Prepared by:
Ms. Ann Kimberly S. Mendoza
EDPSYCOMM-GENED
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Environmental science is a field of Science that deals
with the study of interaction between human system and
natural system.
It deals with the physical, biological and chemical
sciences to study the environment and discover
solutions to environmental problems.
Importance of Environmental Science
To understand the interrelationship between
organisms.
To understand the impacts of development on
environment
To realize that environmental problems are
global and to create awareness about
environmental problems at local, national and
international levels.
To discover sustainable ways of living and to
utilize natural resources efficiently
To enlighten people about contemporary
concepts such as how to conserve biodiversity
ECOLOGY
ECOLOGY
• Ecology is a branch of biology that deals with the interrelationship
between living things and to its environment.
• Ecology comes from the Greek word "Oikos" which means house
or environment. It was coined by the German scientist Ernst
Haeckel.
• TWO MAIN BRANCHES OF ECOLOGY
- Autecology - population ecology
- Synecology - community ecology
LEVELS OF BIOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION
Cell - smallest unit of living things
Tissue - group of cells
Organ - group of differentiated tissues doing the same work
Organ system - group of organs that perform different functions
Organism - individual living thing
Population - group of similar organisms occupying a definite area
Community - group of different populations interacting with one another
Ecosystem - group of communities interacting with their abiotic factors.
Biosphere - all the ecosystem on earth with its physical environment
Earth - the planetary environment
COMPONENTS OF ECOSYSTEM
ECOSYSTEM
BIOTIC FACTOR ABIOTIC FACTOR
ABIOTIC FACTORS
WATER
An odourless, tasteless inorganic
substance made of two hydrogen and an
oxygen.
IMPORTANCE OF WATER
1. Helps in seed germination.
2. Transports substances in the body of
plants and animals.
3. Comprises a large percent of the body
of organism.
4. Serves as habitat for marine and
freshwater organisms.
TYPES OF PLANT ACCORDING TO ITS WATER
REQUIREMENT
• HYDROPHYTES - Plants that need abundant supply of water.
• HALOPHYTES - Plants that can survive with water containing
high salinity.
• MESOPHYTES - Plants that need a moderate supply of water.
• XEROPHYTES - Plants that can tolerate scanty water supply
• TROPOPHYTES - Plants that live in an environment in which
heavy rainfall alternates with periods of drought
SOIL
Soil is a material formed from small particles of rock mixed with
organic materials and minerals and found in the upper layer of the earth
crust.
TYPES OF SOIL
1. Sandy - soil that have the largest particle. Plants do not grow well
because water goes rapidly through the spaces and water dries off
quickly.
2. Clay - smallest particle of soil. It retains water before drying so it is
sticky, often damp, and not suitable for plant growth.
3. Silt – soil that is smaller than sand but larger than clay. It can hold water
better than sand and usually carried by moving current. It is found near the
river and other water bodies.
4. Loam - soil that is good for agriculture and made up of sand, silt and
clay with organic material called humus.
SUNLIGHT
Sunlight is the main and the oldest of all
energy sources.
Sunlight is needed by plants for
photosynthesis and animals for warmth.
TEMPERATURE
• Temperature is the hotness or coldness of
an area.
• The temperature may affect the presence
or absence of animals in different habitat.
Some animals may escape cold by
hibernation or migration. Some live
normally in hot spring at a temperature.
BIOTIC FACTORS
BIOTIC FACTORS
These are the living components of an ecosystem.
There are biological relationships that happen in an ecosystem. It
may be between individual of the same species (intraspecific) or
between different species (interspecific).
Intraspecific relationships include mating, assistance
gregariousness and competition.
Interspecific relationships include different species struggling with
each other for space and food.
INTERACTION IN AN ECOSYSTEM
1.Abiotic-abiotic - interaction/relationship among
physical factors
2. Biotic - biotic - interactions/relationship among
biotic factors
3.Biotic- abiotic factor - relationship between living
and non-living things
POPULATION
POPULATION
A population is a group of similar species living in a certain place at the same time.
