Fundamentals of Ecology

A SHORT PRESENTATION FOR

PSPA 4104
(STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL MGT)
1ST SEMESTER SY 2022-2023

ALFONSO B. CATOLIN, D.M.

PROFESSOR
 Guide Questions
1. What are: environment, ecosystem and biodiversity?
What are their relationships to each other?
2. What make them relevant to human life and
development?
3. What are the roles of the government in environmental
management?
4. What choices civil society can take for its roles?
 OBJECTIVES

1. To define basic concepts of environment, ecosystems, biological

diversity and sustainability and describe their relationships;
2. To present their significance to life and sustainability of humanity;
3. To have an overview of the roles the Philippine government in
managing the country’s environment and natural resources;
 PART II
The Environment, Ecosystem and Biodiversity
Environment - refers to the factors in the surroundings of the
human community.
The abiotic environment consist of the physical elements such as
climate and its components, geological elements , geographic
features and their chemical compositions, among others.
The Biotic environment compose of living organisms, which are
characterized with the ability to undergo the process of
respiration. In the societal context, there are also cultural,
socioeconomic and ideological environment that influence the
status of the environment in general.
 Areas of Environmental Studies

Main:
Forest and vegetation – green environment
Aquatic – marine and inland – blue environment
Waste Management – brown environment (out of human activities)
Emerging Issues:
Population, development and human settlements
Climate change
Biodiversity loss
Hazardous chemicals and toxic wastes
Invasive species
 Ecosystem and Ecology
 The word ecology was coined by the German zoologist Ernst Haeckel, who applied
the term oekologie. The word comes from the Greek oikos, meaning “household,”
“home,” or “place to live.” Thus, ecology deals with the organism and its
environment.
 The concept of environment includes the organisms and their physical
surroundings.
 The interactions between individuals, between populations, and between organisms
and their environment form the ecosystems.
 Ecology has been defined variously as “the study of the interrelationships of
organisms with their environment and each other,” as “the economy of nature,”
and as “the biology of ecosystems.”
In layman’s term, the ecosystem describes:

a dynamic entity with ecological processes

with location and boundaries
components
relationships between components
Inputs and outputs (in terms of energy and materials)
Structures of the Ecosystem
 Meanings of terms

 Population - describes abundance, distribution, productivity and

dynamics of the group of the same species
 Community- description and quantification of assemblages of
different species and populations
 Ecosystems concept – behaviors and interactions among organisms
in their environment of bounded ecological system
 Landscape ecology – spatial arrangements of different ecosystems
and how their components behave and interact
 Biosphere - global sum of all the ecosystems of the earth
 General classification of Ecosystem components
 the producers (green plants),
 the consumers (herbivores and carnivores)
 the decomposers (fungi and bacteria), and
 the nonliving, or abiotic, component, consisting of dead organic
matter and nutrients in the soil and water. Inputs into the ecosystem
are solar energy, water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and other
elements and compounds.

 Major input is sunlight (from outside of the biosphere)

 Major outputs from the ecosystem include water, oxygen, carbon
dioxide, nutrient losses, and the heat released in cellular respiration,
or from organisms.
 Importance of the Ecosystem
The ecosystems of planet Earth are coupled to human survival.
(Human ecology)

Ecosystems regulate the global geophysical cycles of energy,

climate, soil nutrients, and water that in turn support and grow
natural capital including the environmental, physiological,
cognitive, cultural, and spiritual dimensions of life.

Evevery manufactured product comes from natural system. Every

product returns to the environment, including wastes
Functional Concept of the Ecosystem
 Relationships of various ecological components

1. Co-habitation - existence of two organisms, each does not

have any impact to another, positive nor negative
2. Commensalism - relationship of which one benefits but
without adverse effect to the other
3. Mutualism - each one benefit from the relationship
 Relationships of various ecological components

4. Competition - two organisms struggles to outdo the

other for access and control finite resources for survival
5. Parasitism - one organism benefitsat at the expense of
the other
6. Predation - one organism consumes the other
7. Synergy - the elements are more functional or
successful when together, compared to the total
functions achieved when separately
Major processes in the ecosystem : Energy Flow
Major processes in the ecosystem : Water Cycle
Major Processes: Food Chain (structure)
Major Processes in the Ecosystem: Food Web
Major Processes in the Ecosystem: Carbon Cycle
Open Ecosystem: Agricultural System
 Characteristics of an Open Ecosystem: Agricultural
Some amount of energy and materials from the system are
taken out.
Therefore, it should be replaced from some other forms to
offset losses, sustain ecological productivity and attain a
semblance of ecological balance.
Agricultural inputs (e.g., fertilizers) serve the purpose by
adding nutrients to the soil.
When some components of the ecosystem become harmful to
others, it is usually cured by the use of more inputs (e.g.,
pesticides).
 Changes in the Ecosystem Processes:
What would be the impact
PROCESS NATURE OF CHANGE KNOWN AND
PROBABLE IMPACTS
Energy flow Excessive amount of atmospheric increased atmospheric temperature; increased
carbon (CO2) from deforestation amount of rain; climate change
and air pollution

Water cycle Drying up of rivers and lakes Loss of fresh water population (e.g. fish); fresh
(fresh water bodies) water crisis; hydroelectric plants will
malfunction; irrigation will stop and will affect
agriculture;
Inland fisheries (fishpond) will be devastated

Food Chain Loss of some higher hierarchy of Over population of lower level consumers; pest
consumer species infestation

Nutrient cycle Intensive production of annual High inputs, soil degradation through
crops (e.g., sugar cane) acidification, decrease of organic matter and
change of soil characters
 Ecological Succession
 isa process of change over an ecological landscape
over time. It features the building up of a population of
species into a stable mixed communities. (pls. see
video: Ecological succession in a climax forest)
 Biological Diversity or Biodiverstiy

Biodiversity is the character attributed to the ecosystem. It describes

variations in the ecosystem in terms of species, population and
ecosystems.

