HUMAN POPULATION AND ENVIRONMENT Objective: To get a knowledge on human population and human rights To educate the students

on value educationTo equip the students towards the modern technology with respect to environment and human health. Population density: Number of individuals of the population per unit area or per unit volume. Parameters affecting population size: 1.Birth rate 2.Death rate or Mortality 3.Immigration 4.Emigration

Population Growth The rapid growth of the globes population for the past 100 years from the difference between the rate of birth and death. Causes of rapid population growth:1.The rapid population growth is due to decrease in death rate and increase in birth rate2.Availability of antibiotics, immunization, increased food production, clean water and air decreases the famine-related deaths3.In agricultural based countries, children are required to help parents in the field that is why population increases in the developing countries.

Characteristics of population growth: 1. Exponential growth 2. Doubling time 3. Infant mortality rate 4. Total fertility rate 5. Replacement level 6. Male/female ratio 7. Demographic transition

Variation of population based on age structure 1. Pyramid shaped India, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, 2. Bell shaped France, USA, UK 3. Urn shaped - Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Population Explosion The enormous increase in population due to low death rate and high birth rate. Causes: Modern medical facilities, life expectancy, illiteracy, Effects: Poverty, Environmental degradation, Over exploitation of natural resources, Treat, Communal war Remedy:- Through birth control programmes.

Family welfare programme: Objectives: Slowing down the population explosion Over exploitation of natural resources Family planning programme: Objectives; Reduce infant mortality rate Encourage late marriages Improve womens health Control of communal diseases

Environment and human health :1. Physical Hazards Radioactive and UV radiations, Global warming, Chlorofluro carbons, Noise etc. 2. Chemical Hazards Combustion of Fossil fuels, industrial effluence, pesticides, heavy metals,

3. Biological Hazards- Bacteria, Viruses, Parasites

Human rights: 1. Human right to freedom 2. Human right to property 3. Human right to freedom of religion 4. Human right to culture and education 5. Human right to constitutional remedies 6. Human right to equality 7. Human right against exploitation 8. Human right to food and environment 9. Human right to good health.

Value education: Types: 1. Formal education environmental education Objectives 1. To improve the integral growth of human being 2. To create attitudes and improvement towards sustainable lifestyle. 3. To increase awareness about our national history our cultural heritage, constitutional rights, national integration, community develo9pment and environment. 4. To create and develop awareness about the values and their significance androle 2.Value education 3.Value - based

5. To know about various living and non- living organisms and their interaction with environment. Types of values: 1.Universal values 2.Cultural values values 4.global values 5.Spiritual values HIV /AIDS AIDS is the abbreviated form for Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome caused by a virus called HIV. Effects; 1.Death 2.Loss of labor 3.Inability to work 4.Lack of energy Woman and child welfare: Objectives: 1.to provide education 2.To impart vocational training 3.To generate awareness 4.To improve employment opportunities 5.To restore dignity, equality and respect. 3.Individual

Role of information technology in environment: Remote sensing: Component- A platform, aircraft, A balloon, rocket, and satellite. Functions: 1.Origin of electromagnetic energy 2.Transmission of energy 3.Interaction of energy 4.Detection of energy5.Preprocessing of data6.Data analysis and interpretation7.Integration and other applications. Applications: In agriculture, forestry, land cover, water resources Data Base- Collection of inter related data on various subjects. Applications: 1.Ministry of environment and forest 2.National management information system 3.Environmental information system Geographical information system: Application: Thematic maps are super imposed using soft wares.Interpretation of polluted zones To check unplanned growth and related environmental problems

Satellite data: 1.Helps in providing reliable information and data about forest cover 2.Provide information about forecasting weather 3.Reserves of oil , minerals can be discovered.

WORLD WIDE WEB: Current data. Applications: 1.Online learning environmental studies. 2.Digital files or photos, animations on

Role of information technology in human health: The health service technology involves three systems 1. Finance and accounting 2. Pathology 3. Patient Administration clinical system. Applications: 1.Data regarding birth and death rates 2.To monitor the health of the people effectively 3.The information regarding the outbreak of epidemic diseases. 4. Online Consultation 5.Drugs and its replacement. Conclusion: Gaining in-depth knowledge regarding human health, human rights and role Played by modern technology to the environment.

