Brief history of development of ecology.

Ecological problems

Ecological problems in early days of mankind’s history people lived in harmony with the wild nature. They were a part of this environment. But years were going forward and people created their own civilization and rules of live. They began explore the planet and use its resources more and more. But this interference was harmful for the environment. Needs of people were increasing and natural riches wasn’t unlimited. Mankind began to build big cities and burn out forest. It was the reason of disappearing of many wild animals, fish and birds. Many factories spoil water and air of our planet with dust and harmful substances. The development our civilization destroys the explosion of Chernobyl Atomic Power Station. It isn’t the only case of men’s activity which brings damage to the environment. But we mustn’t forget about the fact that we all live in the planet which we are destroying. We drink dirty water and breathe in a poisonous air. We kill ourselves when destroy wild nature around us. Now people see this great ecological crisis of our planet. So different organizations such as "Greenpeace” do everything possible to save the environment.

 

Lecture 2.

The relationship of ecology with other Sciences.

1. The role of ecology in addressing contemporary economic problems.

2. Ecological problems of Kazakhstan.

3. General characteristics and consequences of ecological disasters

Relationship with biology Ecology being the study about the interaction between living organism and abiotic components and biology being the study of living organisms they hold some basic base line that is they deal with the living organisms.
Its application can be that with the help of biological interpretition we can have the knowledge about the organisms and ultimately their interactions with the abiotic component of the environment.
Ecology is also related to chemistry in that our changing environment changes the chemical makeup of the air and water, potentially throwing the Earth's chemistry off balance.

Ecology is a human science as well. There are many practical applications of ecology in conservation biology, wetland management, natural resource management (agroecology, agriculture, forestry,agroforestry, fisheries), city planning (urban ecology), community health, economics, basic and applied science, and human social interaction (human ecology). For example, the Circles of Sustainability approach treats ecology as more than the environment 'out there'. It is not treated as separate from humans. Organisms (including humans) and resources compose ecosystems which, in turn, main tainbiophysical feedback mechanisms that moderate processes acting on living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components of the planet. Ecosystems sustain life-supporting functions and produce natural capital like biomass production (food, fuel, fiber, and medicine), the regulation of climate, global biogeochemical cycles, water filtration, soil formation, erosion control, flood protection, and many other natural features of scientific, historical, economic, or intrinsic value.

Extent of Earth's biosphere

Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface. Image is the Blue Marblephotographed from Apollo 17.

Every part of the planet, from the polar ice caps to the equator, features life of some kind. Recent advances in microbiology have demonstrated that microbes live deep beneath the Earth's terrestrial surface, and that the total mass of microbial life in so-called "uninhabitable zones" may, in biomass, exceed all animal and plant life on the surface. The actual thickness of the biosphere on earth is difficult to measure. Birds typically fly at altitudes as high as 1,800 m (5,900 ft; 1.1 mi) and fish live as much as 8,372 m (27,467 ft; 5.202 mi) underwater in the Puerto Rico Trench.

There are more extreme examples for life on the planet: Rüppell's vulture has been found at altitudes of 11,300 m (37,100 ft; 7.0 mi); bar-headed geese migrate at altitudes of at least 8,300 m (27,200 ft; 5.2 mi); yaks live at elevations as high as 5,400 m (17,700 ft; 3.4 mi) above sea level; mountain goats live up to 3,050 m (10,010 ft; 1.90 mi). Herbivorous animals at these elevations depend on lichens, grasses, and herbs.

Microscopic organisms live in every part of the biosphere, including soil, hot springs, "seven miles deep" in the ocean, "40 miles high" in the atmosphere and inside rocks far down within the Earth's crust (see alsoendolith). Microorganisms, under certain test conditions, have been observed to thrive in the vacuum of outer space. The total amount of soil and subsurface bacterial carbon is estimated as 5 x 10¹⁷ g, or the "weight of the United Kingdom".The mass of prokaryote microorganisms — which includes bacteria and archaea, but not the nucleated eukaryote microorganisms — may be as much as 0.8 trillion tons of carbon (of the total biosphere mass, estimated at between 1 and 4 trillion tons). Barophilic marine microbes have been found at more than a depth of 10,000 m (33,000 ft; 6.2 mi) in theMariana Trench, the deepest spot in the Earth's oceans. In fact, single-celled life forms have been found in the deepest part of the Mariana Trench, by the Challenger Deep, at depths of 11,034 m (36,201 ft; 6.856 mi). Other researchers reported related studies that microorganisms thrive inside rocks up to 580 m (1,900 ft; 0.36 mi) below the sea floor under 2,590 m (8,500 ft; 1.61 mi) of ocean off the coast of the northwestern United States, as well as 2,400 m (7,900 ft; 1.5 mi) beneath the seabed off Japan. Culturable thermophilic microbes have been extracted from cores drilled more than 5,000 m (16,000 ft; 3.1 mi) into the Earth's crust in Sweden, from rocks between 65–75 °C (149–167 °F). Temperature increases with increasing depth into the Earth's crust. The rate at which the temperature increases depends on many factors, including type of crust (continental vs. oceanic), rock type, geographic location, etc. The greatest known temperature at which microbial life can exist is 122 °C (252 °F) (Methanopyrus kandleri Strain 116), and it is likely that the limit of life in the "deep biosphere" is defined by temperature rather than absolute depth. On 20 August 2014, scientists confirmed the existence of microorganisms living 800 m (2,600 ft; 0.50 mi) below the ice of Antarctica. According to one researcher, "You can find microbes everywhere — they're extremely adaptable to conditions, and survive wherever they are."

Our biosphere is divided into a number of biomes, inhabited by fairly similar flora and fauna. On land, biomes are separated primarily by latitude. Terrestrial biomes lying within the Arctic and Antarctic Circles are relatively barren of plant and animal life, while most of the more populous biomes lie near the equator.

