ENVS 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Ecosystem Services, Immanuel Kant, Environmental Policy
8 Dec 2016
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Document Summary
Environmental science- studies all aspects of the environment. Environment- all of the physical, chemical, and biological factors and processes that determine the growth and survival of an organism or a community of organisms. Physical factors- geography (latitude, longitude), climate (temperature, precipitation), space, water, movement, depth. Chemical factors- water chemistry (fresh, sea, mineral content), content of the atmosphere/ air quality (urban, rural), pollution. Biological factors- prey/food availability, survival rates from generation to generation, reproduction, fitness, adaptations. Sustainability- meeting the needs of the present in an equitable and fair fashion without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Ecosystem services- multitude of resources and processes that ecosystems supply to humans. Provisioning services- basic needs (food, water, air. ) Humans modify or simplify ecosystems in order to increase these services. (ex: an agricultural field of corn provides a large amount of food to humans but supports far fewer species than the grassland that once grew there. )
