"In the Land of Archipelago, a Chinese investor, accompanied by a minister, were walking along the beach on an island that would become an Eco City, which was said to be part of the National Strategic Project. With pleasure, the investor would like to swim on the beach and said to the the minister, 'Are you sure there aren’t any sharks along this beach?' Tried to be calm, the minister replied, 'O yes, I’m sure. They don’t get along well with the alligators,'" said Peace lily when she was meeting with Wulandari.
The peace lily, Spathiphyllum, is an Araceae family, a beautiful flowering plant. Many people keep peace lilies as indoor houseplants because they are known to drive away dangerous air pollutant. They add a beautiful dose of greenery to your space, with elegant white blooms. Their flowers look like waving a white flag, peace lilies are sometimes affiliated with peace and surrender. Tranquility, purity, and healing are a few common themes associated with peace lillies. Spiritually, the peace lily represents hope and other positive themes. As it promises new blooms each spring, many also view the plant as a symbol of renewal, as it continues to flourish through all the seasons, featuring new leaves and flowers as it grows. It’s a purifying plant, as it cleanses the air of toxic contaminants, so in Feng Shui, the peace lily is actually used to bring purity to a room or home.
Though it's name encloses 'Lily', but actually not a true lily. It's different from Lily, genus Lilium, but has the same impression, beauty and purity.
Let's listen to what Peace lily has said. "Could the investor and the minister have been talking about our earth? And is the situation really this grim? Is it time to start shedding bitter tears for those who have had their homeland taken away and at the same time caused environmental pollution? So, let me tell you from the beginning.
The sum total of living, non-living components; influences and events, surrounding an organism is called the environment. Everything that surrounds or affects an organism during its life time is collectively known as its environment. All organisms—from virus to man—are obligatorily dependent on the other organism and environment for food, energy, water, oxygen, shelter and for other needs. The environment is not static. Both living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components are factors in a flux and keeps changing continuously.
Biotics components are green plants, non-green plants, decomposers, parasites, symbionts, animals, and man. Abiotic components are energy, radiation, temperature and heat flow, water, atmospheric gases and wind, fire, gravity, topography, soil, and geologic substratum.
Now, for instance, let’s take the environment of a fish in the pond. External environment of fish consists of abiotic components such as light, temperature, including the water in which nutrients, oxygen, other gases and organic matter are dissolved. The biotic environment consists of microscopic organisms called plankton which it assume as well as aquatic plants, animals and decomposers.
Internal environment of fish is enclosed by the outer body surface. The internal environment is relatively stable as compared to the external environment. However, it is not absolutely constant. Injury, illness or excessive stress upsets the internal environmentm for example, if a marine fish is transferred to a fresh water environment, it will not be able to survive.
Organism is an individual living being that has the ability to act or function independently. It may be plant, animal, bacterium, fungi, etc. It is a body made up of organs, organelles, or other parts that work together to carry out on the various processes of life.
A group of organisms usually of the same species, occupying a defined area during a specific time, known as Population. Population growth rate is the percentage variation between the number of individuals in a population at two different times. Therefore, the population growth rate can be positive or negative. The main factors that make population increase are birth and immigration. The main factors that make population decrease are death and emigration. The main limiting factors for the growth of a population are abiotic and biotic components. Population density is the relation between the number of individuals of a population and the area they occupy.
If we look around ourself, we will notice that population of plants and animals seldom occur by themselves. The reason for this is quite obvious. In order to survive, individuals of any one species depend on individuals of different species with which they actively interact in several ways. Animals require plants for food and trees for shelter. Plants require animals for pollination, seed dispersal, and soil microorganism to facilitate nutrient supply. Communities in most instances are named after the dominant plant form (species). For example: A grassland community is dominated by grasses, though it may contain herbs, shrubs, and trees, along with associated animals of different species. A community is not fixed or rigid; communities may be large or small.
A large-sized, well organized and relatively independent community is called Major Community. They depend only on the sun’s energy from outside and are independent of the inputs and outputs from adjacent communities, e.g: tropical ever green forest in Montane Ecosystems.
The secondary aggregations within a major community and are not therefore completely independent units as far as energy and nutrient dynamics are concerned and are dependent on neighbouring communities and are often called societies or Minor Community, .e.g. a mat of lichen on a cow dung pad.
In a community, the number of species and size of their population vary greatly. A community may have one or several species. The environmental factors determine the characteristic of the community as well as the pattern of organisation of the members in the community. The characteristic pattern of the community is termed as structure which is reflected in the roles played by various population, their range, the type of area they inhabit, the diversity of species in the community and the spectrum of interactions between them.
There is the difference between ecology, environment and ecosystem. The environment is defined as the relationship of components present in the surroundings, whereas ecology is defined as the study of the relationship between organisms and their environment. An environment provides a place for the elements, whereas, an ecosystem provides an interaction between the elements.
The roots of ecology lie in Natural History, which is as old as human civilization. Since early history, man has indulged in ecology in a practical sort of way, knowingly and unknowingly. In primitive societies, every individual was required to have an intimate knowledge of his environment for their survival, i.e., about the forces of nature and of plants and animals around him/her.
A structural and functional unit of biosphere consisting of community of living beings and the physical environment, both interacting and exchanging materials between them is known as Ecosystem. It includes plants, trees, animals, fish, birds, micro-organisms, water, soil, and people.
Ecosystems vary greatly in size and elements but each is a functioning unit of nature. Everything that lives in an ecosystem is dependent on the other species and elements that are also part of that ecological community. If one part of an ecosystem is damaged or disappears, it has an impact on everything else. When an ecosystem is healthy (i.e. sustainable) it means that all the elements live in balance and are capable of reproducing themselves. Ecosystem can be as small as a single tree or as large as entire forest.