1. The concept of the biosphere, according to V. Vernadsky was formulated JB Lamarck in the early XIX century (without the use of the concept). The term biosphere introduced Austrian geologist E. Suess (1873 p.). A broad interpretation of the teachings of biosphere owned VI Vernadsky.

Biosphere - the totality of all living organisms on Earth.

Vernadsky, who studied the interaction between living and nonliving systems, reinterpreted the concept of the biosphere. He understood the scope of the unity of the biosphere as living and nonliving. According to Vernadsky, the biosphere substance consists of:

• living matter - modern biomass of living organisms;

• nutrients - all forms of detritus and peat, coal, oil and gas biogenic origin;

• inert substance - mixtures of nutrients from mineral rocks nebiohennoho origin (soil, mud, natural water, gas and oil shale, tar sands, of sedimentary carbonates;

• inert matter - rocks, minerals, deposits not affected by direct biochemical influence organisms.

Recent studies have made changes in the understanding of the structure of the biosphere. The concept of biosphere should include only those elements and characteristics that are controlled biota, and do not include the nature of the components related to the geological past. Thus, biosphere refers to the totality of all living organisms and substances that are controlled consumption, transformation and production of living organisms.

Modern biosphere is the result of a long historical development of the whole organic world in its interaction with inanimate nature. The interaction of biotic and abiotic factors biosphere is in constant motion and development.

The totality of living organisms plays a leading role in the development of the biosphere. The main functions of the biota are:

E nergy, performed primarily by plants during photosynthesis that accumulate solar energy in a variety of organic compounds. Inside of ecosystem this energy in the form of food distributed among animals. Part of the energy is dissipated, partly accumulates in dead organic matter. It formed deposits of peat, coal, oil and other fossil fuels;

D estructive, is the decomposition, mineralization of dead organic matter, chemical decomposition of rocks, bringing minerals that formed in the cycle. Dead organic matter decomposes into simple inorganic compounds (carbon dioxide, water *, hydrogen sulfide, methane, ammonia, etc.), again using the link in the initial cycle. This is a special group of organisms - decomposers (destructors);

C oncentration is in the electoral accumulation in living organisms substances atoms scattered in nature. The ability to concentrate dilute solutions of elements - a characteristic of living matter. The most active hubs of many elements are micro-organisms;

2. The noosphere (/ˈnoʊ.əsfɪər/; sometimes noösphere) is the sphere of human thought. The word derives from the Greek νοῦς (nous "mind") and σφαῖρα (sphaira "sphere"), in lexical analogy to "atmosphere" and "biosphere". It was introduced by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in 1922^[4] in his Cosmogenesis. Another possibility is the first use of the term by Édouard Le Roy (1870–1954), who together with Teilhard was listening to lectures of Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky at the Sorbonne. In 1936, Vernadsky accepted the idea of the noosphere in a letter to Boris Leonidovich Lichkov (though he states that the concept derives from Le Roy). Citing the work of Teilhard's biographer Rene Cuenot

History of concept

In the theory of Vernadsky, the noosphere is the third in a succession of phases of development of the Earth, after the geosphere (inanimate matter) and the biosphere(biological life). Just as the emergence of life fundamentally transformed the geosphere, the emergence of human cognition fundamentally transforms the biosphere. In contrast to the conceptions of the Gaia theorists, or the promoters of cyberspace, Vernadsky's noosphere emerges at the point where humankind, through the mastery of nuclear processes, begins to create resources through the transmutation of elements.

Teilhard perceived a directionality in evolution along an axis of increasing Complexity/Consciousness. For Teilhard, the noosphere is the sphere of thought encircling the earth that has emerged through evolution as a consequence of this growth in complexity / consciousness. The noosphere is therefore as much part of nature as the barysphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. As a result, Teilhard sees the "social phenomenon the culmination of and not the attenuation of the biological phenomenon." These social phenomena are part of the noosphere and include, for example, legal, educational, religious, research, industrial and technological systems. In this sense, the noosphere emerges through and is constituted by the interaction of human minds. The noosphere thus grows in step with the organization of the human mass in relation to itself as it populates the earth. Teilhard argued the noosphere evolves towards ever greater personalisation, individuation and unification of its elements. He saw the Christian notion of love as being the principal driver of noogenesis. Evolution would culminate in the Omega Point an apex of thought/consciousness which he identified with the eschatological return of Christ.

One of the original aspects of the noosphere concept deals with evolution. Henri Bergson, with his L'évolution créatrice (1907), was one of the first to propose evolution is "creative" and cannot necessarily be explained solely by Darwinian natural selection. L'évolution créatrice is upheld, according to Bergson, by a constant vital forcewhich animates life and fundamentally connects mind and body, an idea opposing the dualism of René Descartes. In 1923, C. Lloyd Morgan took this work further, elaborating on an "emergent evolution" which could explain increasing complexity (including the evolution of mind). Morgan found many of the most interesting changes in living things have been largely discontinuous with past evolution. Therefore, these living things did not necessarily evolve through a gradual process of natural selection. Rather, he posited, the process of evolution experiences jumps in complexity (such as the emergence of a self-reflective universe, or noosphere). Finally, the complexification of human cultures, particularly language, facilitated a quickening of evolution in which cultural evolution occurs more rapidly than biological evolution. Recent understanding of human ecosystems and of human impact on the biosphere have led to a link between the notion of sustainability with the "co-evolution" and harmonization of cultural and biological evolution.