SOCIAL ISSUES AND THE ENVIRONMENT Objectives Developing and modernizing the technologies without losing our sound traditional values and practices is essential. Sustainable development Meeting the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations, to meet their own needs. True sustainable development Optimum use of natural resources with high degree of reusability, minimum wastage, least generation of toxic byproducts and maximum productivity. Dimensions of sustainable development Multi dimensional concept derived from interactions between society, economy and environment. Aspects of sustainable development Inter-generational equity. Intra-generational equity Approaches for sustainable development 1. Developing appropriate technology - locally adaptable, eco-friendly, resource efficient and culturally suitable. 2. Reduce, reuse, recycle [3R] approach reduces waste generation and pollution 3. Providing environmental education and awareness changing attitude of the people 4. Consumption of renewable resources attain sustainability 5. Conservation of non renewable resources conserved by recycling and reusing 6. Population control

Urban problems related to energy 1.Causes for urbanization urban energy problem 2.energy demanding activities 3.solution for

Water conservation: The process of saving water for future utilization. Need for water conservation 1.changes in environmental factors 2.better lifestyles 3.increase in population 4.deforestion 5.over exploitation of ground water 6.agricultural and industrial activities 7.Strategies of water conservation 1.Reducing evaporation losses 2.reducing irrigation losses 3.re use of water 4.preventing of wastage of water 5.decreasing run-off losses 6.avoid discharge of sewage

Methods of water conservation 1.Rain water harvesting- A technique of capturing and storing of rain water for further utilization. Objectives of rain water harvesting 1.increasing demands 2.recharging the ground water 3.reducing the ground water

4.increase in hydro static pressure

2.Water shed management The management of rainfall and resultant run-off Factors affecting watershed 1.Unplanned land use 2.deforestation 3.droughtly climates Objectives 1.To minimize of risk of floods 2.For improving the economy 3.for developmental activities 4.To generate huge employment opportunities 5.To promote forestry6.To protect soil from erosion Resettlement and Rehabilitation of people Causes 1.Due to Developmental activities 2.Due to Disaster 3.Due to conservation initiatives Rehabilitation issues 1.Displacement of tribals increases poverty 2.Breakup of families 3.Communal ownership of property 4.vanishing social and cultural activities

5.Loss of identity between the people Case Studies Sardar Sarovar Dam, The Theri dam Project , Pong Dam Environmental ethics Refers to the issues, principles and guidelines relating to human interactions with their environment. Environmental problems1.Deforestation2.Population growth3.Pollution due to effluent and smoke4.Water scarcity5.Land degradation Solutions 1.Reducing the energy sources 2.recycle and reuse of waste products 3.Soil degradation 4.Sustainable development 5.Protection of Biodiversity 6.Reducing the population Climate The average weather of an area Causes of climate change:1.Presence of green house gases2.Depletion of ozone gases Effect of climate change1.Migration of animals2.upsetting the hydrological cycles results in floods and droughts3.changes in global pattern of winds. Green house effect: The progressive warming of earth surface due to blanketing effect of man made CO2 in the atmosphere. Green house gases- causing global warmingCO2, Ch4, N2O, CFCs Effect on global warming- effects on 1.sea level 2.agriculture and forestry 3.water resources 4.terrestrial ecosystems 5.human health Measures 1.reducing CO2 emission 2.utilizing renewable resources 3.Plant more trees 4.Adopt sustainable agriculture

ACID RAIN: The precipitation of CO2 , SO2, and NO2 gases as pollutants in water. Effects of acid rain 1.Human beings Destroy life nervous , respiratory and digestive system Causes premature death from heart and lung disorders 2.On Buildings Corrosion - Taj Mahal , houses, statues, bridges, metals 3.On terrestrial and lake ecosystem Reduces rate of photo synthesis, growth of crops, Fish population And bio mass production Control measures 1.Clean combustion technologies2.using pollution control equipments3.Replacement of coal by natural gas4.Liming of lakes and soils Ozone layer depletion: Ozone is formed in the stratosphere by photo - chemical reaction Ozone depleting chemicals :Chloro Fluro carbon, Hydro chloro fluoro carbon, Bromo fluoroCarbon. Effects 1.On human health Skin cancer, cataracts, allergies etc. 2.On aquatic systems- phyto plankton, fish 3.On materials- paints, plastics 4.On climate increasing the average temperature of the earth surface. Control Measures 1.Replacing CFCs 2.Use of methyl bromide crop fumigant

Nuclear accidents and Holocaust: The release of large amounts of nuclear energy and radioactive products into the atmosphere.

