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Environmental Science For Dummies

E-BookEPUB2 - DRM Adobe / EPUBE-Book
400 Seiten
Englisch
John Wiley & Sonserschienen am25.04.20232. Auflage
Ace your environmental science class and get smart about the environment
Environmental Science For Dummies is a straightforward guide to the interrelationships of the natural world and the role that humans play in the environment. This book tracks to a typical introductory environmental science curriculum at the college level-and is great as a supplement or study guide for AP Environmental Science, too. Uncover fascinating facts about the earth's natural resources and the problems that arise when resources like air, water, and soil are contaminated by pollutants. If you're in need of extra help for a class, considering a career in environmental science, or simply care about our planet and want to learn more about helping the environment, this friendly Dummies resource is a great place to start. The key concepts of environmental science, clearly explained
All about the changing climate, including new understanding of methane release in the arctic
Earth's natural resources and the importance of protecting them
A new chapter on environmental justice, where issues of poverty and sustainability intersect

A solid foundation in environmental science is essential for anyone looking for a career in the field-and is important knowledge for all of us as we work together to build a sustainable future.


Alecia M. Spooner has 17 years' experience teaching Earth and environmental sciences. She specializes in the interdisciplinary study of paleoecology, paleoclimate, and archaeology. She is the author of Geology For Dummies.mehr
Verfügbare Formate
BuchKartoniert, Paperback
EUR24,50
E-BookEPUB2 - DRM Adobe / EPUBE-Book
EUR16,99

Produkt

KlappentextAce your environmental science class and get smart about the environment
Environmental Science For Dummies is a straightforward guide to the interrelationships of the natural world and the role that humans play in the environment. This book tracks to a typical introductory environmental science curriculum at the college level-and is great as a supplement or study guide for AP Environmental Science, too. Uncover fascinating facts about the earth's natural resources and the problems that arise when resources like air, water, and soil are contaminated by pollutants. If you're in need of extra help for a class, considering a career in environmental science, or simply care about our planet and want to learn more about helping the environment, this friendly Dummies resource is a great place to start. The key concepts of environmental science, clearly explained
All about the changing climate, including new understanding of methane release in the arctic
Earth's natural resources and the importance of protecting them
A new chapter on environmental justice, where issues of poverty and sustainability intersect

A solid foundation in environmental science is essential for anyone looking for a career in the field-and is important knowledge for all of us as we work together to build a sustainable future.


Alecia M. Spooner has 17 years' experience teaching Earth and environmental sciences. She specializes in the interdisciplinary study of paleoecology, paleoclimate, and archaeology. She is the author of Geology For Dummies.
Details
Weitere ISBN/GTIN9781394161416
ProduktartE-Book
EinbandartE-Book
FormatEPUB
Format Hinweis2 - DRM Adobe / EPUB
FormatFormat mit automatischem Seitenumbruch (reflowable)
Erscheinungsjahr2023
Erscheinungsdatum25.04.2023
Auflage2. Auflage
Seiten400 Seiten
SpracheEnglisch
Dateigrösse13233 Kbytes
Artikel-Nr.11593570
Rubriken
Genre9201

Inhalt/Kritik

Leseprobe


Chapter 1
Investigating the Environment

IN THIS CHAPTER

Applying a scientific approach

Studying environmental systems

Protecting natural resources

Reducing pollutants in the air and water

Looking forward to a sustainable future

In its simplest terms, environmental science is the study of the air you breathe, the water you drink, and the food you eat. But environmental scientists study so much of the natural world and the way humans interact with it that their studies spill over into many other fields. Whether you re a student in a college course or someone who picked up this book to find out what environmental science is all about, you ll find that the ideas in this book apply to your life.

Like any living creature, you depend on environmental resources. More importantly perhaps is the fact that humans, unlike other living creatures, have the ability to damage these resources with pollution and overuse. This chapter provides a quick overview of the environment, its systems, and its many resources. It also talks about what humans can do to reduce their impact on the environment today and into the future. After all, maintaining the health of the Earth and its resources at both the local and global level is something everyone has a stake in.
Putting the Science in Environmental Science

Environmental science draws on knowledge from many different fields of study, including the so-called hard sciences like chemistry, biology, and geology and the social sciences like economics, geography, and political science. This section offers a quick overview of some of the scientific concepts, such as how to apply the scientific method to answer questions, that you need to be familiar with as you start your exploration of environmental science. I explain these foundational scientific concepts in more detail throughout the rest of Part 1.
Using the scientific method

The scientific method is simply a methodical approach to asking questions and collecting information to answer those questions. Although many classes teach it as something that only scientists use, you use it just about every day, too.

You may not write down each step of the scientific method when you use it, but anytime you ask a question and use your senses to answer it, you re using the scientific method. For example, when standing at a crosswalk, you look both ways to determine whether a car is coming and whether an approaching car is going slow enough for you to safely cross the street before it arrives. In this example, you have made an observation, collected information, and based a decision on that information - just like a scientist!