 

General Overviews

By definition, population dynamics requires a quantitative point of view. Hastings 1997 presents an excellent introduction to the theoretical basis for population dynamics, developing many of the key concepts employed by contemporary ecologists. Lande, et al. 2003 and Ranta, et al. 2006 provide more sophisticated reviews of contemporary issues in population modeling, including effects of age and stage structure, environmental and demographic stochasticity, and the interplay between evolution and ecology. From the outset there was simmering debate among ecologists about the importance of density-dependent processes in regulating animal populations. Early lab experiments had clearly demonstrated how increases in population density were associated with diminished per capita rates of population growth. Nonetheless, many field ecologists were skeptical, arguing that climatic forcing made density-dependent processes essentially irrelevant.Andrewartha and Birch 1954 nicely summarizes many of these arguments but also introduces novel topics such as spatial heterogeneity and movement processes that have emerged in their own right as important research topics for contemporary ecologists. Sinclair 1989 provides an excellent review of the historical debate about the importance of population regulation. While most ecologists agree that the issue has now been largely resolved, Bjǿrnstad and Grenfell 2002 andCoulson, et al. 2004 point out some of the considerable remaining challenges in clarifying the relative importance of population processes versus climatic forcing in causing population fluctuations. The highly relevant monograph Turchin 2003 provides the most comprehensive review of both the theoretical basis and empirical evidence for complex population dynamics with heavy emphasis on population cycles.

Holistic theory

Clements developed a holistic (or organismic) concept of community, as it was a superorganism or discrete unit, with sharp boundaries.

Individualistic theory

Gleason developed the individualistic (also known as open or continuum) concept of community, with the abundance of a population of a species changing gradually along complex environmental gradients, but individually, not equally to other populations. In that view, it is possible that individualistic distribution of species gives rise to discrete communities as well as to continuum. Niches would not overlap.

Neutral theory

In the neutral theory view of the community (or metacommunity), popularized by Hubbell, the abundance of a population of a species changes not because of the environmental conditions and its niche, which could overlap with others. Each population would have the same adaptive value (competitive and dispersal abilities), and local and regional composition and abundance would be determined primarily by stochastic demographic processes and dispersal limitation.

Interspecific interactions

Species interact in various ways: competition, predation, parasitism, mutualism, commensalism, etc. The organization of a biological community with respect to ecological interactions is referred to as community structure.

Competition

Species can compete with each other for finite resources. It is considered to be an important limiting factor of population size, biomass and species richness. Many types of competition have been described, but proving the existence of these interactions is a matter of debate. Direct competition has been observed between individuals, populations and species, but there is little evidence that competition has been the driving force in the evolution of large groups.^[6]

1. Interference competition: occurs when an individual of one species directly interferes with an individual of another species. Examples include a lion chasing a hyena from a kill, or a plant releasing allelopathic chemicals to impede the growth of a competing species.

2. Exploitative competition: This occurs via the consumption of resources. When an individual of one species consumes a resource (e.g., food, shelter, sunlight, etc.), that resource is no longer available to be consumed by a member of a second species. Exploitative competition is thought to be more common in nature, but care must be taken to distinguish it from apparent competition.Exploitative competition vary from complete symmetric (all individuals receive the same amount of resources, irrespective of their size) to perfectly size symmetric (all individuals exploit the same amount of resource per unit biomass) to absolutely size-asymmetric (the largest individuals exploit all the available resource). The degree of size asymmetry has major effects on the structure and diversity of ecological communities

3. Apparent competition: occurs when two species share a predator. The populations of both species can be depressed by predation without direct exploitative competition.

Predation

Predation is hunting another species for food. This is a positive–negative (+ −) interaction in that the predator species benefits while the prey species is harmed. Some predators kill their prey before eating them (e.g., a hawk killing a mouse). Other predators are parasites that feed on prey while alive (e.g., a vampire bat feeding on a cow). Another example is the feeding on plants of herbivores (e.g., a cow grazing). Predation may affect the population size of predators and prey and the number of species coexisting in a community.

Mutualism

Mutualism is an interaction between species in which both benefit. Examples include Rhizobium bacteria growing in nodules on the roots of legumes and insects pollinating the flowers of angiosperms.

Commensalism

Commensalism is a type of relationship among organisms in which one organism benefits while the other organism is neither benefited nor harmed. The organism that benefited is called the commensal while the other organism that is neither benefited nor harmed is called the host. For example, an epiphytic orchid attached to the tree for support benefits the orchid but neither harms nor benefits the tree. The opposite of commensalism is amensalism, an interspecific relationship in which a product of one organism has a negative effect on another organism.

Community structure

A major research theme among community ecology has been whether ecological communities have a (nonrandom) structure and, if so however to characterise this structure. Forms of community structure include aggregation and nestedness.

 

Lecture 7.

Biogeocenology the science dealing with interrelated and interacting complexes of living and inert nature (biogeocenoses) and their planetaryaggregate (the biogeosphere). The term “biogeocenology” arose in geobotany but has subsequently developed as a commonsubject of biological and geographical sciences, reflecting the interdisciplinary level of the study of living nature.

The founder of biogeocenology was V. N. Sukachev. In a number of works beginning in 1940 he defined the basic conceptsof biogeocenology, its theoretical and practical tasks, its ties with other sciences, and the program and direction ofresearch. An important role in the development of modern biogeocenology was played by the works of the Russianscientists V. V. Dokuchaev, G. F. Morozov, and R. I. Abolin, who established the idea of the interconnected quality of thephenomena of nature, and by V. I. Vernadskii, who discovered the enormous planetary significance of organisms (livingmatter). The questions under investigation in biogeocenology include research on the structure, properties, and functions ofthe components of the biogeocenosis and the deciphering of the mechanism of their relationships; study of the flows ofmatter and energy in them, as well as the proportion and form of the participation of their components in the material andenergy metabolism of the entire complex, and particularly in its biological productivity; study of the transformation by somecomponents of the states, properties, and functioning of other components; determination of their role in the change anddynamics of the biogeocenosis; determination of the reaction of the components and the biogeocenosis as a whole tospontaneous changes and the economic activities of man; study of the stability of biogeocenoses and their regulatorymechanisms; and research on the relationships and interactions both between adjacent biogeocenoses and between themore remote ones, which provide the unity of the biogeosphere and its major parts.

