Ecology study of systems Why are there no laws in ecology Ecosystem behavior is dependent on context Ecosystem system that encompasses a community its nonliving environment indeterminate unpredictable nonlinear constant flux socially constructed Climate patterns of temp precip measured over a long period 3 host factors atmospheric gases Earth s orbit solar variability most impactful influence on ecosystems negative feedback loop maintains balance turn heat on when cold positive feedback loop climate stability ANTHROPOCENE Humans becoming dominant force for change on earth humans event on scale of ice ages meteors mass extinctions Ellis Ramankutty world made of human systems with natural ecosystems embedded within them Case study relationship of scale is relationship of size look at bigger things that have a bigger impact hydropower western china What fuels and threatens the contemporary transformation of the human condition Petroleum from the Gulf region MODELING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS 7 061 000 000 global population ecological footprint spatialization of amount of productive land water sea required to support a lifestyle food shelter mobility goods services to support your life 19 4 global acres of Earth s productive area ecological overshoot we globally living unsustainable lives using more resources than available I PAT model model proposing environmental impacts I function of pop growth P affluence or rate of consumption of particular societies A and the technological innovations T MYTHS of Ipat 1 poor cause most env Degradation 2 economic growth leads to env Degradation 3 poor don t care about env 4 Poor lack knowledge resources to improve env Geography geo graph writing about the earth description about the earth Why did geography s themes become their own discourses rise of science as a branch of human knowledge science based knowledge Geography is 1 interrelationships among natural human systems 2 how places are made 3 both real and important differences 4 holistic focus on connections between people places things etc 5 subfields physical and human geography Geography as SPATIAL SCIENCE political tool that lacked scientific credibility social science in general were under scrutiny by Cold War quantitative shift in 50 s and 60 s from describing conditions to developing scientific laws do away with evaluation replace with calculation MODES of geographic enquiry 1 Earth Science 2 Human environment 3 Spatial representation 4 Area studies 5 themes location region place movement human environment interactions location how the geographical position of people things affects what happens why helps establish the context within which events and processes are situated regions features of Earth s surface concentrated in particular areas allows us to make sense of the information we have about places place develop a sense of place by infusing it with meaning and emotion develop perception of place through books stories pictures movies movement mobility of people goods and ideas what does spatial interaction depend on 1 distances 2 accessibility 3 transportation communication human environment interactions spatial perspective of the relationship between humans and the physical world cultural ecology area of inquiry concerned with culture as a system of adaptation alteration to an environment political ecology area of inquiry concerned with environmental consequences of dominant political economic arrangements and understandings Ecology as Scientific Endeavor certain way of investigating studying writing geographical requires an understanding of scale Biotic living environment includes all organisms Abiotic nonliving or physical environment living space sunlight soil etc What 5 levels of life above that of an organism are ecologists interested in Species population community ecosystem biosphere Ecological community group of species living in same place at same time when something happens to one can alter the balance of thing for another Biosphere contains earths communities ecosystems and landscapes atmosphere gaseous envelope surrounding earth hydrosphere earth s supply of water lithosphere soil and rock of Earth s crust energy ability or capacity to do work chemical thermal mechanical nuclear electrical radiant solar potential energy stored energy kinetic energy energy of motion thermodynamics study of energy its transofrmations system object being studied closed doesn t exchange energy with surroundings rare in nature open exchanges with surroundings First Law thermodynamics energy cant be created destroyed but can change from one form to another Second Law thermodynamics energy converted from one form to another some of it is degraded to heat which is highly entropic disorganized Producers autotrophs take solar energy produce food themselves plants Primary Consumers heterotrophs eat producers need autotrophs to produce the energy they need lamb mice Secondary Consumers eat primary consumers snake Tertiary Consumers heterotrophs eat more producers than consumers bird Omnivore eats both plants and animals bear Saprotroph lives and feeds on dead organic matter fungus bacterium Food chain energy from food passes from one organism to another based on trophic level heat loss at each stage First trophic level producers Second Trophic level primary consumers Third trophic level secondary consumers Decomposers present al all levels Why does the soil in a wet desert become less fertile utilization of biomass happens above the soil Ecological pyramid represent relative energy value of each trophic level large amounts of energy lost to heat Pyramid of numbers number of organisms at each trophic leve Pyramid of biomass total biomass at each successive trophic level Pyramid of energy energy present at each trophic level and how much is transferred to the next How much territorial biomass do humans insects represent humans 0 5 insects 33 Ecosystem Productivity 1 Gross primary productivity total amount of energy plants capture assimilate in a given period of time 2 Net Primary Productivity plant growth per unit area per time rate at which organic material is incorporated into the plant tissue for growth GPP energy used in cell respiration NPP NPP available as food to organisms what is the human impact on NPP we represent 5 land based biomass but use 32 of land based NPP loss of species threat to planets ability to support us Carbon Cycle circulation of carbon from atmosphere into organisms and back