ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

COURSE CODE-CHY1006
(LT, 2 CREDITS)
UNIT-II
ECOSYSTEM AND BIODIVERSITY

Dr Shiv Manjaree Gopaliya

Assistant Professor and Program Chair (ME – AI and Robotics), SMEC
VIT Bhopal University
shivmanjaree@vitbhopal.ac.in
 C O UR SE O UTC OMES

Students will be able to:

CO1: Recognize and explain global environmental problems and their

connection with human activities.
CO2: Develop respect for nature and living beings and to help
maintain ecological balance.
CO3: Understand the causes and implications of environmental
pollution and develop sustainable solutions.
CO4: Analyze interrelationships between consumerism, societal,
education and sustainable development.
CO5: Utilize their engineering knowledge and principles to understand
the interrelation between for sustainability issues and energy resources.
 INTRODUCTION TO ECOSYSTEM

An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, and

other organisms, as well as weather and landscape, work
together to form a bubble of life. Ecosystems contain biotic or
living, parts, as well as abiotic factors, or nonliving parts.
Ecosystems can be very large or very small.

In other words it is a community or group of living organisms

that live in and interact with each other in a specific
environment.
EC O S Y ST EM
 FUNCTION AND SERVICE OF
ECOSYSTEM-
Ecologists study interactions within and among five of these levels
—organisms, populations, communities, ecosystems, and the
biosphere.
The biosphere and its ecosystems are made up of living (biotic) and
nonliving (abiotic) components. Examples of nonliving components
are water, air, nutrients, rocks, heat, and solar energy. Living
components include plants, animals, microbes, and all other
organisms.
We can broadly classify the living organisms that transfer energy
and nutrients from one trophic level to another within an ecosystem
as producers and consumers. Producers, sometimes called
autotrophs (self feeders), make the nutrients they need from
compounds and energy obtained from their environment.
 NUTRIEN T O R N UTR IENT C YC LE

The elements and compounds that make up nutrients move

continually through air, water, soil, rock, and living organisms
within ecosystems, as well as in the biosphere in cycles called
nutrient cycles, or biogeochemical cycles. This is in keeping with
the chemical cycling principle of sustainability.

MAIN NUTRIENT CYCLES IN ECOSYSTEM-

a) Carbon Cycle
b) Phosphorous Cycle
c) Nitrogen Cycle
 CARBON CYCLE

Carbon is the basic building block of the carbohydrates, fats,

proteins, DNA, and other organic compounds necessary for life.
Various compounds of carbon circulate through the biosphere,
the atmosphere, and parts of the hydrosphere, in the carbon
cycle.

The carbon cycle is nature's way of reusing carbon atoms,

which travel from the atmosphere into organisms in the Earth
and then back into the atmosphere over and over again. Most
carbon is stored in rocks and sediments, while the rest is stored
in the ocean, atmosphere, and living organisms.
The carbon cycle is based on carbon dioxide (CO2 ) gas, which
makes up about 0.039% of the volume of the earth’s atmosphere
and is also dissolved in water.

Carbon dioxide (along with water vapor in the water cycle) is a

key component of the atmosphere’s thermostat.

If the carbon cycle removes too much CO2 from the atmosphere,
the atmosphere will cool, and if it generates too much CO2 , the
atmosphere will get warmer.

Thus, even slight changes in this cycle caused by natural or

human factors can affect the earth’s climate and ultimately help to
determine the types of life that can exist in various places.
 PHOSPHOROUS CYCLE

• Compounds of phosphorus (P) circulate through water, the earth’s crust,

and living organisms in the phosphorus cycle.
• Most of these compounds contain phosphate ions (PO4 32), which serve as
an important nutrient.
• In contrast to the cycles of water, carbon, and nitrogen, the phosphorus
cycle does not include the atmosphere.
• The major reservoir for phosphorus is phosphate salts containing PO4 32
in terrestrial rock formations and ocean-bottom sediments.
• The phosphorus cycle is slow compared to the water, carbon, and nitrogen
cycles. As water runs over exposed rocks, it slowly erodes away inorganic
compounds that contain phosphate ions.
• The running water carries these phosphate ions into the soil where they
can be absorbed by the roots of plants and by other producers. Phosphate
compounds are also transferred by food webs from producers to
consumers, eventually including detritus feeders and decomposers.
 NITROGEN CYCLE

