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Ecological Engineering

Here are the key points about DDT and 2,4-D: - DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) was the first modern synthetic insecticide developed in the 1940s. It was very effective at controlling insects that transmit diseases like malaria and typhus. - DDT saw widespread use for insect control in agriculture, homes, and public health applications. However, many insect pests developed resistance to DDT over time. - 2,4-D is an herbicide that kills plants by disrupting the way certain cells grow. It comes in different forms (salts, esters, acid) that impact its toxicity and environmental effects. -

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Ana May Aban
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97 views4 pages

Ecological Engineering

Here are the key points about DDT and 2,4-D: - DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) was the first modern synthetic insecticide developed in the 1940s. It was very effective at controlling insects that transmit diseases like malaria and typhus. - DDT saw widespread use for insect control in agriculture, homes, and public health applications. However, many insect pests developed resistance to DDT over time. - 2,4-D is an herbicide that kills plants by disrupting the way certain cells grow. It comes in different forms (salts, esters, acid) that impact its toxicity and environmental effects. -

Uploaded by

Ana May Aban
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Ecological Engineering

Ecological engineering combines the disciplines of ecology and engineering in order to


solve environmental problems. The approach is to interfere ecosystems with technology to
create new, hybrids systems. Designs are evolving in this page for wastewater treatment,
erosion control ecological restoration and many other applications. The goal of ecological
engineering is to generate cost effective alternatives to conventional solutions. Ecosystems are
designed , constructed and operated to solve environmental problems otherwise addressed by
conventional technology. Ecological engineering is a new approach to both ecology and
engineering which justify a new name.

The principles and theories of ecology are fundamental for understanding natural
ecosystems and, therefore also for the design, construction and operation of new ecosystems
for human purposes. The ecosystem is the network of biotic (species populations) and abiotic
(nutrients, soil, water etc.) components found at a particular location that function together as a
whole through primary production, community respiration and biochemical cycling.

The relationship of ecological engineering to the overall discipline of engineering is not


well developed, probably because most of the originators of the field have been primarily
ecologists rather than engineers. This situation is changing rapidly but to a large extent the early
work has been dominated by ecology. Ecological engineers design, build and operate new
ecosystems for human purposes. Engineering contributes to all of these phases but the design
phase is critical.

Another goal of ecological engineering is to solve environmental problems, but only a


subset of the environmental problems that face humanity can be dealt with by constructed
ecosystem designs. Most amenable to ecological engineering may be various forms of pollution
clean up or treatment. In these cases, ecosystems are sought that will use the polluted
substances s resources. Thus, the normal growth of the ecosystem breaks down or stabilizes
the pollutants, sometimes with the generation of useful products. This is a case of turning
problems into solutions, which is an overall strategy of ecological engineering. An ecological
engineering design relies on a network of species to perform a given function, such as
wastewater treatment or erosion control. The function is usually a consequence of a normal
growth and behaviour of the species. Therefore finding the best mix of species for the design of
a constructed ecosystem is a challenge. Designs of new ecosystem requires the creation of
networks of energy flow (food chains and web) and biochemical cycling (uptake, storage, and
release of nutrients, minerals, pollutants).

The book Ecological Engineering is intended to be a survey of the discipline of


ecological engineering, rather than a designed manual. One theme is to review examples of the
new, ecological engineered systems and to put them in the context of ecological concepts and
theory. It focused on case study applications in ecological engineering. Examples are designs
are described along with the ecological details for each case study.

Included in the book is about sanitary engineering which is referred to as the modern
conventional methods of treating domestic sewage through a sequence of sub-systems in which
different treatment processes are employed. At the scale of the individual home, septic tanks
with drain fields are used. This is a simple but remarkably effective system that is used widely.
Physical sedimentation occurs in the septic tank itself and the solid sludge must be removed
periodically. Anaerobic metabolism by microbes occurs inside the tank, which initiates the
breakdown of organic matter in the sewage. Liquids eventually flow out from the tank into a
drain field of gravel and then into the surrounding soil where microbes continue to consume the
organic matter and physical/chemical processes filter out pathogens and nutrients. The larger-
scale-sewage treatment plants use similar processes for primary treatment(sedimentation of
sludge) and secondary treatment(microbial breakdown of organic matter) in a more highly
engineered manner. Processes can be aerobic or anaerobic depending on basic design
features.

Ecology as a science may be able to lead the design of biodiversity in treatment


wetlands through ecological engineering. Several examples of important taxa that are discussed
in the book includes microbes, higher plants, protozoans, mosquitoes, musktrats, aquatic
species, etc.

The following are the given definitions for each taxa;

Microbes

The term microbe includes a number of different types of organisms that occur at the
microscopic range of scale. The ecology and physiology of microbes is much different from
macroscopic organisms because of their small size and because their surface-to-volume ratios
are so much larger(Allen, 1997).

Higher Plants

Higher plants, especially flowering plants are an obvious feature of wetlands including
treatment wetlands(Cronk and Fennessy, 2001).

Protozoans

Protozoans are microscopic animals found primarily in soils and sediments. A variety of
groups are known, roughly separated by locomotion type:amoebae, flagellates, and ciliates,
along with foraminifera. Their primary role in treatment wetlands is as predators on then
bacteria.

Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes are biting flies of the insect family Culiciade. They are well known to be
associated with wetlands since their larvae are aquatic.

Muskrats

Muskrats are large, semiaquatic rodents that are distributed throughout most of
temperate countries. It can occur in treatment wetlands which provide ideal habitats due to a
dominance of preferred food plants and stable water levels.
Bicol University College of Agriculture and Forestry
Guinobatan,Albay

Landscape Ecology
Ecological Engineering
Area-Wide Management

Ana May A. Aban


II-BTVTED-CP
 What is DDT?

DDT ( dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) wasdeveloped as the first of the modern


synthetic insecticides in the 1940’s. It was initially used with great effect to combat
malaria, typhus and the other insect-borne human diseases among both military and
civilian populations. It also was effective for insect and control in crop and livestock
production, institutions, homes and gardens. DDT’s quick success as a pesticide
and broad use led to the development of resistance by many insect pest species.

 What is 2,4-D?
A 2,4-D is an herbicide that kilss pplants by changing tha way certain cells grow. 2,4-
D comes in several chemical forms, including salts,esters, and an acid form. The toxic
of 2,4-d depends on it’s form. The form also affects what will happen to 2,4-d in the
environment and what impacts it may have, especialyy on fish. 2,4-D is used in many
products to control weeds and it is often mixed with other herbicides in these products.

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