These problems can be solved only with the participation of a broad range of specialists (botanists, zoologists,physiologists, microbiologists, soil scientists, climatologists, biochemists, and others) in research. These problems requireextended periods of research, the use of experimentation (both under natural conditions and on models), the extensiveapplication of quantitative methods of study, and the use of mathematical analysis and statistical processing of the data. Asuccessful solution to the problems of biogeocenology determines the possible accuracy of the prediction of theconsequences of man’s interference in the course of natural processes, the possibility of directed regulation of therelationships and interactions of the components in the biogeocenosis in order to obtain the greatest and most generallybeneficial economic effect (chiefly a rise in biological productivity), and the choice of ways for the economic use of thematerial and energy resources of the biogeosphere and its parts. The significance of biogeocenology is particularly great forforestry and agricultural practice. It is also of high methodological significance for the study of man’s environment on theearth and for space science, the protection of industrial articles, food products, and feed from damage by the biologicalcomponents of the biosphere, the conservation of nature, and so on. Biogeocenology is closely related to landscapescience, soil science, climatology, biocenology, microbiology, and biogeochemistry.

Lecture 8.

Fulfillment of thermodynamic law of ecosystems.

1.Trophic structure of the ecological community

2.Producers, consumers, educenter

Now ecologists feel necessary to construct the theoretical building of system ecology, to break strong reductionistic tradition of ecology and to include the use of thermodynamics in a new holistic approach to study ecosystems, their structure, functioning and natural history. We tried to present here the current state of thermodynamic view on ecosystems.

The first law of thermodynamics proclaims constancy of the total energy of isolated system for all changes, taking place in this system: energy cannot be created or destroyed. According to the second law of thermodynamics in isolated system entropy is always increasing or remaining constant. All processes in the Universe are oriented to the equilibrium state. Nevertheless, biological systems, and, consequently, ecological systems create order from disorder, they create and support chemical and physical non-equilibrium state – the basis they live on.

In this chapter the general overview of ecosystem as thermodynamic system is given and the concept of Eco-Exergy is introduced. The use of this concept in ecology is demonstrated to be very fruitful. To make it easy for other researchers to use the Eco-Exergy the procedure of exergy evaluation for ecosystems is followed with special attention to dimensions used.

2. Community ecology, study of the organization and functioning ofcommunities, which are assemblages of interacting populations of the species living within a particular area or habitat.

As populations of species interact with one another, they form biological communities. The number of interacting species in these communities and the complexity of their relationships exemplify what is meant by the term “biodiversity.” Structures arise within communities as species interact, and food chains, food webs, guilds, and other interactive webs are created.

All biological communities have a basic structure of interaction that forms a trophic pyramid. The trophic pyramid is made up of trophic levels, and food energy is passed from one level to the next along the food chain (see below Food chains and food webs). The base of the pyramid is composed of species called autotrophs, the primary producers of the ecosystem. They do not obtain energy and nutrients by eating other organisms. Instead, they harness solar energy by photosynthesis (photoautotrophs) or, more rarely, chemical energy by oxidation (chemoautotrophs) to make organic substances from inorganic ones. All other organisms in the ecosystem are consumers called heterotrophs, which either directly or indirectly depend on the producers for food energy.

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Energy transfer and heat loss along a food chain.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Within all biological communities, energy at each trophic level is lost in the form of heat (as much as 80 to 90 percent), as organisms expend energy for metabolic processes such as staying warm and digesting food (see biosphere: The flow of energy). The higher the organism is on the trophic pyramid, the less energy is available to it; herbivores and detritivores (primary consumers) have less available energy than plants, and the carnivores that feed on herbivores and detritivores (secondary consumers) and those that eat other carnivores (tertiary consumers) have the least amount of available energy.

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Figure 2: Transfer of energy through an ecosystem. At each trophic level only a small proportion of …

Predation

This is where one organism hunts and eats the other organism. The organism hunting is called the predator, while the organism being hunted is called the prey. Energy received from the Sun is transferred from animals when the prey is eaten by the predator. The predator now has its prey's energy.

A predator is usually a carnivore that hunts, kills and eats other animals. For example, a snake eating a mouse: the snake is considered the predator because it is consuming the mouse. In another example, a striped marlin is a predator. It lives in the Pacific Ocean and preys on sardines, also a Pacific animal. Similarly, various birds eat earthworms.

However, a predator can become the prey of another larger predator; for instance, a snake may become a meal for a hawk.

"In ecology, predation is a mechanism of population control. Thus, when the number of predators is scarce, the number of prey should rise. When this happens, the predators would be able to reproduce more and possibly change their hunting habits. As the number of predators rise, the number of prey decline. This results in food scarcity for predators that can eventually lead to the death of many predators."

Because of this, predation is called a "positive-negative" relationship. (Campbell) There is also Cannibalism. It is a more grade of predation. This is where in one population the organisms eat each other due to scarcity of food sources. (Lurdes Isufaj) Ex. Frogs are known for cannibalism too.

Herbivore–plant predation

The prey does not necessarily have to be an animal, but can also be a plant. When prey is a plant, the relationship would be called an herbivore plant relationship.

A perfect example of this would be," Galapagos tortoises e cactus plants that grow on the Galapagos Islands." (Bar-Yam, 2011).

Another example are the koalas. They have a special digestive system that allows them to break down tough eucalyptus leaves and remain unharmed by its poison (National Geographic).

Finally, a squirrel is the herbivore (predator) and the nuts he eats are the plant (prey).

Competition

Competition is when organisms compete for the same resources. This is a negative relationship because both organisms are harming each other (Campbell).

Intraspecies competition

Organisms competing can be from within the same species for example, two male elk fighting for a female mate. Elephants also fight each other so that the dominant elephant will get to breed with the female.

Another species that shows great competition between each other are the dolphins. Dolphins go along together and play with each other, but when it is time to eat; all dolphins have to compete for a meal.

Interspecies competition

Competition can be also found in two different species. A lizard and a frog can compete for a similar food they eat such as a small insect. This type of competition is only found when two different species share an ecological niche that they must compete over.