• The major reservoir for nitrogen is the atmosphere. Chemically

unreactive nitrogen gas (N2 ) makes up 78% of the volume of the
atmosphere.
• Nitrogen is a crucial component of proteins, many vitamins, and
nucleic acids such as DNA.
• However, N2 cannot be absorbed and used directly as a nutrient
by multicellular plants or animals.
• Two natural processes convert, or fix, N2 into compounds that
plants and animals can use as nutrients. One such process is
electrical discharges, or lightning, taking place in the atmosphere.
• The other takes place in aquatic systems, in soil, and in the roots
of some plants, where specialized bacteria, called nitrogen-fixing
bacteria, complete this conversion as part of the nitrogen cycle.
The nitrogen cycle consists of several major steps:

• In nitrogen fixation, specialized bacteria in soil, as well as blue-green algae

(cyanobacteria) in aquatic environments, combine gaseous N2 with hydrogen
to make ammonia (NH3 ).

• The bacteria use some of the ammonia they produce as a nutrient and excrete
the rest into the soil or water.

• Some of the ammonia is converted to ammonium ions (NH4 1) that plants

can use as a nutrient.

• Ammonia that is not taken up by plants may undergo nitrification.

 EFFECT OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES ON
CYCLES
• Humans change ecosystems in many ways, such as habitat
destruction, pollution, introduction of invasive species, and
overexploitation of species.

• The most common way that humans damage ecosystems is by

destroying habitat. For example, we remove trees, change the
flow of water, and change grasslands into farms.

• Impacts from human activity on land and in the water can

influence ecosystems profoundly. Climate change, ocean
acidification, permafrost melting, habitat loss, eutrophication,
stormwater runoff, air pollution, contaminants, and invasive
species are among many problems facing ecosystems.
E f f e c t O f H u m a n A c t i v i t i e s O n E c o s y s t e m
 ACTIVITY

• Explain various human activities that

is having a negative impact on
ecosystem.
 BIODIVERSITY
Biological diversity, or biodiversity, is the variety of the earth’s species, or
varying life-forms, the genes they contain, the ecosystems in which they live,
and the ecosystem processes such as energy flow and nutrient cycling that
sustain all life. Acting together, these four components (Functional Diversity,
Ecological Diversity, Genetic Diversity and Species Diversity) of the
earth’s biodiversity provide us with the ecosystem services that sustain us and
our economies.

The earth’s biodiversity is a vital part of the natural capital that helps to keep
us alive and supports our economies. With the help of technology, we use
biodiversity to provide us with food, wood, fibers, energy from wood and
biofuels, and medicines. Biodiversity also plays critical roles in providing us
with the ecosystem services that preserve the quality of the air and water,
maintain the fertility of topsoil, decompose and recycle wastes, and control
populations of species that we call pests.
MAIN THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY

•Human Activities and Loss of Habitat

•Deforestation
•Pollution
•Marine Environment
•Increasing Wildlife Trade
•Climate Change
•Overexploitation
•Degradation of Ecosystem
 B IODIVER SITY C O NSERVATION

Biodiversity conservation is the protection and management of

biodiversity to obtain resources for sustainable development.

Biodiversity conservation has three main objectives:

a) To preserve the diversity of species.
b) Sustainable utilization of species and ecosystem.
c) To maintain life-supporting systems and essential ecological
processes.
Biodiversity And Conservation
 CONSERVATION STRATEGIES

The Two conservation strategies of biodiversity​are-

1) In-Situ Conservation strategies
2) Ex-Situ Conservation strategies

* In-Situ Conservation strategies

•In-Situ conservation includes the protection of all the habitats in
representative ecosystems. It includes,
•Animals and Plants are protected in their natural habitat.
•National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries.
•Biosphere Reserves
•Conservation of particular species that are endangered. For example project
tiger, project elephant and Crocodile breeding and management project.
*Ex-Situ Conservation Strategies
•Ex-Situ conservation strategies are brought to complement In-Situ conservation
strategies. It includes the establishment of
•Zoo
•Botanical garden
•Conservation strands
•Gene, pollen, seed, seeding, tissue culture, and DNA Bank.
•Provide care for endangered species
•Recreational and educational values for society
 S U S TA I N A B L E S O L U T I O N F O R B I O D I V E R S I Y

The higher biodiversity in an ecosystem means that there is a

greater variety of genes and species in that ecosystem. A great
variety of genes and species means that the ecosystem is better
able to carry out natural processes in the face of external stress.
Thus, the ecosystem is more sustainable.
*Saving Species and Ecosystem Services
*Sustaining Terrestrial Biodiversity
*Sustaining Aquatic Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
*Sustaining Natural Resources