at the lower trophic levels of an
ecosystem due to mire energy awailable.
ADVANTAGES OF A FOOD CHAIN
1. It helps in transferring energy from one organism to another.
2. It helps us to study the structure of an ecosystem.
DISADVANTAGES OF FOOD CHAINS
1.Harmful chemicals enter into the food chain and accumulate at various trophic levels.
★BIOCONCENTRATION: accumulation of harmful chemicals in a food chain
★BIOLOGICAL MAGNIFICATION
Increase in the quantity of harmful m chemicals on moving from one trophic level to another in a
food chain
NOTE:
Following are the methods to reduce the concentration of pesticides in organisms:
1. Thoroughly washing the eatables before consuming them.
2. Use of disease resistant varieties for growing crops.
3. Use of animals as bio pesticides for removing pests from the fields.
★ FOOD WEB
A network of interconnected food chains operating in an ecosystem is known as a food web.
A single organism can be eaten by many more organisms linked in various food chains in a food
web hence a food web is more practically existent in an ecosystem as compared to food chains.
EFFECT IF HUMAN ACTIVITY ON
ENVIRONMENT
OZONE: it is the molecule of oxygen having three atoms (O3)
It is advantages because it it it is the earth from the harmful ultraviolet radiation is of the sun.
It was formed in the following way:
O2—->O+O(in the presence of UV rays)
O+O2—O3
★Ozone layer is getting depleted due emissions of ODS(ozone depleting substances ) like
CFCs(chloro flouro carbons) and Halons from industries , refrigerators,ACs et
★UNEP:united nations environment programme has Laid down very strict laws against emission
of ODS for curbing ozone depletion.
★Depletion of ozone layer would lead to entry of harmful UV rays and cause skin cancer in
humans.
★Improvement in our lifestyle has resulted in great amount of waste material generation,
change in attitude will play a role in controlling the harmful effects caused by waste disposal.
★Introduction of disposable cups has led to environmental pollution.
★Use of kulhads has lead to loss of fertile topsoil, hence nowadays paper cups are being used in
place of plastic cups.