Ecosystems are capable of maintaining their state of equilibrium. They can regulate their own species structure and functional processes. This capacity of ecosystem of self regulation is known as homeostasis. Goods and services provided by ecosystems include: provision of food, fuel and fibre; provision of shelter and building materials; purification of air and water; detoxification and decomposition of wastes; stabilization and moderation of the Earth’s climate; moderation of floods, droughts, temperature extremes and the forces of wind; generation and renewal of soil fertility, including nutrient cycling; pollination of plants, including many crops; control of pests and diseases; maintenance of genetic resources as key inputs to crop varieties and livestock breeds, medicines, and other products; and cultural and aesthetic benefits.
The interrelations between organisms and environment on the land constitute 'Terrestrial Ecology', including Tundra—a 'barren land' since they are found where environmental conditions are very severe—and forest ecosystem, including a complex assemblage of different kinds of biotic communities. Optimum conditions such as temperature and ground moisture are responsible for the establishment of forest communities. Indiscriminate felling of trees as a result of urbanization, industrialization, mining operations, and use of wood for domestic and other purposes, have caused heavy depletion of forests, Deforestation. One of the cause of defortation is shifting cultivation. In this practice a patch of land is cleared, vegetation is burned and the ash is mixed with the soil thus adding nutrients to the soil. This patch of land is used for raising crops for two to three years, and the yield is modest. Then this area is abandoned and is left to recover its fertility, and the same practice is repeated elsewhere on a fresh piece of land. All that is required for this method of cultivation is a set of simple tools, not high level of mechanisation. Development projects like the hydroelectric projects, large dams and reservoirs, laying down of railway lines and roads are not only extremely beneficial, but they are also linked with several environmental problems. Many of these projects require immense deforestation.
Deforestation also results from overgrazing, agriculture, mining, urbanization, flood, fire, pest, diseases, defence and communication activites. Deforestation results in an immediate lowering of ground water level and in long-term reduction of precipitation. Due to deforestation, this natural reuse cycle is broken and water is lost through rapid run off.
Mining activities in forest regions cause deforestation and soil erosion. Underground mining has also significantly denuded forests, as timber is used for supporting the roofs of mine galleries. A large number of abandoned mines are lying in bad shape and are under extensive gully erosion leading to degradation of the habitat.
Ecosystems consisting of water as the main habitat are known as aquatic ecosystems. The aquatic organisms include Neuston—unattached organisms which live at the airwater interface such as floating plants, etc; Plankton includes both microscopic plants like algae (phytoplankton) and animals like crustaceans and protozoans (zooplankton) found in all aquatic ecosystems, except certain swift moving waters; Nekton includes animals range in size from the swimming insects (about 2 mm long) to the largest animals, the blue whale; Benthos, the benthic organisms are those found living in the bottom of the water mass.
Eutrophication is a syndrome of ecosystem, response to the addition of artificial or natural nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates through fertilizer, sewage, etc that fertilize the aquatic ecosystem. It is primarily caused by the leaching of phosphate and or nitrate containing fertilisers from agricultural lands into lakes or rivers. Eutrophication eventually create detritus layer in the ponds & lakes and produces successively shallower depth of surface water. Eventually the water body is reduced into marsh whose plant community is transformed from an aquatic environment to recognizable terrestrial ecosystem.
From individuals, it increases to population, then to community, and then to ecosystem, then to an Ecotone. Ecotone is a zone of junction between two or more diverse ecosystems. For e.g. the mangrove forests represent an ecotone between marine and terrestrial ecosystem. Other examples are—grassland, estuary and river bank physical and chemical factors that a species needs to survive, stay healthy and reproduce.
A niche is unique for a species, which means no two species have exact identical niches. Niche plays an important role in conservation of organisms. If we have to conserve species in its native habitat we should have knowledge about the niche requirements of the species and should ensure that all requirements of its niche are fulfilled.
So, from this Ecotone, it then developed into the Biosphere, a part of the earth where life can exist. It is a narrow layer around the surface of the earth. If we visualise the earth to be the size of an apple the biosphere would be as thick as its skin.
Life in the biosphere is abundant between 200 metres (660 feet) below the surface of the ocean and about 6,000 metres (20,000 feet) above sea level. Biosphere represents a highly integrated and interacting zone comprising of atmosphere (air), hydrosphere (water) and lithosphere (land). Biosphere is absent at extremes of the North and South poles, the highest mountains and the deepest oceans, since existing hostile conditions there do not support life. Occasionally spores of fungi and bacteria do occur at great height beyond 8,000 metres, but they are not metabolically active, and hence represent only dormant life.
The energy required for the life within the biosphere comes from the sun. The nutrients necessary for living organisms come from air, water and soil. The same chemicals are recycled over and over again for life to continue.
Living organisms are not uniformly distributed throughout the biosphere. Only a few organisms live in the polar regions, while the tropical rain forests have an exceedingly rich diversity of plants and animals (50% of Global Biodiversity).
These levels, i.e. from individual to biosphere, are main the levels of organisation in ecology. An addition or excessive addition of certain materials to the physical environment (water, air and lands), making it less fit or unfit for life is called Pollution. Pollutants are the materials or factors, which cause adverse effect on the natural quality of any component of the environment. For example, smoke from industries and automobiles, chemicals from factories, radioactive substances from nuclear plants, sewage of houses and discarded household articles are the common pollutants. And how does pollution affect the biosphere? Air pollution can damage crops and trees in a variety of ways. Ground-level ozone can lead to reductions in agricultural crop and commercial forest yields, reduced growth and survivability of tree seedlings, and increased plant susceptibility to disease, pests and other environmental stresses (such as harsh weather).
We'll continue our talk on the next session, bi 'idhnillah."