The scientific method is a way of learning about the world by asking questions and collecting answers. It helps scientists keep track of what s known and what s unknown as they gather more knowledge. This organization becomes particularly important when they study large, complex systems like those found in the natural world. Scientists always have more to learn about the natural world, and using the scientific method is one way that they can follow the path of scientific investigation from one truth to another. Turn to Chapter 2 for more on the scientific method.
Understanding the connection between atoms, energy, and life

Studying the environment includes studying how matter, energy, and living things interact. This is where other fields of study, such as chemistry, physics, and biology, come into play. Here are just a few of the core ideas from these sciences that you need to understand as you study environmental science:
All matter is made of atoms.
Matter and energy are never created or destroyed, but they do change form.
Living matter, or life, is made up of complex combinations of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms.
Most of the energy at Earth s surface comes from the sun.
Energy transfers from one form to another.
Living things, or organisms, either capture the sun s energy (through photosynthesis) or get their energy by consuming other living things.
Analyzing the Earth s Systems and Ecosystems

Life at the surface of the Earth consists of many different systems that interact with one another on various levels. Some systems are physical, such as the hydrologic system that transfers water between the atmosphere and the Earth s surface. Other systems are built on interactions between living things, such as predator-prey relationships.

Scientists recognize that systems can be either open or closed. An open system allows matter and energy to enter and exit. A closed system keeps matter and energy inside of it. Figure 1-1 illustrates both types of systems.

Very few systems in the natural world are truly closed systems. Scientists view the planet as a closed system in terms of matter (no matter enters or leaves the Earth), but they consider it an open system in terms of energy (energy enters the Earth from the sun). The following sections introduce you to a few of the Earth s other systems that you need to be familiar with. (Part 2 goes into a lot more detail on the different systems on Earth.)


FIGURE 1-1: Open and closed systems.

Dividing the Earth into ecosystems

Across the surface of the Earth scientists recognize various ecosystems, or communities of living organisms and the nonliving environment they inhabit. Studying how matter and energy move around ecosystems is at the core of environmental science. Specifically, scientists recognize that
Matter is recycled within the ecosystem.
Energy flows through an ecosystem.

Whether they re small or large, discrete or overlapping, ecosystems provide a handy unit of study for environmental scientists. Because plants are the energy base of most ecosystems (capturing energy from the sun), the type and number of plant species in an ecosystem determine the type and number of animals that the ecosystem can support. See Chapter 6 for details on ecosystems.
Observing the interactions between organisms within an ecosystem

Scientists called ecologists are particularly interested in how living things interact within an ecosystem. Plants and animals compete with one another for access to water, nutrients, and space to live. Evolution by natural selection has resulted in a wide array of survival strategies. Here are some examples (see Chapter 8 for more details):
Resource partitioning: When two species, or types of animals, depend on the same resource, they may evolve behaviors that help them share the resource. This is called resource partitioning. An example is when one species hunts at night, while another hunts the same prey during the day.
Coevolution:Coevolution occurs when a species evolves in response to its interaction with other species. Scientists have documented multiple cases of insects and the plants they feed on (and help pollinate) evolving to become more and more suited to one another over time.
Symbiosis: Organisms that benefit from an interaction with another species live in what scientists call symbiosis. Symbiotic relationships between organisms may benefit both individuals, benefit only one while harming the other (such as with a parasite), or benefit one without harming the other.
Sorting the world into climate categories

One of the most important and complex systems that scientists study is the climate. The climate system includes local weather systems, but it is actually much larger than that. Climate scientists observe how different parts of the Earth are warmed by the sun to greater or lesser degrees, and they track how heat from the sun moves around the globe in atmospheric and ocean currents.

The movement of heat and water around the Earth sets the scene for living things. Every living plant and animal has a preferred range of temperature and moisture conditions. The patterns of living communities on Earth are called biomes. Scientists define each biome according to its temperature and moisture levels and the types of plants and animals that have adapted to live within those limits. Understanding the complex link between climate factors and the distribution of life on Earth has become even more important as scientists document changes in the global climate and predict more dramatic changes to come. Turn to Chapter 7 for details on global climate patterns and biomes.
Influencing climate

These days, biomes are shifting as a result of modern climate change, or global warming. In Chapter 9, I explain how the greenhouse effect on Earth is beneficial and how greenhouse gases, both natural and man-made, change the composition of the atmosphere and affect climate patterns around the globe.

Climate warming due to increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is having dramatic effects on global ecosystems and human communities. Regions already water-stressed are now experiencing droughts, sea levels are rising, and marine ecosystems are being disrupted. I describe ways that humans can mitigate, or repair, the damage already done and adapt to a future climate that s very different from anything modern human civilization...
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