Parasitism

In biology/ecology, parasitism is a non-mutual symbiotic relationship between species, where one species, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host. Traditionally parasite (in biological usage) referred primarily to organisms visible to the naked eye, ormacroparasites (such as helminths). Parasites can be microparasites, which are typically smaller, such as protozoa, viruses, andbacteria. Examples of parasites include the plants mistletoe and cuscuta, and animals such as hookworms.

Unlike predators, parasites typically do not kill their host, are generally much smaller than their host, and will often live in or on their host for an extended period. Both are special cases of consumer-resource interactions.^[4] Parasites show a high degree of specialization, andreproduce at a faster rate than their hosts. Classic examples of parasitism include interactions between vertebrate hosts and tapeworms,flukes, the Plasmodium species, and fleas. Parasitism differs from the parasitoid relationship in that parasitoids generally kill their hosts.^[5][6][7]

Parasites reduce host biological fitness by general or specialized pathology, such as parasitic castration and impairment of secondary sex characteristics, to the modification of host behavior. Parasites increase their own fitness by exploiting hosts for resources necessary for their survival, e.g. food, water, heat, habitat, and transmission. Although parasitism applies unambiguously to many cases, it is part of a continuum of types of interactions between species, rather than an exclusive category. In many cases, it is difficult to demonstrate harm to the host. In others, there may be no apparent specialization on the part of the parasite, or the interaction between the organisms may remain short-lived.

 

Parasitism is a relationship in which one organism (the parasite) benefits while the other(the host) is harmed. This is a positive, negative relationship. (Campbell)(Dionne L Rice Jr)

The parasite usually lives on or inside the other organism.

For example, mosquito is a parasite, feeding on a human while transferring the disease called Malaria. Other examples would be ticks or fleas that live off of many large mammals. Similarly, head lice are an example of parasitism because they feed on blood from the humans head.

In Colorado, the pine bark beetle is a common parasite. The pine beetles lays its eggs in the pine trees, and then when the babies are born, they eat the layers of the tree which stops the tree from growing.

Symbiosis (from Greek συμβίωσις "living together", from σύν "together" and βίωσις "living") is a close and often long-term interaction between two different biological species. In 1877 Albert Bernhard Frank used the word symbiosis (which previously had been used to depict people living together in community) to describe the mutualistic relationship in lichens.^[3] In 1879, the Germanmycologist Heinrich Anton de Bary defined it as "the living together of unlike organisms."

The definition of symbiosis has varied among scientists. Some advocated that the term "symbiosis" should only refer to persistent mutualisms, while others thought it should apply to any type of persistent biological interaction (in other words mutualistic,commensalistic, or parasitic). After 130 years of debate, current biology and ecology textbooks now use the latter "de Bary" definition or an even broader definition (where symbiosis means all species interactions), with the restrictive definition (where symbiosis means mutualism only) no longer used.

Some symbiotic relationships are obligate, meaning that both symbionts entirely depend on each other for survival. For example, many lichens consist of fungal and photosynthetic symbionts that cannot live on their own. Others are facultative (optional): they can, but do not have to live with the other organism.

Symbiotic relationships include those associations in which one organism lives on another (ectosymbiosis, such as mistletoe), or where one partner lives inside the other (endosymbiosis, such as lactobacilli and other bacteria in humans or Symbiodinium incorals). Symbiosis is also classified by physical attachment of the organisms; symbiosis in which the organisms have bodily union is called conjunctive symbiosis, and symbiosis in which they are not in union is called disjunctive symbiosis.

Endosymbiosis is any symbiotic relationship in which one symbiont lives within the tissues of the other, either within the cells or extracellularly. Examples include diverse microbiomes, rhizobia, nitrogen-fixing bacteria that live in root nodules on legumeroots; actinomycete nitrogen-fixing bacteria called Frankia, which live in alder root nodules; single-celled algae inside reef-buildingcorals; and bacterial endosymbionts that provide essential nutrients to about 10%–15% of insects.

Ectosymbiosis, also referred to as exosymbiosis, is any symbiotic relationship in which the symbiont lives on the body surface of the host, including the inner surface of the digestive tract or the ducts of exocrine glands. Examples of this include ectoparasitessuch as lice, commensal ectosymbionts such as the barnacles that attach themselves to the jaw of baleen whales, and mutualistectosymbionts such as cleaner fish.

Mutualism

Hermit crab, Calcinus laevimanus, with sea anemone.

Mutualism or interspecies reciprocal altruism is a relationship between individuals of different species where both individuals benefit. In general, only lifelong interactions involving close physical and biochemical contact can properly be considered symbiotic. Mutualistic relationships may be either obligate for both species, obligate for one but facultative for the other, or facultative for both. Many biologists restrict the definition of symbiosis to close mutualist relationships.

A large percentage of herbivores have mutualistic gut flora that help them digest plant matter, which is more difficult to digest than animal prey. This gut flora is made up of cellulose-digesting protozoans or bacteria living in the herbivores' intestines. Coral reefs are the result of mutualisms between coral organisms and various types of algae that live inside them. Most land plants and land ecosystems rely on mutualisms between the plants, which fix carbon from the air, andmycorrhyzal fungi, which help in extracting water and minerals from the ground.

An example of mutual symbiosis is the relationship between the ocellaris clownfish that dwell among the tentacles of Ritteri sea anemones. The territorial fish protects the anemone from anemone-eating fish, and in turn the stinging tentacles of the anemone protect the clownfish from its predators. A special mucus on the clownfish protects it from the stinging tentacles.

A further example is the goby fish, which sometimes lives together with a shrimp. The shrimp digs and cleans up a burrow in the sand in which both the shrimp and the goby fish live. The shrimp is almost blind, leaving it vulnerable to predators when outside its burrow. In case of danger the goby fish touches the shrimp with its tail to warn it. When that happens both the shrimp and goby fish quickly retreat into the burrow. Different species of gobies (Elacatinus spp.) also exhibit mutualistic behavior through cleaning up ectoparasites in other fish.

