CHAPTER – 15OUR ENVIRONMENT

Introduction

We have the word environment often being used on the television, in newspapers and by people around us. Environment (F. environ – about ) is the sum total of all external factors, substances, living

beings, and conditions that surround an organism and influence the same without becoming its part. It consists of both living and non- living components, each of which has several sub-components which are interlinked and

interdependent on each other. In this chapter, we shall be studying how various factors in the environment interact with each other and how we impact the environment.

Sub-Concept 15.1 What happens when we

add our waste to the environment?

Effect of adding waste to the environment

Human activities produce a lot of waste materials which are thrown away into the environment. These wastes cause

pollution of air, water

and soil. The waste

materials produced are

of two main types. They

are biodegradable

wastes and non

biodegradable wastes.

i)Biodegradable wastes: are wastes which are decomposed into harmless substances by microorganisms. E. g. vegetables, fruits, pulses, cereals, cotton, jute, wool, wood, leather, paper, animal dung, animal bones etc.

ii) Non biodegradable wastes :- are wastes which are not decomposed by microorganisms. E. g. polythene bags, plastics, synthetic fibres, glass, metals, synthetic rubber, insecticides, pesticides etc.

Sub-Concept 15.2Eco-system – What are its components?

Ecosystem : An ecosystem consists of all the living organisms in an area along with the non living components and their interaction.There are different types of ecosystems. They are :-i)Natural ecosystems :- like forests, deserts, grass lands, mountains, ponds, lakes, rivers, oceans etc.

ii) Artificial ecosystems :-like gardens, parks, crop fields, aquarium, zoo etc.Components of an ecosystem:An ecosystem consists of

two main components. They are biotic and abiotic components.

i) Biotic components :- are the living components like plants, animals and microorganisms. They consist of producers, consumers and decomposers.Producers :- are green plants which produce food by photosynthesis.

Consumers :- are herbivores which get their food directly from plants, carnivores which get their food indirectly from plants and omnivores which get their food directly or indirectly from plants.

Decomposers :- are microorganisms which decompose dead plants and animals. They decompose complex organic substances into simple inorganic substances in the soil which are again used by plants.

ii) Abiotic components :- are the non living components like air, water, soil, minerals, sunlight , temperature, wind etc.

Food chain :A food chain is the flow of food energy from one organism to the next and to the next and so on. They usually start with a producer (plants) and end with a carnivore. In a food chain an organism gets food from one group of organisms.

Eg: Grass Deer Lion

(producer) (1 consumer) (2 consumer)

Grass Insects Frog Snakes

(producer) (1 consumer) (2 consumer) (3 consumer)

Grass Moth Frog Snake Hawk

Food web :

Food web is a group of several interconnected food chains. In a food web an organism gets food from more than one group of organisms.

Trophic levels :-

Each step in a food chain where transfer of food energy takes place is called trophic level.

The first trophic level consists of producers.

The second trophic level consists of primary consumers.

The third trophic level consists of secondary consumers.

The fourth trophic level consists of tertiary consumers.

Since the transfer of food energy decreases at every trophic level, the number of trophic levels are limited and do not exceed four or five.

Energy flow in trophiclevels

Green plants (producers) absorb about 1% of solar energy falling on the leaves and stores it as food energy during photosynthesis.

During the transfer of food energy from one trophiclevel to the next, 90% of the energy is lost to the environment and only 10% is transferred to the next trophic level.

So there is a decrease in the amount of food energy transferred at every trophiclevel by 10%. This is known as the 10% law.

Biological magnification (Biomagnification)

Harmful chemicals like insecticides and pesticides which are used to protect crops from insects and pests are absorbed by plants and enter the food chain. Since these chemicals are non

biodegradable, they get accumulated at every trophic level and their concentration increases. Since human beings occupy the highest trophic level, the concentration of these harmful chemicals is maximum in our bodies.

The increase in concentration of harmful chemicals in the bodies of organisms at higher trophic levels is called biological magnification.

Sub-Concept: 15.3How do our activities affect the environment?

Depletion of ozone layer in the atmosphere: Ozone molecule contains three oxygen atoms (O3). At higher levels in the atmosphere the UV radiation splits some oxygen molecules (O2) into free oxygen atoms which combines

with oxygen molecules (O2) to form ozone. It is highly poisonous.

UV radiation

O2 O + O

O2 + O O3

The ozone layer present in the higher layer of the atmosphere protects the earth from the harmful UV radiation from the sun. UV radiation causes skin cancer in humans.

The ozone layer is being damaged by the use of chemicals like chloro fluorocarbons (CFCs) used in refrigerators and fire extinguishers. So the use of CFCs is now being reduced to protect the ozone layer.

Managing the garbage we produce :

The household waste is called garbage. Some of the garbage is biodegradable and some are non biodegradable. Garbage causes pollution

of air, water and soil. So it should be disposed properly.

Some of the methods of garbage disposal are :-i) Land fills

ii) Recycling iii) Production of biogas and manure

iv) Preparation of compost

v) Incinerationvi) Sewage treatment

Sewage treatment

Sewage treatment

SummaryThe various components of an ecosystems are interdependent.

The produces make the energy from the sunlight available to rest of the ecosystem.

There is a loss of energy as we go from one tropic level to the next this limits the number of tropic levels in a food chain.

Human actvisists have an impact on the

The use of chemicals like CFCs has endangered the ozone layer.

The disposal of waste we generate is causing serious environmental problems.