Ecology and Environment

LECTURE-01
BARCH,IX-th Semester
SCHOOL OF PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE,
BHOPAL

ECOLOGY?
ENVIRONMENT?

WHY IS IT REQUIRED TO KNOW?

WHAT IS THE SCOPE?

What is Ecology ???

Eugene P. Odum
I prefer to define ecology as:
The study of the structure and function of
ecosystems or ..
The study of the structure and function of
nature.
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Structure ???
1) The composition of the biological community
including species, numbers, biomass, life history
and distribution in space of populations.
2) The quantity and distribution of the abiotic
(non-living) materials such as nutrients,
water, etc.
3) The range, or gradient, of conditions of
existence such as temperature, light, etc.

Function ???
1. The rate of biological energy flow through the
ecosystem, that is, the rates of production and
the rates of respiration of the populations and the
community.
2. The rate of material or nutrient cycling, that is,
the biogeochemical cycles.
3. The biological or ecological regulation including both
regulation of organisms by environment and
regulation of environment by organisms.
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Ecosystem ???
"Living organisms ( biotic) and their nonliving ( abiotic) environment are
inseparably interrelated and interact upon each other.

Any unit that includes all of the organisms (i.e., the "community")
in a given area interacting with the physical environment so that a
flow of energy leads to clearly defined trophic structure, biotic
diversity, and material cycles (i.e., exchange of materials between
living and nonliving parts) within the system is an ecological
system or ecosystem."

Odum, E. P. 1971. Fundamentals of Ecology. Third Edition. Saunders.

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~franz/top_ecosystem/documents/page3.2.html
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Environment ???
As per Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, environment includes all the
physical and biological surroundings of an organism along with their
interactions.

Environment is thus defined as the sum total of water, air

and land and the inter-relationships that exist among them
and with the human beings, other living organisms and
materials.

BARC 0903 Ecology and environment credit 1

Introduction

Meaning and scope of ecology; evolution of ecology; man, environment and ecosystem; components of
nature and basis concepts and processes of ecology; flow of material water energy, invasion, succession,
predation, regulatory forces, adaptation, trophic levels, food chain, food web, ecological pyramids;
Environmental zones.
Ecosystem and its Relevance to Environment

Resources and human settlements impact of advanced agricultural methods, urbanization and
industrialization on nature; urban ecosystem approach evolution and significance; soil, water, land,
vegetation and solar, biomas, wind, hydro energy resources; settlement planning and energy conservation;
development and management
Quantitative Ecology

Introduction to quantitative ecology, identification of ecological parameters for planning at different

levels; site planning, settlement planning and regional planning; data needs and format for data collection;
types of analysis required to evolve ecological parameters. Planning for environmentally sensitive areas.
Environmental Impact Studies

EIA - meaning, significance and framework; Methodologies - checklist, matrices, network and social costbenefit analysis; sources and acquisition of environmental information; Environmental land use
classification; Environment impact studies of development projects.
Environmental Policies

Global and national policies on environment; Five year plans in relation to environmental aspects; Legal
measure for protection of environment; Environmental awareness and education in India; Agencies
involved in environment protection; Public participation; Role of planners in shaping the future
environment

Environmental studies as a subject has a wide scope.

It encompasses a large number of areas and aspects, which may be

summarized as follows:
Natural resourcestheir conservation and management
Ecology and biodiversity
Environmental pollution and control
Social issues in relation to development and environment
Human population and environment

These are the basic aspects of environmental studies which have a direct relevance to
every section of the society. Environmental studies can also be highly specialized
concentrating on more technical aspects like environmental science, environmental
engineering or environmental management.
In the recent years, the scope of environmental studies has expanded dramatically the
world over.
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SCOPE?
Several career options have emerged in this field that are broadly categorized as:

(i) Research & Development (R & D) in environment: Skilled environmental scientists have
an important role to play in examining various environmental problems in a scientific manner
and carry out R & D activities for developing cleaner technologies and promoting sustainable
development.
There is a need for trained manpower at every level to deal with environmental issues.
Environmental management and environmental engineering are emerging as new career
opportunities for environmental protection and management. With the pollution control laws
becoming more stringent, industries are finding it difficult to dispose off the wastes produced.
In order to avoid expensive litigation, companies are now trying to adopt green technologies,
which would reduce pollution.
. (ii) Green advocacy: With increasing emphasis on implementing various Acts and Laws related
to environment, need for environmental lawyers has emerged, who should be able to plead the
cases related to water and air pollution, forest, wildlife etc.
(iii) Green marketing: While ensuring the quality of products with ISO mark, now there is an
increasing emphasis on marketing goods that are environment friendly. Such products have
ecomark or ISO 14000 certification. Environmental auditors and environmental managers
would be in great demand in the coming years.
(iv) Green media: Environmental awareness can be spread amongst masses through mass media
like television, radio, newspaper, magazines, hoardings, advertisements etc. for which
environmentally educated persons are required.
(v) Environment consultancy: Many non-government organisations (NGOs), industries and
government bodies are engaging environmental consultants for systematically studying and
tackling environment related problems.

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HOW IS IT IMPORTANT FOR ARCHITECTS AND

PLANNERS?

Whats the use of a beautiful

house if you dont have a decent
planet to put it on?
Henry D. Thoreau

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Urban Ecology ???

What makes urban ecology unique or
different from just ecology?

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It is absolutely essential to CREATE ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS

because:
(i) Environment belongs to all and participation of masses is a must for successful
implementation of environmental protection plans.
(ii) Living in a technologically developing society, our lifestyles and attitudes have become
selforiented.
Environmental awareness is needed to change the mindset of modern society for an
earth-oriented approach.
(iii) There is a need to make the public environmentally aware of the serious health impacts of
environmental pollution and their right to live in a clean and healthy environment.
(iv) There is an urgent need to create awareness amongst people that we have no other option
but to follow sustainability principles. Only then life of mankind on this earth would be secure
and our future generations would be safe.
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 Take a small quiz.

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IDENTIFY THE LADY

Q1

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Q2

Sh.Sundarlal Bahuguna

.PROMOTED THE
CHIPKO MOVEMENT and TEHRI BACHAO
ANDOLAN

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Q3

Smt. Medha Patkar and Ms. Arundhati Roy

are known for their Narmada Bachao

Andolan,

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Q4

Sh. Rajender Singh

the Magsaysay awardee .
known for his water conservation efforts

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Q5

Salim Ali
..is
a renowned ornithologist,
famous for his work on Indian birds.

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Q6

The organisms feeding on dead

organisms are called
(a) Carnivores
(b) Decomposers
(c) Detritivores
(d) Omnivores.

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Q7

Which of the following is NOT a correct pair?

(a) World Forest DayMarch 21
(b) Environment DayJune 5
(c) World Population DayJuly 11
(d) World Day for WaterMay 22.

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Q8

At the United Nations Conference on Environment and

Development held at Rio de Janeiro, in 1992, known
Earth Summit,
popularly as .
and ten years later, the World Summit on Sustainable
Development, held at Johannesberg in 2002

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Q9

Nobel peace prize, 2007 was awarded jointly to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change(IPCC) headed by Indian Environmentalist Dr. R.K. Pachauri, and former US vicepresident Al Gore. IPCC, the UN body comprising of 3,000 experts from various fields is
an authority on global warming and its impacts.
The award to IPCC is in appreciation of its efforts to build up and disseminate greater
knowledge about manmade climate change and to lay the foundation for the
measures that are needed to counteract such change. Al Gore is probably the single
individual who has done most to create greater world-wide understanding to the
measures that need to be adopted, observed the Norwegian Nobel Committee while
naming the joint winner of the award.
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Q10

While ensuring the quality of products with ISO

mark, now there is an increasing emphasis on
marketing goods that are environment friendly.
Such products have Ecomark or ISO 14000
certification

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Some mundane BUT

IMPORTANT definitions..