Another non-obligate symbiosis is known from encrusting bryozoans and hermit crabs that live in a close relationship. The bryozoan colony (Acanthodesia commensale) develops a cirumrotatory growth and offers the crab (Pseudopagurus granulimanus) a helicospiral-tubular extension of its living chamber that initially was situated within a gastropod shell.^[24]

One of the most spectacular examples of obligate mutualism is between the siboglinid tube worms and symbiotic bacteria that live athydrothermal vents and cold seeps. The worm has no digestive tract and is wholly reliant on its internal symbionts for nutrition. The bacteria oxidize either hydrogen sulfide or methane, which the host supplies to them. These worms were discovered in the late 1980s at the hydrothermal vents near the Galapagos Islands and have since been found at deep-sea hydrothermal vents and cold seeps in all of the world's oceans.

There are also many types of tropical and sub-tropical ants that have evolved very complex relationships with certain tree species.

Mutualism and endosymbiosis

During mutualistic symbioses, the host cell lacks some of the nutrients, which are provided by the endosymbiont. As a result, the host favors endosymbiont's growth processes within itself by producing some specialized cells. These cells affect the genetic composition of the host in order to regulate the increasing population of the endosymbionts and ensuring that these genetic changes are passed onto the offspring via vertical transmission (heredity).

Adaptation of the endosymbiont to the host's lifestyle leads to many changes in the endosymbiont–the foremost being drastic reduction in its genome size. This is due to many genes being lost during the process of metabolism, and DNA repair and recombination. While important genes participating in the DNA to RNA transcription, protein translationand DNA/RNA replication are retained. That is, a decrease in genome size is due to loss of protein coding genes and not due to lessening of inter-genic regions or open reading frame (ORF) size. Thus, species that are naturally evolving and contain reduced sizes of genes can be accounted for an increased number of noticeable differences between them, thereby leading to changes in their evolutionary rates. As the endosymbiotic bacteria related with these insects are passed on to the offspring strictly via vertical genetic transmission, intracellular bacteria goes through many hurdles during the process, resulting in the decrease in effective population sizes when compared to the free living bacteria. This incapability of the endosymbiotic bacteria to reinstate its wild type phenotype via a recombination process is called as Muller's ratchet phenomenon. Muller's ratchet phenomenon together with less effective population sizes has led to an accretion of deleterious mutations in the non-essential genes of the intracellular bacteria.^[28] This could have been due to lack of selection mechanisms prevailing in the rich environment of the host

Commensalism

Commensalism is a relationship in which one organism benefits from another organism that is not affected. This is a positive, neutral relationship. (Campbell)

For example, a small fish called the Pilot Fish follows underneath a shark and when the shark eats something the pilot fish eats the scrap pieces of the shark original kill.(Blue Planet BBC Documentary 2001).

Commensalism, in ecology, is a class of relationships between two organisms where one organism benefits from the other without affecting it. This is in contrast with mutualism, in which both organisms benefit from each other, amensalism, where one is harmed while the other is unaffected, and parasitism, where one benefits while the other is harmed. The word "commensalism" is derived from the word "commensal", meaning "eating at the same table" in human social interaction, which in turn comes through French from the Medieval Latin commensalis, meaning "sharing a table", from the prefix com-, meaning "together", and mensa, meaning "table" or "meal".Originally, the term was used to describe the use of waste food by second animals, like the carcass eaters that follow hunting animals, but wait until they have finished their meal.

Commensalism, in biology, is a relation between individuals of two species in which one species obtains food or other benefits from the other without either harming or benefiting the latter. The commensal (the species that benefits from the association) may obtain nutrients, shelter, support, or locomotion from the host species, which is substantially unaffected. The commensal relation is often between a larger host and a smaller commensal; the host organism is unmodified, whereas the commensal species may show great structural adaptation consonant with its habits, as in the remoras that ride attached to sharks and other fishes. Both remora and pilot fishfeed on the leftovers of their hosts’ meals. Numerous birds feed on the insects turned up by grazing mammals, while other birds obtain soil organisms stirred up by theplow. Various biting lice, fleas, and louse flies are commensals in that they feed harmlessly on the feathers of birds and on sloughed-off flakes of skin from mammals

Another example is of a birds nest in a tree. The bird is benefitting because the tree is giving the bird shelter and the tree is not getting anything in return.

Similarly, the transparent shrimp benefits from a reef because it hides within it (camouflaging), but the coral is not affected.

Additionally, the relationship between an infectious disease and its carrier, an animal such as a mosquito, could be classified as commensalism because the mosquito is unaffected by the presence of the disease, but the mosquito transfers it to a host in which the disease can reproduce or spread more easily to others.

Lecture 10. Ecological succession.

"Often, the host species provides a home and/or transportation for the other species." (www.Biology-Online.org) The whale and barnacles are a perfect example of this. "Barnacles are crustaceans that have jointed legs and shells of connected overlapping plates. Instead of crawling after food, they glue themselves to rocks, ships, pillings, abalones, and maybe even whales and wait for food to wash by." (Oracle, 2000). The barnacles attach themselves to the whale. This way, the barnacle can get food faster. This does not affect the whale so he does not take the barnacle off.

 

 

1.Atmosphere – the main components of the biosphere.

2. Atmosphere, its qualitative and quantitative composition.

3.Ecological disaster zone of Kazakhstan.

Ecological succession is the process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time. The time scale can be decades (for example, after a wildfire), or even millions of years after a mass extinction,

The community begins with relatively few pioneering plants and animals and develops through increasing complexity until it becomes stable or self-perpetuating as a climax community. The ʺengineʺ of succession, the cause of ecosystem change, is the impact of established species upon their own environments. A consequence of living is the sometimes subtle and sometimes overt alteration of one's own environment.

It is a phenomenon or process by which an ecological community undergoes more or less orderly and predictable changes following a disturbance or the initial colonization of a new habitat. Succession may be initiated either by formation of new, unoccupied habitat, such as from a lava flow or a severe landslide, or by some form of disturbanceof a community, such as from a fire, severe windthrow, or logging. Succession that begins in new habitats, uninfluenced by pre-existing communities is called primary succession, whereas succession that follows disruption of a pre-existing community is called secondary succession.

