Basic Environmental Studies

(110007)

Chapter 1:

Introduction to Environment, Ecosystem &

Ecology

Kaustubh J. Sane
HJD Institute of Technical Education &
Research, Kera
Topics at glance.
Definition and Inter-relationships amongst
and between them
Components of Environment, Relationship
between different components
Man-Environment relationship
Impact of Technology on the environment
Environmental Degradation
What is environment???
All the living and non living factors affecting an
organism and ultimately determining its form and
survival is known as Environment.
It is a sum total of water, air, land,
interrelationship among themselves and also
with human beings, other living organisms and
property.

Some other Definitions of Environment:-

All the external factors influencing the life and activity
of people, plant and animals.

All the things (i.e. Object & Circumstances)

surrounding us is known as Environment.
What is environment???
Environment is Define most precisely as,
The Complex of Physical, Chemical & Biotic
factors affecting an organism and ultimately
determining its form and survival is known as
Environment.
Ecology..
Ecology is derived from two Greek words
Oikos & Logos
Ecology= Oikos + Logos

Oikos means house or dwelling place

Logos means study of

Thus Ecology can be define as

Study of organisms with respect to their house
or dwelling place.
Ecology..

It is the study of interrelationship

between living organism and their
physical and biological environment.
Ecosystem.
Definition:-
Ecosystem is Define as
Natural Functional Ecological Unit Comprising
of living organisms & their non living
environment which interact to form a self
supporting system is known as Ecosystem.
The organism of any community besides
interacting among themselves always have
functional relationship with the environment.
This structural and functional system
communities and environment is called
ecosystem.
Scope of environmental Studies
Environmental studies is broad based and
it includes varied aspects and prospects
some of which are enlisted,
Natural resources
Ecology and biodiversity
Environmental pollution and control
Human population and control
Environmental studies can be much more
concentrated about a particular aspect of
problem like environmental sciences,
environmental engineering and
environmental management.
 Components of Environment
Environment can be divided into following
Components
Atmosphere

Hydrosphere
Environment
Lithosphere

Biosphere
Atmosphere
 Components of Environment

Troposphere:
The troposphere begins at the surface and
extends to between 9 km (30,000 ft) at the
poles and 17 km (56,000 ft) at the equator,.
The troposphere is mostly heated by
transfer of energy from the surface,.
The lowest part of the troposphere is
warmest and temperature decreases with
altitude.
 Stratosphere
The stratosphere extends from the tropopause to about
51 km (170,000 ft).
Temperature increases with height due to increased
absorption of Ultraviolet radiations by the ozone layer.

Mesosphere
The mesosphere extends from the stratopause to 80
85 km (260,000280,000 ft).
It is the layer where most meteors burn up upon entering
the atmosphere.
Temperature decreases with height in the mesosphere.
The mesopause, the temperature minimum that marks the
top of the mesosphere, is the coldest place on Earth and
has an average temperature around 85C
 Thermosphere
Temperature increases with height in the
thermosphere from the mesopause up to
the thermopause then is constant with height.
Unlike in the stratosphere, where the inversion is
caused by absorption of radiation by ozone, in the
thermosphere the inversion is a result of the
extremely low density of molecules.
The International Space Station orbits in this
layer, between 320 and 380 km.
Exosphere
he outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere.
It is mainly composed of hydrogen and helium.
Hydrosphere..
The hydrosphere in physical
geography describes the combined mass
of water found on, under, and over the
surface of our planet.
It includes Oceans, rivers, glaciers, lakes,
ponds, etc.
Ninety-seven percent of the earth's water is
in the oceans. The remaining three percent
is fresh water; three-quarters of the fresh
water is solid and exists in ice sheets
Biosphere
The biosphere is the global sum of
all ecosystem. It can also be called the
zone of life on Earth, a closed (apart from
solar and cosmic radiation), and self-
regulating system.
Thus biosphere consist of lithosphere,
atmosphere, hydrosphere.
It extends from the lowest sea bed level to
about 24km of the atmospere.
 Lithosphere

The lithosphere is the rigid outermost

shell of a rocky planet.
The living organisms, planet and
vegetation are supported by lithosphere.
It also contains resources like minerals,
organic as well inorganic matter.
 Interaction between different
components of environment
Atmosphere

Lithoshpere Biosphere

Hydroshpere
 Interaction between different
components of environment
We know the four major environmental
components or conceptual sphere;
Atmosphere
Hydrosphere
Lithosphere
Biosphere
In the figure, the circles represent the
spheres and the curved arrows indicate the
flow path of matter.
In components of environment there is
closed, dynamic, inseparable
interrelationship.
 Importance Of Environmental
Education
Environmental education is a integral process which
deals with mans interrelationship with his nature
and man made surroundings including the relation
of population growth, pollution, resource allocation
and depletion, conservation, technology, and urban
and rural planning to the total human environment.
Environmental education is a study of the factors
influencing ecosystem, mental & physical health,
living and working conditions, decaying cities and
population pressure. Environmental education is
intended to promote among citizens the awareness
and understanding of the environment, our
relationship to it, and the concern and responsible
action necessary to assure our survival and to
improve the quality of life.
 Awareness: To help individuals and social
groups to acquire basic awareness of and
sensitivity towards the environment & its related
problem.
Knowledge: To help individuals and social
groups to acquire basic understanding of the
environment, its associated problems and their
responsible role towards the betterment of the
environment.
Attitude: To help individuals and social groups to
acquire social values, strong feeling of concern
for the environment and the motivation for
actively participating in its protection and
improvement.
 Skills: To help individuals and social groups to
acquire the skills for solving environmental
problems.
Evaluation ability: To help individuals and
social groups to evaluate environmental
measures and education program in terms of
ecological, political, economical, social,
aesthetic and education factors.
Participation: To help individuals and social
groups to develop a sense of responsibility
and urgency regarding environmental
problems to ensure appropriate action to solve
those problems.
 Role of Environmental Engineer
Environmental engineer are the technocrats who are committed to
protect human beings from the harmful effects of environmental
degradation caused by the pollution in the environment due to population
growth, rapid industrialization and urbanization.