Population is the major unit of the ecological study for scientists.
An organism is a single, living individual, either plant or animal.
Characteristics of population
1. Size - number of individuals in a population. Natality, mortality, immigration and
emigration may affect population size. The size of population can be stated as:
Kind - Species
Place - location
Time - date/month/year
Number - how many
Ex. The population of people in the Philippines on July 2000 is 72,000,000.
2. Density - number of individuals of a species living in a particular area of that
population. Density depends on factors like availability of space, food, predators,
water, light and heat. The population density increases when the factors are
favorable to the population and decrease when it is not.
3. Distribution - the arrangement of the individuals of a population with a
particular space is called distribution. It tells us how these individuals are located
in that area.
Type of Distribution :
Random distribution - no specific order, the organism is spread throughout the
area without an overall pattern.
Uniform distribution - the organisms are evenly distributed over an area
Clumped distribution - the organism are concentrated in an area
Population growth
The important factors that may affect population are the natality rate and
the mortality rate. However, immigration and emigration make a
substantial contribution to population growth.
Biotic potential
Biotic potential of an organism refers to the number of offspring that could
exists if all offspring survived and produced young. It depends on the
number of offspring produced and how frequently they are produced and
how long the life of organism may be.
Environmental resistance
Environmental resistance are the factors that reduces the growth rate of a
population. It results to an increase in mortality and decrease in natality.
Some resistance are result of resource shortage, water or food. Some
comes from disease, predation or competition.
Carrying capacity
Carrying capacity is the number of individuals in a particular population
that the environment can support over an indefinite period of time in
terms of food, space and shelter.
Limiting factors
Density dependent limiting factor
These factors are directly associated with living things. Biotic factors are
dependent on the density of the population, the effect of competition,
predators, diseases, availability of space and food. It helps to determine the
carrying capacity of an ecosystem.
Density independent limiting factors
These are factors that influence all population. The amount of available air,
water and soil condition are abiotic factors that are not associated with
living things. It include changes in the weather, temperature, daily and
seasonal variations of sunlight.
COMMUNITY
COMMUNITY
Group of different populations interacting with one another.
SYMBIOSIS
- comes from the Greek word “Symbioun” which means living
together.
- Symbiosis or symbiotic relationship is a relationship between
two or more organism in which one or both organism benefited.
SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP
MUTUALISM - relationship where both organisms benefited.
COMMENSALISM - relationship where one organism benefited while the other is
unaffected or unharmed.
PARASITISM - relationship where one organism benefited while the other is
harmed/affected.
TYPES OF PARASITE: Endoparasite and Ectoparasite
COMPETITION - relationship where two or more organisms living in the same area
and uses same resources compete with one another for the resources needed.
PREDATION - relationship where one organism is the prey (organism that is eaten)
and another organism is the predator(organism that eats another organism)
COMMUNITY ROLE
o Food getting is one of the most important of the relationship in an ecosystem.
o An organism that can make their own food from inorganic matter and energy
from the sun are called AUTOTROPHS
o Any organism that cannot make their own food and obtained their nutrients
from another organism is called HETEROTROPH
• PRODUCERS - organism that produces their own food.
• CONSUMERS - consume another organism
• Herbivores - organism that consume plants
• Carnivores - organism that eat meat or another animal
• Omnivores - organism that eat both plant and animals
DECOMPOSERS - organism that eat dead plants and animals.
a. Scavengers - eat soft tissues
b. Detritivores - consume dead organic matter and digest them
internally.
c. Saprotrophs - consume the left overs of the two other
decomposers.They secrete an enzyme to digest dead matter and then
absorb the nutrients in it.
TROPHIC LEVEL
• the level occupied by an organism in a food chain or food web
PRIMARY PRODUCERS - Autotroph that convert sun
energy into chemical energy.
PRIMARY CONSUMERS - eat the primary producers
SECONDARY CONSUMERS - eat the primary consumers
TERTIARY CONSUMERS - eat the secondary consumers.
DECOMPOSERS - consumers that obtain their energy by
consuming dead plants.
