Science 10 Sustainability of Ecosystems

How does society fit into your paradigm and society’s paradigm?  Explain how a paradigm shift can change scientific world views in understanding sustainability - explore and develop a concept of sustainability  Communicate questions, ideas, and intentions and receive, interpret, understand, support and respond to the ideas of others with respect to environmental attitudes

What is a paradigm shift?  A rare and significant change in the way humans view the world  Major changes that are controversial when first proposed but eventually come to be accepted as an advancement in scientific knowledge and understanding  Ex. Earth is round not flat, ocean dumping, using DDT to eliminate insects

Paradigm Shifts in the Environment  Ecosystems represent the relationships between many species living in an environment and the relationships among those organisms and the non-living parts of their environment  If something is disrupted with one part of an ecosystem, the other parts may feel its effects; sustainability may be compromised

What is sustainability?  The ability to be supported  The quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources  Supporting long term ecological balances

In order to practice sustainability…  We need to understand how everything is connected to each other in the environment

What do frogs tell us about the environment?  They occupy two different ecosystems  Water as tadpoles, land as frogs  They have two different food sources  Plants as tadpoles, animals as frogs  Their skin is susceptible to environmental toxins as well as ultraviolet radiation  Acid rain affects their ability to reproduce  Global warming and temperature changes promote diseases that target frogs and alter oxygen levels in water

The Food Chain  Living things may be classified as being producers, consumers or decomposers  Producers are plants, capable of making their own food  Consumers eat other organisms, either plants (herbivores), animals (carnivores) or both (omnivores)  Decomposers break down dead matter to obtain nutrients

Remainder of class:  Questions 1-4, page 13  Watch the video on Easter Island  Read the article on Easter Island  Answer the following questions concerning the problems associated with Easter Island.

Questions for Easter Island  How is it possible that people though this way?  What factors contributed to this mind set?  Are there still large numbers in the general population that think this way?  Why are we shifting to a different paradigm?

Canada’s Endangered Species  When sustainability is threatened, living things can no longer survive under current conditions  A classification system exists that ranks the risk level of species living in Canada  Page 14, Table 1

Extinction  Humans have the biggest impact on the livelihood of other organisms  Species are going extinct from the planet at a dramatic rate  Extinction is the result of a species under stress – which can be natural or human- related  Latest projections are now being seen as humans causing extinction 1000x’s faster than normal

Reasons for Extinction:  Loss of habitat  Overhunting or commercialization  Pollution  Disease  Disasters  Loss of food/prey  Increase in predators  Environmental catastrophes  Climate change  Competition from other species

The Role of Humans  Our responsibility to the environment means that we must try and preserve biodiversity (“bio” = life, “diversity” = variety)  The more variety of organisms that exist on the planet, the more likely of sustainability  The removal of even one species can have major effects on the health of an ecosystem and planet

Ecology  Organisms that humans find undesirable are called pests  Even though we may not think so, all organisms are important in the web of life  The study of how organisms interact with each other is called ecology  All investigations in ecology begin with a single organism, or living thing

How Organisms Interact with their Environment  Non-living factors that can influence a living thing are called abiotic factors  This includes sunlight, soil, temperature, etc  Living things that influence or interact with other living things are called biotic factors  This includes other plants and/or animals, including humans

Levels of Organization  One singular living thing belongs to a particular species  All species co-existing in the same habitat or ecosystem are called a population  A collection of populations living in an ecosystem are referred to as a community  An ecosystem is an area that shares similar abiotic and biotic conditions  Ecosystems can overlap – such as a pond and field; this is called an ecotone

Not all Ecosystems are Equal  Ecosystems that demonstrate greater biodiversity tend to be less fragile and can sustain stresses  Ex. A bear that can hunt in both a river and forest ecosystem is less likely to run out of food compared to a fish living only in the river