Environmental engineer generally acts to build a bridge between

engineering, technology and biology. Following are the duties of an
environmental engineer.

Environmental engineer basically make environmental strategies like

evaluation of environmental quality, steps for improvement in quality of
water, air and food as well as suggestions regarding the proper collection
and disposal of solid and liquid wastes from the city.

Environmental engineers do the design, construction and operation of

treatment facilities for water, air, and solid waste. These treatment
facilities, which are designed by the environment engineers are mainly
based on the assimilating capacity of lithosphere, atmosphere and
hydrosphere.
 Role of Environmental Engineer
Environmental engineers design the different processes to
handle large volumes of pollutants with the principles of
optimization, socio-economic effects and rapid treatment to
convert any objectionable material to a less objectionable
material.
Environmental engineer also keep in mind to protect natural
resources from the effect of disposal of hazardous waste,
toxic chemicals and radioactive waste.
Environmental engineer have a special role of having good
coordination with other technocrats and engineers to make
rapid advancement in cleaning up the environment with eco-
friendly techniques.
The basic challenging role of an environmental engineer is
to make public aware about the environmental degradation
and also to impart training in such a way, so that people
participate in the programs of keeping the environment
clean.
Impact of Technologies on
Environment
New and better technology is being introduced, by each
passing day. In every field, new technology is introduced
very frequently. This advancement of technology is
beneficial, but has also created adverse effects on the
environment.
Advancement of technology & machines, has increased
industrialization and increased pollution as a result of which
environment has deteriorated.
Advancement in weapon technology had also considerably
affected the environment.
New technology means more production and more
consumption like vehicles, which creates pollution.
Thus technology, on one hand can be beneficial, but can
create a bad impact on the environment. Environment
 If we discuss the effect of machines on environment.
More and better machines mean that there will be
rapid industrialization. No doubt industrialization is
beneficial for the economy, and as well as for the
people living in the country. But,
Industrialization would create pollution including;
noise pollution, air pollution and water pollution
With development in technology and industrialization
, many areas with natural beauty will be destroyed, in
order to establish industries, thus creating bad
impact on environment.
Improvement in technology will improve the
production of weapons, and when these weapons
will be tested and used; then also the environment
will get polluted. Increased use of cars will increase
the pollution and destroy the environment.
Impact of Technologies on
Environment
Improvement in technology has also led to
pollute children's mind. Media and the
computers are the source of technology, but
they have led in polluting the mind, and
destroying their health and environment of
studies.

Children spend more time watching

television or using computers, so less time
for studies & recreation; which has affected
their physical & mental growth.
 Technology has also created problem for
peoples. As environment is polluted, different
and fatal diseases are being given 'birth'.
These diseases are very dangerous for
humans. Due to the cost of health products,
pollution and the different diseases, which
attack people, health costs have increased.
On the other hand, the government are also
facing problems, as they would have to give
health subsides, and try to overcome the
fatal diseases, their costs would rise too;
Because of people illnesses they would be
unable to work, thus again problems for
government as per head GDP, would
decrease (and production would also fall.)
 Environmental Degradation
Definition: Deterioration of the
Environment is known as Environmental
Degradation.
Environmental degradation is caused
due to following factors:
Population
Pollution
Exploitation of Natural resources
Disturbance in Ecosystem
Waste Generation and Disposal
Population
Increase in Population will require more food
which result in increase in more food
production and more cultivation which require
more nutrients from land which will degrade
the land. Use of fertilizers will further degrade
the land.

Increase in population will require more

houses or land to reside which result in cutting
of forest to build houses, as a result of which
forest ecosystem are destroyed, which results
in problem like Soil erosion, change in rainfall
patterns
 Pollution
Air pollution is causing tremendous damage to the
environment in terms of global warming, ozone
depletion, acid rains.

Water Pollution is also contributing heavily in

degradation of Environment. Waste water from
municipal and Industries degrades the quality of fresh
water.

Land pollution occurs, due to over irrigation, soil

erosion, deforestation, waste disposal on land.

Noise Pollution occurs due to increase in no of vehicles

and industries. It causes decrease in efficiency of
Person, and causes some serious health problems.
 Exploitation of Natural Resources
Man has been using air, water, land, forest, and all the
things which are available to him naturally, which has
resulted in disturbance of ecological balance, depletion of
ground water, deforestation, endangered species, all this
factor caused degradation of Environment.
Disturbance in Ecosystem:
Each organism has unique role to play in the
environment, change in the environment has proven to
be harmful for these organisms and has lead to extinction
of certain species.
Waste Generation:
Waste generated from household industries and
municipal sources are the major cause of air, water,
noise, and land pollution.
 Questions
Definitions
Environment,
Ecology,
Ecosystem
Define Environment and Explain Its Components.
Explain Man Environment Relationship.
Explain Impact of Technology on Environment.
Write a S.N. on Environmental Degradation.
Explain Importance of Environmental Education.
Explain IPAT Equation.
Discuss Biotic and Abiotic Components of
Environment.
Discuss the physical components of environment
What is the role of Environmental Engineer ?