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Ecology
is
The study of the distribution and
abundance of organisms,
AND
the flows of energy and materials
between abiotic and biotic
components of ecosystems.
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Ecology is the study of the relationships between living things

(within species and between different species), and between
them and their environment.
Ecologists are the people who study this subject
The term Ecology was coined by Earnst Haeckel in 1869. It is derived from the Greek words
Oikos- home + logos- study.\ So ecology deals with the study of organisms in their natural
home interacting with their surroundings. The surroundings or environment consists of other
living organisms, the (biotic) and physical (abiotic) components.
Modern ecologists believe that an adequate definition of ecology must specify some unit of
study and one such basic unit described by Tansley (1935) was ecosystem.
An ecosystem is a self-regulating group of biotic communities of species interacting
with one another and with their non-living environment exchanging energy and matter. Now
ecology is often defined as the study of ecosystems.

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Ecosystems: Basic Concepts

What is meant by an ecosystem

The biotic and abiotic community
Food chains, trophic levels, ecological pyramid
Water and carbon cycles
Benefits from ecosystem services

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What is an ecosystem?
System = regularly interacting and
interdependent components
forming a unified whole
Ecosystem = an ecological system;
= a community and its physical
environment treated together as a
functional system
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Ecosystem
Ecosystem: Defined area in which a
community lives with interactions taking place
among the organisms between the
community and its non-living physical
environment.
An ecosystem is formed by the interactions
between all living and non-living things
How do living and non-living things interact in
an environment?
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Ecosystem Services
The human economy depends upon the services performed
for free by ecosystems.
The ecosystem services supplied annually are worth many
trillions of dollars.
Economic development that destroys habitats and impairs
services can create costs to humanity over the long term that
may greatly exceed the short-term economic benefits of the
development.
These costs are generally hidden from traditional economic
accounting, but are nonetheless real and are usually borne by
society at large.
http://www.epa.gov/watertrain/pdf/issue2.pdf
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Ecosystems:
Fundamental Characteristics
Structure:
Living (biotic)
Nonliving (abiotic)

Process:
Energy flow
Cycling of matter (chemicals)

Change:
Dynamic (not static)
Succession, etc.
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Abiotic components:
ABIOTIC components:
Are non living physical and chemical factors in the
environment which affect the ecosystems.
Eg radiation, temperature, water, pressure sometimes
even sound waves.
Solar energy provides practically all the energy for
ecosystems.
Inorganic substances, e.g., sulfur, boron, tend to cycle
through ecosystems.
Organic compounds, such as proteins, carbohydrates,
lipids, and other complex molecules, form a link
between biotic and abiotic components of the system.

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BIOTIC components
Biotic is a living component of a communtiy.
The biotic components of an ecosystem can be
classified according to their mode of energy
acquisition.
In this type of classification, there are:
Autotrophs and Heterotrophs
Organisms that produce their own food from an
energy source, such as the sun, and inorganic
compounds.
Organisms that consume other organisms as a food
source.
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Trophic level: the position an organism

occupies in a food chain. All the
organisms that are the same number of
food-chain steps from the primary source
of energy

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Modified from: General Ecology, by David T. Krome

Trophic Levels
A trophic level is the position occupied by an organism in a
food chain.
Trophic levels can be analyzed on an energy pyramid.
Producers are found at the base of the pyramid and
compromise the first trophic level.
Primary consumers make up the second trophic level.
Secondary consumers make up the third trophic level.
Finally tertiary consumers make up the top trophic level.

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Trophic Levels Found on an Energy

Pyramid
The greatest amount of energy is found at the base of the
pyramid.
The least amount of energy is found at top of the pyramid.

Source: corpuschristiisd.org/user_files/91702/Ecosystem.ppt

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Trophic Structure Reminder

Eltonian pyramids
Number of individuals per species
Is this pyramid stable?

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Trophic Structure Reminder

What if we transformed each species into
biomass instead of absolute numbers?

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Biomass
Energy is sometimes considered in terms of biomass,
the mass of all the organisms and organic material in
an area.
There is more biomass at the trophic level of
producers and fewer at the trophic level of tertiary
consumers. (There are more plants on Earth than
there are animals.)
Bio=life
Mass=weight
Bio + Mass = Weight of living things within an
ecosystem.
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Trophic Structure Reminder

Express trophic structure as energy transfer
Energy pyramids can never be inverted
Is there room for anyone else
at the top of this food chain?