Waste land reclamation Waste land:- The land which is not in use unproductive , unfit for cultivation another economic uses. Types of waste land :Uncultivable waste land Barren rocky areas, hilly slopes, sandy desserts. Cultivable waste land- degraded forest lands, gullied lands. Marsh lands, saline land etc., Causes for waste land formation: 1.Soil Erosion, Deforestation, Water logging, Salinity2.Excessive use of pesticides3.Construction of dams4.Over-exploitation of natural resources5.Sewage and industrial wastes6.Mining7.Growing demands for fuel, fodder wood and food causes degradation and loss of soil productivity. Objectives of waste land reclamation 1.To improve the physical structure and quality of the soil 2.To prevent soil erosion 3.To avoid over exploitation of natural resources 4.To conserve the biological resources Methods of waste land reclamation 1.Drainage 2.Leaching 3.Irrigation practices 4.Green manures and bio fertilizers

5.Application of Gypsum 6.Afforestation programmes 7.Social forestry programmes

Consumerisation of Waste products Consumerisation Consumption of resources Traditionally favorable rights of sellers- Right to introduce product, price , Incentives. Traditionally buyer rights-Right to buy, right to expect the product to perform as claimed. Important information to be known by buyers: - ingredients, manufacturing dates, expiry etc. Objectives of consumerisation: 1.Improves rights and power of the buyers 2.Making the manufacturer liable 3.Reuse and recycle the product 4.Reclaiming useful parts 5.Reusable packing materials 6.health and happiness Sources of wastes: Glass, papers, garbages, food waste, automobile waste, dead animals, etc..

E Waste Computers, printers, mobile phones, Xerox machines, calculators, etc.

Effects of wastes: 1.Dangerous to human life

2.degrade soil 3.Cadmium in chips, Cathode ray tube , PVC cause cancer and other respiratory problems. 4.Non biodegradable plastics reduce toxic gases.

Factors affecting consumerisation and generation of wastes: 1.People over Population 2.Consumption over - Population

Environmental legislation and laws Important protection acts 1.Water Act 1974, 1978 2.Water amendment Act , 1987, 3.Air Act ,. 1981. 4.Wild life Act 1972 5.Forest Act 1980 and 6.Environment Act 1972. Issues involved in Enforcement of Environmental legislation: 1.Drawbacks of wildlife protection 2.Drawbacks of Forest Act 1980 and3.Drawbacks of Environment Act 1972.

Public Awareness: Our environment is presently degrading due to many activities like pollution, deforestation, overgrazing, rapid industrialization and urbanization. Objectives of public awareness

1.Create awareness among people of rural and city about ecological imbalances, local environment, technological development and various development plants. 2.To organize meetings, group discussion on development, tree plantation programmes exhibitions. 3.To learn to live simple and eco-friendlily manner. Methods to create environmental awareness 1.In schools and colleges 2.Through mass media 3.Cinema 4.Newspapers 5.Audio - Visual media 6.Voluntary organizations 7.Traditional techniques 8.Arranging competitions 9.Leaders appeal 10.Non government organizations. Conclusions: There is a need to interlink the social aspects to develop and modernize the technologies without losing traditional and human oriented social issues related to the environment.

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF ECOSYSTEM Introduction to Ecology and Ecosystem Classification of Ecosystem Attributes of Ecosystem Structure of Ecosystem Function of Ecosystem

INTRODUCTION We had earlier defined ecology and ecosystem. To enhance our understanding of ecology and ecosystem, we shall have a small review of these terms.

