Ecology:: Environment and Pollution Dept. Applied Ecology-Lecture No. 1 Instructor: Ola Tareq

ENVIRONMENT
AND POLLUTION DEPT. ‐‐‐APPLIED ECOLOGY—LECTURE NO. 1
INSTRUCTOR: OLA TAREQ
INTRODUCTION
Ecology:
The branch of biology dealing with
the relations and interactions
between organisms and their
environment, including other
organisms.
Human and Environment

Human society and the environment
interact with each other. Human
impacts (i.e., anthropogenic Langur Monkeys
impacts) on the environment refer to the
impacts of human activities on biophysical environments, biodiversity and other
resources.
Those activities include agricultural practices: (deforestation, genetically modified

food, agricultural chemicals, soil degradation, agricultural plastics), fishing
(overfishing, ecological disruption, and by-catch),
Irrigation (soil salination, reduced river discharge, evaporation, withdraw of

groundwater, drainage),
Livestock production (pollution, fossil fuels, water and land consumption).

energy industry (climate change, biofuel use, fossil fuel use, electricity generation,
renewable energy)
manufacturing (cleaning agents, nanotechnology, paint, pesticides,
pharmaceuticals and personal care products), mining (erosion, sinkholes, loss of
biodiversity, contamination of soil, contamination of groundwater and surface
water)
Transport (use of fossil fuels, air pollution, emission of carbon dioxide,

traffic congestion, invasion of natural habitat and agricultural lands).
The environment:
Is where we live. It is divided into two
types:
1-natural environment.
2- Built environment.
Natural environment encompasses all

living and non-living things occurring
naturally in the area.
Saarloos wolfdog
Built environment
Refers to the human-made surroundings that provide the setting for human
activity (e.g., buildings, parks, cities and supporting infrastructure such as:
Transport, water supply and energy supply
Environmental engineering:
It is the application of science and engineering principles to protect and utilize

natural resources, control environmental pollution, improve environmental quality
to enable healthy ecosystems and comfortable habitation of humans. It is based on
multiple disciplines including:
Geology, Hydrology, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Medicine, Engineering,
Management, Economics, Law, Etc.
Environmental engineering involves:
1- water supply,
2‐ pollution control,
3‐ recycling,
4‐ waste (solid and liquid)disposal,
5‐ radiation protection,
6‐ industrial hygiene,
7‐ environmental sustainability,
8‐ and public health In environmental engineering,
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Ecosystems: An ecosystem is a community of living (biotic) organisms (plants,
animals and microbes) in conjunction with the nonliving components (abiotic) of their
environment (air, water and mineral soil), interacting as a system
Community: consists of all the populations of all the species that live
together in a particular area inhabiting a given part of an ecosystem as
integrated group of living organisms.
There are essentially two kinds of ecosystems:
1-Aquatic and
2- Terrestrial.
Any other sub-ecosystem falls under one of these two headings.
Terrestrial ecosystems
Terrestrial ecosystems can be found anywhere apart from heavily saturated places. They
are broadly classed into:
 The Forest Ecosystems
They are the ecosystems in which an abundance of flora, or plants, is seen so they have a
big number of organisms which live in relatively small space. Therefore, in forest
ecosystems the density of living organisms is quite high. A small change in this ecosystem
could affect the whole balance, effectively bringing down the whole ecosystem. You could
see a fantastic diversity in the fauna of the ecosystems, too.
 The Desert Ecosystem
Desert ecosystems are located in regions that receive an annual rainfall less than 25. They
occupy about 17 percent of all the land on our planet. Due to the extremely high
temperature, low water availability and intense sunlight, fauna and flora are scarce and
poorly developed. The vegetation is mainly shrubs, bushes, few grasses and rare trees. The
stems and leaves of the plants are modified in order to conserve water as much as possible.
The best known desert ones are the succulents such as the spiny leaved cacti. The animal
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organisms include insects, birds, camels, reptiles all of which are adapted to the desert
(xeric) conditions.
 The Grassland Ecosystem
Grasslands are located in both the tropical and temperate regions of the world though the
ecosystems vary slightly. The area mainly comprises grasses with a little number of trees
and shrubs. The main vegetation includes grasses, plants and legumes that belong to the
composite family. A lot of grazing animals, insectivores and herbivores inhabit the
grasslands
 The Mountain Ecosystem
Mountain land provides a scattered and diverse array of habitats where a large number of
animals and plants can be found. At the higher altitudes, the harsh environmental
conditions normally prevail, and only the treeless alpine vegetation can survive. The
animals that live there have thick fur coats for prevention from cold and hibernation in the
winter months. Lower slopes are commonly covered with coniferous forests.
Aquatic Ecosystems
The aquatic ecosystem is the ecosystem found in a body of water. It encompasses aquatic
flora, fauna and water properties, as well. There are two main types of aquatic ecosystem
Marine and Freshwater.
The Marine Ecosystem:
Marine ecosystems are the biggest ecosystems, which cover around 71% of Earth's surface
and contain 97% of out planet's water. Water in Marine ecosystems features in high
amounts minerals and salts dissolved in them.
Many kinds of organisms live in marine