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Food Chains
The producers, consumers, and decomposers
of each ecosystem make up a food chain.
There are many food chains in an ecosystem.
Food chains show where energy is transferred
and not who eats who.

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Example of a Food Chain

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Food Webs
All the food chains in an area make up the food web of the area.

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Food web of a hot spring

2003 John Wiley and Sons Publishers47

Fig 6.5 Food web of the harp seal.

2003 John Wiley and Sons Publishers48

Urban Ecology
An interdisciplinary study of the urban
ecosystem

Origin of Cities
Through most of history, the human
population has lived a rural lifestyle.
Settled communities of people became
possible with the advent of agriculture
(10,000 to 4,000 BC).

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Year
Became #1

Population Information

Memphis, Egypt
Akkad, Babylonia
(Iraq)
Lagash, Babylonia
(Iraq)
Ur, Babylonia (Iraq)

3100 BCE

Well over 30,000

Thebes, Egypt
Babylon, Babylonia
(Iraq)
Avaris, Egypt

1980

Memphis, Egypt

1557

Thebes, Egypt

1400

City

2240
2075
2030

65,000

1770
1670

Nineveh, Assyria (Iraq) 668

Babylon, Babylonia
612
(Iraq)

First above 200,000

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Understanding how urban ecosystems function is

integral to mitigating their negative effects on
ecosystem services, assessing their impact on
neighboring environments, and considering them
in decision-making dialogue.
Engaging urban dwellers is critical; their activities
directly impact the way urban ecosystems function
and they have a vested interest in maintaining the
environmental integrity of the area they live in.

Institute for Ecosystem Studies

http://www.ecostudies.org/IES_urban_ecology.html
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What is
Urbanization?
Often related to industrialization
Up until very recently -- about 200 years
ago -- the proportion of the worlds urban
population was limited to about 5%

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Speed of
Urbanization

In 18003%
By 190014 %
In 1950 30%
In 2000 47 % (about 2.8 billion)

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Human Numbers
Through Time

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Ten Largest Cities of

1900 Name

Population

London, United Kingdom

6,480,000

New York, United States

4,242,000

Paris, France

3,330,000

Berlin, Germany

2,707,000

Chicago, United States

1,717,000

Vienna, Austria

1,698,000

Tokyo, Japan

1,497,000

St. Petersburg, Russia

1,439,000

Manchester, United Kingdom

1,435,000

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Philadelphia, United States

1,418,000

http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201f.htm
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Ten Largest Cities of

2004 Name

Population

Shanghai, China

13,278,500

Mumbai (Bombay), India

12,622,500

Buenos Aires, Argentina

11,928,400

Moscow, Russia

11,273,400

Karachi, Pakistan

10,889,100

Delhi, India

10,400,900

Manila, Phillipines

10,330,100

So Paolo, Brazil

10,260,100

Seoul, South Korea

10,165,400

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Istanbul, Turkey

9,631,700

Source: Stefan Helders, World Gazetteer, 2004. Reprinted with permission.

Web: www.world-gazetteer.com .

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Global Urbanization
Trends (contd)

Size of Urban Population in the World

(Source: United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects, The 1999 Revision)

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Earth at Night
2000 November 27

Credit: C. Mayhew & R. Simmon (NASA/GSFC), NOAA/ NGDC, DMSP Digital Archive
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Global Urbanization
Trends (contd)
Comparison of Urban Population in Developed
Countries and Developing Countries

(Source: United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects, The 1999 Revision)

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Impacts of Urbanization
By concentrating humans and the resources they
consume, metropolitan areas alter
soil drainage,
water flow, and
light availability.
Furthermore they concentrate:
waste
energy demand
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Progression of Urban Growth

1975, 1985,1995
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia

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Consequences of Urbanization:
Food Import Trends in Puerto Rico

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When the last tree is cut

When the last river is dry
When the last fish is caught
Then we realise that
Money just cant be eaten

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