Ecology comes from the greek words oikos (house or place where one lives) andlogos(study of). It can be surmised as the Study of the House in which We Live.This term was introduced by Ernst Haeckl in 1869. Ecology can be defined more specifically as the study of the interactions between organisms and the nonliving components of their environment. ecology involves collecting information about organisms and their environment, looking for patterns, and seeking to explain these patterns. The Biosphere is composed of smaller units called ecosystems. An ecosystem includes all the organisms and the nonliving environment that are found in a particular place. Ecosystems can be as large or as small as we decide. Any area you decide to Study can be considered an Ecosystem. For example you may choose to study your back yard, a multi storeyed apartment, a mountain range or a forest/zoo. Any of these would be considered an Ecosystem. In an ecosystem, there are various levels of organisation. The simplest level of organization in Ecosystem is that of the organism. An organism refers to a particular organism in an ecosystem, say cat, dog etc. A population includes all the members of the same organism that live in one place at one time. All the different populations that live in a particular area make up a community. The physical

location of a Community is called the habitat. Ecosystem is in turn a level of organisation and has one higher level of organisation called biosphere. The photograph on the next page derived from a foreign ecology book would clearly illustrate the various levels of organisation. The diversity of an ecosystem is a measure of the number of different species there, and how common each species is. Ecosystems are very complex. They can contain hundreds or even thousands of interacting species. Each organism or species in the community has a role or profession in that community and in ecology this is the organisms niche.

CLASSIFICATION OF ECOSYSTEM An ecosystem can be classified as below

ECOSYSTEM 1.NATURAL ECOSYSTEM 2.ARTIFICIAL ECOSYSTEM

1.1.TERRESTRIALECOSYSTEM Forests Grasslands Deserts

1.1.AQUATICECOSYSTEM Fresh Waters Marine Waters

There are further classifications in the above chart, but for a beginner level, it is enough to concentrate on these areas. Also the study of artificial ecosystem is not

the scope of an environmental scientist. The environmentalists deal with natural creations and management only. Moreover the system in artificial ecosystem does not offer much to study. Therefore we are more interested in natural ecosystem and dont consider artificial ecosystem

APPROACH TO ECOSYSTEM With an ecosystem comprising of large number of speices, it would seem and is impractical to study the interaction of each organism with another, It is impossible to approach an ecosystem by studying the individual organism environment relationship. Therefore we study an ecosystem following an wholesome approach. We study the ecosystems by studying the two aspects (attributes) of an ecosystem. They are(1) Structure or Architectural Process (2) Function or Working Process

STRUCTURE OF AN ECOSYSTEM By Architecture or Structure of an Ecosystem, we mean the composition of biological community including species, numbers, biomass, life history and distribution in space, etc. the quantity and distribution of non living materials like nutrients, water etc. the conditions of existence such as temperature, light etc.An ecosystem possesses both living components and biotic factors and non living or abiotic factors.The nonliving factors, called abiotic factors, are physical and chemical characteristics of the environment. They include solar energy (amount of sunlight), oxygen, CO2, water, temperature, humidity, ph, and availability of nitrogen.The living components of the environment are called Biotic Factors. They includeall the Living Things that affect an organism. Biotic Components are often categorized as Producers, Consumers, and Decomposer.The structure of an ecosystem can be represented as below

FUNCTION OF AN ECOSYSTEM The function of an ecosystem is a broad, vast and often confused topic.The function of an ecosystem can be best studied by understanding the history of ecological studies. The function of an ecosystem can be studied under the threeheads.1.Trophic Level Interaction2.Ecological Succession3.BiogeochemistryTrophic Level Interaction deals with how the members of an ecosystemare connected based on nutritional needs. Ecological Succession deals with the changes in features/members of an ecosystem over a period of time.Bio geochemistry is focused upon the cycling of essential materials in an ecosystem. As we would be discussing about ecological succession and bio geochemistry in the future chapters, we shall confine to Tropic level interaction alone in this chapter. For examination purposes, the student may also stop with explaining the constituents of tropic level interaction. Tropic Level Interaction was developed by zoologist Charles Elton. It deals with who eats who and is eaten by whom in an ecosystem. The study of tropic level interaction in an ecosystem gives us an idea about the energy flow through the ecosystem.The tropic level interaction involves three concepts namely1.Food Chain2.Food Web3.Ecological Pyramids