Succession was among the first theories advanced in ecology. The study of succession remains at the core of ecological science. Ecological succession was first documented in the Indiana Dunes of Northwest Indiana which led to efforts to preserve the Indiana Dunes. Exhibits on ecological succession are displayed in the Hour Glass, a museum in Ogden Dunes.

Structure of the atmosphere

Principal layers

In general, air pressure and density decrease with altitude in the atmosphere. However, temperature has a more complicated profile with altitude, and may remain relatively constant or even increase with altitude in some regions (see the temperature section, below). Because the general pattern of the temperature/altitude profile is constant and measurable by means of instrumented balloon soundings, the temperature behavior provides a useful metric to distinguish atmospheric layers. In this way, Earth's atmosphere can be divided (called atmospheric stratification) into five main layers. Excluding the exosphere, Earth has four primary layers, which are the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere.^[8] From highest to lowest, the five main layers are:

· Exosphere: 700 to 10,000 km (440 to 6,200 miles)

· Thermosphere: 80 to 700 km (50 to 440 miles)^[9]

· Mesosphere: 50 to 80 km (31 to 50 miles)

· Stratosphere: 12 to 50 km (7 to 31 miles)

· Troposphere: 0 to 12 km (0 to 7 miles)

Earth's atmosphere Lower 4 layers of the atmosphere in 3 dimensions as seen diagonally from above the exobase. Layers drawn to scale, objects within the layers are not to scale. Aurorae shown here at the bottom of the thermosphere can actually form at any altitude in this atmospheric layer

Exosphere

The exosphere is the outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere (i.e. the upper limit of the atmosphere). It extends from the exobase, which is located at the top of the thermosphere at an altitude of about 700 km above sea level, to about 10,000 km (6,200 mi; 33,000,000 ft) where it merges into the solar wind.

This layer is mainly composed of extremely low densities of hydrogen, helium and several heavier molecules including nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide closer to the exobase. The atoms and molecules are so far apart that they can travel hundreds of kilometers without colliding with one another. Thus, the exosphere no longer behaves like a gas, and the particles constantly escape into space. These free-moving particles follow ballistic trajectories and may migrate in and out of the magnetosphere or the solar wind.

The exosphere is located too far above Earth for any meteorological phenomena to be possible. However, the aurora borealis and aurora australis sometimes occur in the lower part of the exosphere, where they overlap into the thermosphere. The exosphere contains most of the satellites orbiting Earth.

2. Variations in constituents such as ozone and aerosols affect air quality, weather and climate. Atmospheric composition is central to Earth system dynamics because the atmosphere integrates spatially varying surface emissions globally on time scales from weeks to years. NASA works to provide monitoring and evaluation tools to assess the effects of climate change on ozone recovery and future atmospheric composition, improved climate forecasts based on the understanding of the forcings of global environmental change, and air quality modeling that take into account the relationship between regional air quality and global climate change. Achievements in these areas via advances in observations, data assimilation, and modeling enable improved predictive capabilities for describing how future changes in atmospheric composition affect air quality, weather, and climate. NASA draws on global observations from space, augmented by suborbital and ground-based measurements to address these issues.

3.Ecological disaster zone of Kazakhstan.

Some parts of our country in consequence with the use of nuclear weapon and other deleterious climatic influences were recognized as zones of radiation or ecological disaster. Citizens who lived in these regions get different supports in social and medical spheres Некоторые части нашей республики вследствие применения ядерного оружия и другconsidered by legislation.

Cardiovascular disease

A 2007 review of evidence found ambient air pollution exposure is a risk factor correlating with increased total mortality from cardiovascular events (range: 12% to 14% per 10 microg/m³ increase).

Air pollution is also emerging as a risk factor for stroke, particularly in developing countries where pollutant levels are highest. A 2007 study found that in women, air pollution is not associated with hemorrhagic but with ischemic stroke. Air pollution was also found to be associated with increased incidence and mortality from coronary stroke in a cohort study in 2011. Associations are believed to be causal and effects may be mediated by vasoconstriction, low-grade inflammation and atherosclerosis Other mechanisms such as autonomic nervous system imbalance have also been suggested

Another pollutant associated with climate change is sulfur dioxide, a component of smog. Sulfur dioxide and closely related chemicals are known primarily as a cause of acid rain. But they also reflect light when released in the atmosphere, which keeps sunlight out and causes Earth to cool. Volcanic eruptions can spew massive amounts of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, sometimes causing cooling that lasts for years. In fact, volcanoes used to be the main source of atmospheric sulfur dioxide; today people are.

Industrialized countries have worked to reduce levels of sulfur dioxide, smog, and smoke in order to improve people's health. But a result, not predicted until recently, is that the lower sulfur dioxide levels may actually make global warming worse. Just as sulfur dioxide from volcanoes can cool the planet by blocking sunlight, cutting the amount of the compound in the atmosphere lets more sunlight through, warming the Earth. This effect is exaggerated when elevated levels of other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere trap the additional heat.

Most people agree that to curb global warming, a variety of measures need to be taken. On a personal level, driving and flying less, recycling, and conservation reduces a person’s "carbon footprint"—the amount of carbon dioxide a person is responsible for putting into the atmosphere.

On a larger scale, governments are taking measures to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. One way is through the Kyoto Protocol, an agreement between countries that they will cut back on carbon dioxide emissions. Another method is to put taxes on carbon emissions or higher taxes on gasoline, so that people and companies will have greater incentives to conserve energy and pollute less.

2. Air pollutants

An air pollutant is a substance in the air that can cause harm to humans and the environment. Indoor air pollution and urban air quality are listed as two of the world"s worst pollution problems in the 2008.