FOOD CHAIN AND FOOD WEB
- Food chain refers to the sequence of events in an ecosystem, where one
organism eats another and then is eaten by another organism. It follows a
single path as animals eat each other.
- Food webs show how plants and animals are connected to help them all
survive. Food chains follow just one path of energy as animals find food.
- Food web represents feeding relationships within a community (Smith
and Smith 2009). It also implies the transfer of food energy from its source
in plants through herbivores to carnivores (Krebs 2009). It is consist of a
number of food chains meshed together.
ECOLOGICAL PYRAMID
The ecological pyramids represent the trophic structure and trophic function
of an ecosystem. Each of the bars that make up the pyramid represents a
different trophic level, and their order, which is based on who eats whom,
represents the flow of energy.
PYRAMID OF NUMBERS
- shows the number of organism at each
trophic level per unit area of ecosystem.
- Has many producers at the base, fewer
herbivores at the middle and even fewer
carnivores at the top or VICE VERSA.
PYRAMID OF BIOMASS
- shows the mass of organism at each stage of
the food chain
- The producer’s mass is larger than the mass of
consumers and give a typical pyramid shape.
PYRAMID OF PRODUCTIVITY
- An organism loses 90% of energy in the form
of heat and only 10 % will be transferred to
another organism.
- Producer has the highest energy and the
tertiary consumer has the lowest energy.
ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION
- Sequence of replacement in a habitat
PRIMARY SUCCESSION
-Taking place which is not previously covered by vegetation
Ex. Lava that cools down and create new rocks
Glacier retreats
SECONDARY SUCCESSION
-takes place in a habitat already previously occupied by vegetation
Ex. abandoned farm land, forest fires
ECOSYSTEM
ECOSYSTEM AND BIOME
• Ecosystem is a group of communities that interact with
one other and with their physical environment.
• Ecosystem is composed of biotic and abiotic factors.
• A biome is a group of land and water ecosystems with
similar climates and organisms.
• There are two main types of ecosystem: terrestrial and
aquatic ecosystem.
TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEM
RAINFOREST
An ecosystem composed of tall trees,
several plants and animals and high
amount of rainfall.
It has two types: Temperate rainforests and
tropical rainforest
DESERT
A land ecosystem that receives less than
25 cm of rain per year or some receive
NO precipitation at all.
Organisms that live in the desert must
adapt to the lack of rain and extreme
temperatures.
PRAIRIE
A grassland that is mostly populated
by grasses and other non-woody
plants.
SAVANNA
• A grassland that is located closer to
the equator than prairies. Aside from
grass, scattered shrubs and small
trees can grow in the savanna.
TAIGA
A boreal forest that contains
coniferous trees and usually found
in cold regions with a lot of snow.
TUNDRA
Tundra is an extremely cold and dry
ecosystem. It is considered as the
coldest of all biomes. Most soil is
frozen all year long (permafrost).
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM
FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEM
River and stream
• Rivers and streams are both flowing
freshwater ecosystem.
• Rivers are larger and wider than
streams and it follows a permanent
path.
Ponds and Lakes
⬝Inland bodies of still freshwater.
⬝Lakes are larger and deeper than
ponds.
MARINE ECOSYSTEM
• Estuary is a type of marine
ecosystem where freshwater
meets saltwater of the ocean.
• Coastal ecosystem is where land
and water come together that
includes diverse habitat like the
mangroves and coral reefs.
• Open ocean is a marine
ecosystem where diverse life
is found. It is an area away
from the coast and
surrounded by water.
• Deep sea ocean is the lowest
part of marine ecosystem that
largely unexplored.
REFERENCES
Lee & Añes (2008).Lecture Notes in Environmental Science: The economy of
Nature and Ecology of Man.
C&E Publishing
Ordoñez III (2003) , Environmental Biology : Philippine Setting
https://byjus.com
https://phys.org
www.slideshare.net
https://sciencing.org
Prepared by:
Ms. Ann Kimberly S. Mendoza
EDPSYCOMM-GENED