FOOD CHAIN In an ecosystem one can observe the transfer or flow of energy from one tropic level to other in succession. A tropic level can be defined as the number of links by which it is separated from the producer, or as the position of the organism in the food chain. The patterns of eating and being eaten forms a linear chain called food chain which can always be traced back to the producers. Thus, primary producers trap radiant energy of sun and transfer that to chemical or potential energy of organic compounds such as carbohydrates, proteins and fats.When a herbivore animal eats a plant (or when bacteria decompose it) and these organic compounds are oxidized, the energy liberated is just equal to the amount of energy used in synthesizing the substances (first law of thermodynamics), but some of the energy

is heat and not useful energy (second law of thermodynamics). If this animal, in rum, is eaten by another one, along with transfer of energy from a herbivore to carnivore a further decrease in use full energy occurs as the second animal (carnivore) oxidizes the organic substances of the first (herbivore or omnivore) to liberate energy to synthesize its own cellular constituents. Such transfer of energy from organism to organism sustains the ecosystem and when energy is transferred from individual to individual in a particular community, as in a pond or a lake or a river, we come across the food chains. The number of steps in a food chain are always restricted to four or five,since the energy available decreases with each step. Many direct or indirect methods arc employed to study food chain relationships in nature. They include gut content analysis, use of radioactive isotopes, precipitin test, etc. In nature, basically two types of food chains arc recognizedgrazing food chain and detritus food chain. 1. Grazing food chain This type of food chain (Fig. 9.4) starts from the living green plants, goes to grazing herbivores and on to the carnivores. Ecosystems with such type of food chain are directly dependent on an influx of solar radiation.Thus, this type of food chain depends on autotrophic energy capture and the movement of this energy to herbivores. Most of the ecosystems in nature follow this type of food chain. These chains are very significant from energy stand point.The phytoplanktons -> zooplanktons - fish sequence or the grasses -> rabbit ->fox sequence arc the examples of grazing food chain. Further the producer ->herbivore -> carnivore chain is a predator chain. Parasitic chains also exist where in smaller organisms consume larger ones without outright killing as the case of the predators. 2. Detritus food chain The organic wastes, exudates and dead matter derived from the grazing food chain are generally termed detritus. The energy contained in this detritus in not lost to the ecosystem as a whole; rather it serves as the source of energy for a group of organisms (dctritivorcs that are separate from the grazing food chain, and generally termed as the detritus food chain (Fig. 9.5).Tl\e detritus food chain represents an exceedingly important component in the energy (low of an ecosystem. Indeed in

some ecosystems, considerably more energy flows through the detritus food chain than through the grazing food chain. In the detritus food chain the energy flow remains as a continuous passage rather than as a stepwise flow between discrete entities. The organisms of the detritus food chain are many and include algae, bacteria, slime molds,actinomycetes, fungi. Protozoa, insects mites. Crustacea, centipedes, molluscs,rotifers, annelid worms, nematodes and some vertebrates. Some species are highly specific in their food requirements and some can eat almost anything detritus itself. Significance of food chain: The food chain studies/help under stand the feeding relationships and the interaction between organisms in any ecosystem.They also help us to appreciate the energy flow mechanism and matter circulation in eco- system, and understand the movement of toxic substances in the eco-system and the problem of biological magnification

FOOD WEB In nature simple food chains occur rarely The same organism may operate in the ecosystem at more than one tropic level i.e. it may derive its food from more than one source. Even the same organism may be eaten by several organisms of a higher tropic level or an organism may feed upon several different organisms of a lower tropic level. usually the kind of food changes with the age of the organism and the food availability. Thus in a given ecosystem various food chains are linked together and interested each other to form a complex network called food Web. Generally food webs are not too complex. As more and more species are involved in a web the connectance falls. Expect in insect communities, omnivores are scare and when they occur they usually feed on species in adjacent tropic levels. Within habitats, food webs arc rarely broken up into discrete compartments. The number of species of predators in a food web typically exceeds the number of species of prey by an aver-age of 1.3 predator species per prey species.

ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS In the successive steps of grazing food chain-photosynthetic autotrops, herbivorous heterotrops, carnivores heterotrops, decay bacteria-the number and mass of the organisms in each step is limited by the amount of energy available. Since some energy is lost as heat, in each transformation the steps become progressively smaller near the top. This relationship is sometimes called ecological pyramid. The ecological pyramids represent the tropic structure and also tropic function of the ecosystem. In many ecological pyramids, the producer form the base and the successive tropic levels make up the apex. The ecological pyramids may be of following three kinds: 1. Pyramid of number: It depicts the number of individual organisms at different tropic levels of food chain. This pyramid was advanced by Charles Elton (1927), who pointed out the great difference in the number of the organisms involved in each step of the food chain. The animals at the lower end(base of pyramid) of the chain arc the most abundant. Successive links of carnivores decrease rapidly in number until there are very few carnivores at the top. The pyramid of number ignores the biomass of organisms and it also does not indicate the energy transferred or the use of energy by the groups involved.The lake ecosystem provides a typical example for pyramid of number. 2. Pyramid of biomass : The biomass of the members of the food chain present at any one time forms the pyramid of the biomass. Pyramid of biomass indicates decrease of biomass in each tropical level from base to apex. For example, the total biomass of the producers ingested by herbivores is more than the total biomass of the herbivores in an ecosystem. Likewise, the total biomass of the primary carnivores (or secondary consumer) will be less man the herbivores and so on. 3. Pyramid of energy : When production is considered in terms of energy, the pyramid indicates not only the amount of energy flow at each level, but more important, the actual role the

various organisms play in the transfer of energy. The base upon which the pyramid of energy is constructed is the quantity of organisms produced per unit lime, or in other words, the rate at which food material passes through the food chain. Some organisms may have a small biomass, but the total energy they assimilate and pass on, may be considerably greater than that of organisms with a much larger biomass. Energy pyramids are always slopping because less energy is transferred from each level than was paid into it. In cases such as in open water communities the producers have less bulk than consumers but the energy they store and pass on must be greater than that of the next level. Otherwise the biomass that producers support could not be greater than that of the producers themselves. This high energy flow is maintained by a rapid turn over of individual plankton, rather than an increase of total mass.

Effect of Ganesh immersion in Hussain Sagar Environmental impact

Lake contaminated with Plaster of Paris Ganesha idols The most serious impact of the festival on the environment is due to the immersion of idols made of Plaster of Paris into lakes, rivers and the sea. Traditionally, the idol was sculpted out of mud taken from nearby ones home. After the festival, it was returned back to the Earth by immersing it in a nearby water body. This cycle was meant to represent the cycle of creation and dissolution in Nature. However, as the production of Ganesh idols on a commercial basis grew, the earthen or natural clay (shaadu maati in Marathi and banka matti in Telugu) was replaced by Plaster of Paris. Plaster is a man-made material, easier to mould, lighter and less expensive than clay. However, plaster is non-biodegradable, and insoluble in water. Moreover, the chemical paints used to adorn these plaster idols themselves contain heavy metals like mercury and cadmium, causing water pollution. Also, on immersion, non-biodegradable accessories that originally adorned the idol accumulate in the layers of sand on the beach. Recently there have been new initiatives sponsored by some state governments to produce clay Ganesha idols.

Artificial pool created to immerse Plaster of Paris idols. On the final day of the Ganesh festival thousands of plaster idols are immersed into water bodies by devotees. These increase the level of acidity in the water and the content of heavy metals. Several non-governmental and governmental bodies have been addressing this issue. Amongst the solutions proposed are as follows: Return to the traditional use of natural clay idols and immerse the icon in a bucket of water at home. Use of a permanent icon made of stone and brass, used every year and a symbolic immersion only. Recycling of plaster idols to repaint them and use them again the following year. Ban on the immersion of plaster idols into lakes, rivers and the sea. Creative use of other biodegradable materials such as papier-mch to create Ganesh idols. Encouraging people to immerse the idols in tanks of water rather than in natural water bodies. To handle religious sentiments sensitively, some temples and spiritual groups have taken up the cause.

Noise pollution is also an unfortunate outcome of this joyous festival.