Pollutants can be classified as primary or secondary. Usually, primary pollutants are directly emitted from a process, such as ash from a volcanic eruption, the carbon monoxide gas from a motor vehicle exhaust or sulfur dioxide released from factories. Secondary pollutants are not emitted directly. One example is ground-level ozone.

The transport sector has become one of the main emitters of polluting compounds in the world and one of the main causes of the greenhouse effect. Also, a report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) points out that road transport is the single largest air polluter in Europe. Through the burning of fuel, motor vehicles, cars and trucks emit a range of health damaging pollutants, such as particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxides and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Some of the substances in motor vehicle exhaust also cause ‘secondary pollutants’ such as ozone, which are formed through chemical reactions in the air.

Air pollution is especially a problem in urban areas, where there is a lot of traffic. Some pollutants however can travel long distances and may accumulate in suburban or rural areas because of weather conditions such as wind or low pressure.

Compared with traffic, industrial activities are responsible for a larger total emission per year.

Main air pollutants are:

 

Sulphur oxides (SOx) – Mainly Sulphur dioxide (SO2). It is one of the causes for concern over the environmental impact of the use of fuels as power sources.

Nitrogen oxides (NOx) - NO2 is one of the most prominent air pollutants. Nitrogen (N) compounds, emitted as NOX and NH3, are now the principal acidifying components in our air and cause eutrophication of ecosystems.

Particulate matter - Particulates, alternatively referred to as particulate matter (PM) or fine particles, are tiny particles of solid or liquid suspended in a gas. Human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels in vehicles, power plants and various industrial processes also generate significant amounts of aerosols.

Ozone (O3) - Ozone is not directly emitted into the atmosphere but formed from a chain of photochemical reactions following emissions of precursor gases: nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO) and volatile organic compounds (VOC).

Carbon monoxide (CO) - It is a product by incomplete combustion of fuel such as natural gas, coal or wood. Vehicular exhaust is a major source of carbon monoxide.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) - emitted from sources such as combustion, cement production, and respiration.

Heavy metals, such as arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and nickel (Ni)

Benzene and benzo(a)pyrene

Ammonia (NH3) - emitted from agricultural processes.

Other remarkable air pollutants that will be explained in separate chapters are:
Volatile organic compounds - VOCs are an important outdoor air pollutants

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) - harmful to the ozone layer

Health impacts

Air pollution is a major environmental risk to health. Numerous scientific studies have linked air pollution to health effects including:
- harm to the respiratory system, leading to the development or aggravation of respiratory diseases, decreased lung function, increased frequency and severity of respiratory symptoms such as coughing and difficulty breathing, or increased susceptibility to respiratory infections;

- harm to the cardiovascular system;

-harm to the nervous system, affecting learning, memory and behaviour;

-harm to the reproductive system;

-cancer
Some of these impacts may result in premature death. Sensitive individuals, such as older adults and children and people with pre-existing heart and lung diseases or diabetes, appear to be at greater risk of air pollution-related health effects.

Asthma and respiratory conditions are among the most common effects on human health and they raise especial concern in the case of children. 10% of European children suffer asthma, allergies and respiratory conditions associated with air pollution (particles).

In 2005, an estimated 5 million years of lost life were caused by fine particulate matter pollution (PM2.5) alone in the EEA-32 countries (EEA, 2010).

Ecosystem impacts. Air pollution also damages the environment. For example, ozone can damage crops and other vegetation, impairing growth. These impacts can reduce the ability of plants to take up CO2 from the atmosphere and indirectly affect entire ecosystems and the planet"s climate. The atmospheric deposition of sulphur and nitrogen compounds has acidifying effects on soils and freshwaters. Acidification causes disturbances in the function and structure of ecosystems with harmful ecological effects, including biodiversity loss. Likewise, deposition of nitrogen compounds can lead to eutrophication, which constitutes an oversupply of nutrient nitrogen in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Consequences include changes in species diversity, invasions of new species and leaching of nitrate to groundwater.

Ozone-depleting substances. The stratosphere, a high layer of the atmosphere contains a high concentration of ozone. Ozone layer depletion allows a greater amount of ultraviolet (UV) radiation to reach the surface of the earth. An increase of UV radiation levels implies a significant harm to human health (skin cancer, cataracts, damage to the immune system) and to ecosystems, wild life and agriculture.

Some ozone-depleting substances are assigned with risk phrase R59 (according to DSD) and EU hazard statement system EUH059 (according to CLP): Hazardous to the ozone layer.

Greenhouse gases. Air pollution may also impact the Earth"s climate. Some air pollutants interfere with the Earth"s energy balance and are therefore known as "climate forcers".

These can either be gases (e.g. ozone) or airborne particulate matter (aerosols). Some climate forcers reflect solar radiation (e.g. sulphate aerosols) leading to net cooling, while others (e.g. black carbon aerosols) absorb solar radiation, thereby warming the atmosphere. In addition, aerosols influence the formation, microphysics and optical properties of clouds, resulting in indirect climatological effects.

Deposition of certain aerosols (e.g. black carbon) may also change the Earth"s surface reflectivity (albedo), especially on ice- and snow-covered surfaces, thereby accelerating melting.

 

Lecture 12.Pollution and reasons of the atmosphere of Kazakhstan.

 

 

1. Reasons of the atmosphere of Kazakhstan

2.Structure and formation stages of modern research directions.

Air pollution comes from both natural and human-made (anthropogenic) sources. However, globally human-made pollutants from combustion, construction, mining, agriculture and warfare are increasingly significant in the air pollution equation.

Motor vehicle emissions are one of the leading causes of air pollution. China, United States, Russia, India Mexico, and Japanare the world leaders in air pollution emissions. Principal stationary pollution sources include chemical plants, coal-fired power plants, oil refineries, petrochemical plants, nuclear waste disposal activity, incinerators, large livestock farms (dairy cows, pigs, poultry, etc.), PVCfactories, metals production factories, plastics factories, and other heavy industry. Agricultural air pollution comes from contemporary practices which include clear felling and burning of natural vegetation as well as spraying of pesticides and herbicides