ENVIRON 102 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Ecosystem Services, Systems Theory, Sustainability Science
10 May 2018
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Chapter 1: Environment, Sustainability, and Science
1.1 Environment and Sustainability
- 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
1.2 Ecosystems
- Ecosystem = abiotic + biotic; boundaries determined by scientists
- Ecosystem integration is the web of interactions that hold up an ecosystem
- Ecosystem services refer to resources and processes that ecosystems provide for humans
o Provisioning services: resources
o Regulating services: control conditions/processes
o Cultural services: spiritual and recreational
o Supporting services: basic ecosystem processes needed to maintain other services
- Ecosystem services are being degraded
- Ecosystems are becoming more fragile and prone to disturbance
- Changes affect human well-being, especially the poor
1.3 Principles of Ecosystem Function
- Organization and function of ecosystems are based on four fundamental principles
o Matter and energy are neither created nor destroyed
o Ecosystems are open to gains/losses of matter & energy
o Processes are self-regulated by biotic and abiotic factors
▪ Dynamic homeostasis is how the system adjusts to changes
▪ Homeostasis occurs because of feedback
▪ Positive feedback reinforces a change while negative feedback reverses a change
▪ Ex: Negative feedback – overpopulation of algae algae grow at a more stable rate
stabilization
▪ Ex: Positive feedback – loss of forests can lead to erosion more loss of trees
destabilization
o Change is inevitable and essential
1.4 Acting Sustainably
- To be sustainable, actions must…
o Conform to the law of mass and energy conservation
o Acknowledge the importance of boundaries
o Maintain the homeostatic capacity of ecosystems
o Ignore the inevitability of change or interfere with ecosystems’ capacity to change
- A nonrenewable resource declines in amount with use
- Sustainable use of resources requires knowledge of their rate of renewal and management of the
rate of use
- Try not to alter/slow down inevitable change (ex: human influence in trying to maintain the
otherwise changing shorelines)
- Human change vs. natural changes
o Ex: chemicals are not easily broken down by natural causes
- Threshold for change or tipping point
1.5 Uncertainty, Science, and Systems Thinking
- Uncertainty stems from ignorance and complexity
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Document Summary
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 = abiotic + biotic; boundaries determined by scientists. Ecosystem integration is the web of interactions that hold up an ecosystem. Ecosystem services refer to resources and processes that ecosystems provide for humans: provisioning services: resources, regulating services: control conditions/processes, cultural services: spiritual and recreational, supporting services: basic ecosystem processes needed to maintain other services. Ecosystems are becoming more fragile and prone to disturbance. Changes affect human well-being, especially the poor. Stabilization destabilization: change is inevitable and essential. To be sustainable, actions must : conform to the law of mass and energy conservation, acknowledge the importance of boundaries, maintain the homeostatic capacity of ecosystems, ignore the inevitability of change or interfere with ecosystems" capacity to change. A nonrenewable resource declines in amount with use.