ecosystems:
The brown algae, corals cephalopods,

echinoderms, din flagellates and sharks.
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The Freshwater Ecosystem
Contrary to the Marine ecosystems, the freshwater ecosystem covers only 0.8% of Earth's
surface and contains 0.009% of the total water.
An ecosystem has two basic components
i) Abiotic components
ii) Biotic components
Abiotic Components
Those include the non-living or physic-chemical factors like air, soil, water and the basic
compounds and elements of the environment. Abiotic factors are classified broadly under
three categories:
Climatic factors, including the climatic regime with
Physical factors: in the environment such as light, atmospheric temperature, wind,

humidity, etc.
Edaphic factors, which relate to the composition and structure of the soil like its
chemical and physical properties – like the soil type, soil profile, organic matter, minerals,
soil water, and soil organisms. Inorganic substances like water, carbon, sulphur, nitrogen,
phosphorus and so on. Organic substances like proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, hemic
substances etc.
Biotic Components
It consists of the living parts of the environment, including the association of a lot of
interrelated populations that belong to different species inhabiting a common environment.
The populations are those of the animal community, the plant community and the
microbial community. The biotic community is divided into: autotrophs, heterotrophs and.
saprotrophs
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Autotrophs
Are called producers, those are photosynthetic plants, contain chlorophyll, which
synthesize a high-energy complex organic compound (or food) from the inorganic raw
materials with the aid of the sun, and this process is called photosynthesis.
Heterotrophs:
Are the consumers, normally animals that feed on the other organisms they are normally:
1-herbivores: (or primary consumers), for they feed directly on green plants. For example,
Terrestrial ecosystem consumers are cattle, deer, grass hopper, rabbit, etc. Aquatic
ecosystem consumers are protozoans, crustaceans, etc.
2-Carnivores :( or Secondary consumers): are animals that prey or feed on other animals.
Secondary consumers include those animals that feed on herbivorous animals.
For example, fox, frog, smaller fishes, predatory birds, snakes, etc.
(tertiary consumers) or are the animals that feed on secondary consumers. For example,
wolf, owl, peacock, etc. fourth order consumers feed on tertiary consumers.
For example, lion, tiger, etc. Those are not eaten by any other animal.
Saprotrophs
Are called decomposers. They break the complex organic compounds in dead matter down
(dead plants and animals). Decomposers don’t ingest the food. Instead they secrete a
digestive enzyme into the dead, decaying plant or animal remains and digest this organic
material. The enzymes act on the complex organic compounds in the dead matter.
Decomposers absorb a bit of the decomposition products to provide themselves with
nourishment.
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Food chain: it is a linear sequence of organisms through which nutrients
and energy pass as one organism eats another.
In a food chain, each organism occupies a different trophic level, defined by

how many energy transfers separate it from the basic input of the chain.
Food webs: consist of many interconnected food chains and are more
realistic representation of consumption relationships in ecosystems.
TROPHIC LEVELS
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Ecology:: Environment and Pollution Dept. Applied Ecology-Lecture No. 1 Instructor: Ola Tareq

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ENVIRONMENT

Human and Environment

Those activities include agricultural practices: (deforestation, genetically modified

Irrigation (soil salination, reduced river discharge, evaporation, withdraw of

Livestock production (pollution, fossil fuels, water and land consumption).

Transport (use of fossil fuels, air pollution, emission of carbon dioxide,

Natural environment encompasses all

It is the application of science and engineering principles to protect and utilize

Any other sub-ecosystem falls under one of these two headings.

 The Forest Ecosystems

 The Desert Ecosystem

 The Grassland Ecosystem

 The Mountain Ecosystem

The Marine Ecosystem:

Many kinds of organisms live in marine

The brown algae, corals cephalopods,

An ecosystem has two basic components

ii) Biotic components

Climatic factors, including the climatic regime with

Physical factors: in the environment such as light, atmospheric temperature, wind,

In a food chain, each organism occupies a different trophic level, defined by

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