Types of Biodiversity:
Species (diversity of life forms)
Populations of species (diversity of population dynamics)
Ecosystems (diversity of ecological functions)
 Why is biodiversity relevant to the ecosystem?

Biodiversity is an indication of life forms in the

ecosystem, ecological productivity and capacity to
support life. The higher the diversity the richer is the
ecosystem. A simple ecosystem can only support
simple life; a complex ecosystem supports many lives.
1

Biodiversity status in the Philippines

Taxonomic Group Species Endemic Species Percent Endemism

Plants 9,253 6,091 65.8

Mammals 167 102 61.1

Birds 535 186 34.8

Reptiles 237 160 67.5

Amphibians 89 76 85.4

Freshwater Fishes 281 67 23.8

Source: Conservation International (2007). Biodiversity Hotspots - Philippines. Accessed from

http://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/hotspots/philippines/pages/biodiversity.aspx. Oct.4, 2011
Philippine threatened endemic faunal species:
Accessed from http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/search/link/4eaa4b68-364268ed. October 28, 2011
 Philippine endangered endemic faunal species:
their populations were reduced by at least 50% in the last 10 years
 Environmental Sustainability
 Environmental integrity is maintained
 The functional capacities of the ecological components are
viable
 The ecosystems are productive
 They support life
 The ecosystems do not face threats: the issues that they
encounter are manageable by natural recovery mechanisms
 The conditions guarantee long term ecological viability
Environmental Issues in the Philippines

Poverty and the Philippine environment

(For discussion)
 Simplified Relationship Between Rural Poverty and
Environmental Degradation

Environmental
Poverty Degradation
 Causes and Impacts of Environmental Issues

Impacts Resulting
Main Causes
Problems and Issues
Urban Poverty Congestion and Unemployment causes the poor to
pollution converge to urban areas to look for
jobs. It results to rapid population
growth unsupported by adequate
settlement facilities like housing,
health/ nutrition, education and
recreation among others. It strains the
environment.
 Causes and Impacts of Environmental Issues

Main Causes Impacts Resulting

Problems and Issues

Rural Poverty Destruction of Rural poverty can drive people to

forests the frontier lands (forests) for
survival. Having been deprived of
lands they tend to move to the
unallocated areas and engage in
land conversion, from forest to
agriculture.
Relationship between affluence and environmental degradation

Uneducated Environmental
Affluence Degradation
Major environmental issues in the Philippines
Main Causes Impacts Resulting Problems and
issues
Uneducated Demand for goods Increased production
affluence and avail of services that calls for
far more than that of industrialization;
an average individual demand for increased
exploitation of natural
resources; increased
pollution.
 Causes and Impacts of Environmental Issues

Main Causes Impacts Resulting

Problems and Issues

Fast growing Increased demand Unregulated land use

population; for lands for conversion, natural
settlements and resources exploitation
infrastructures;
increased
demands for
foods, goods, and
services
 Major environmental issues in the Philippines

Main Causes Impacts Resulting Problems and

issues

Habitat Change of the Organisms which are

destruction: natural state specific to their
Natural causes of the natural habitat will
Human activities ecosystem. die.
 Major environmental issues in the Philippines

Main Causes Impacts Resulting Problems

and issues
Loss of Release of Contribute to
permanent large amount global warming
vegetation of carbon to and climate
the change
atmosphere
Major environmental issues in the Philippines
Main Causes Impacts Resulting Problems and
issues
Pollution Global warming Climate change.
Health hazards for Climate driven
humans and other disasters. Increase of
organisms in the incidence of human
ecosystem; alters the ailments, may reduce
earth’s natural the life support
biological and physical capacity of water, air
balance. and land resources
 What are the roles of government in environmental
management towards attaining sustainability?

 Pls. see: State of the Philippine Environment (html)

 Conclusions
 Environment is the human world, and the totality of things
around him. It compose of living and non-living things
and the surrounding factors of existence
 Ecosystem is the entity for life formaion, support and
maintenance
 Biodiversity is the character of the Ecosystem
 Sustainability
is a condition where the viability of the
components of the ecosystem are maintained.
 The main theme of Ecosystem Sustainability is balance which
is attained by the natural functioning of the ecosystem
components and regular operation of ecosystem processes;
 The earth’s ecosystems are support facilities for life and there
is no other. The survival of humanity is dependent to their
viability and sustainability.
 The government is the most potent institution that can facilitate
the attainment for environmental integrity and ecological
sustainability. The current state of our environment indicates
that governmental policies and mechanisms are inadequate to
regulate environmental degradation.
 Biodiversity is the indicator of the earth’s capacity to
support life. Natural species provide the clue as to the
conditions of the environment-they are vital in
environmental diagnostics.
 Low biodiversity means that it has little capacity to
support life.
 In the in situ conservation strategy, we manage habitats
not just to preserve the birds and wildlife; most of all, we
want to maintain the viability of the earth where we live
in.
 The entire humanity are stakeholders to the sustainability
of the ecosystems. Responsibility in keeping the
ecosystem viable should not be accounted solely to
government; the public should take a greater burden. The
authority should not be left solely to the government but
ordinary people should have strong participation in
environmental governance.
 THANK YOU

MAY THE LORD BLESS US

AND THE EARTH WE LIVE IN