7.2 environmental science assignment

Environmental Biology

(11 reviews)

Matthew R. Fisher

Publisher: Open Oregon Educational Resources

Language: English

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Reviewed by Mark Jordan, Associate Professor, Seattle University on 4/9/24

The breadth of topics is a good representation of environmental issues covered in a survey course. The biology content covers all the major levels of biological organization from cells to ecosystems, and the chemistry and biochemistry content is... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Where I found the book most in need of supplementation was in the first chapter, which attempts to cover the scientific method, sustainability, environmental ethics, and environmental justice all in one chapter. On study design, other scientific approaches beyond controlled experiments and observational could have been invluded (e.g. models and natural experiments) because of their relevance to environmental biology. Because the term "sustainability" is used so frequently, I wish it had been more deeply covered, in particular by addressing the economic and cultural pillars in addition to the scientific. I have some quibbles with the categorization of some of the ethics in the Environmental Ethics subsection, but it has generally good coverage (conflict between preservation and conservation, The Land Ethic, indigenous ethics, the tragedy of commons...).

Content Accuracy rating: 5

While there is a strong theme of negative human impacts on the environment, this is to be expected in book of this topic. Controversial topics like GE crops are treated in an even-handed way that could lead to further class discussion. I did not find any major factual inaccuracies.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The further reading options give good, relevant case studies, though these could be updated. Some of the case studies in the body of the text may also need periodic updating.

Clarity rating: 5

The text has a good mix of explanations and examples. Some of the sections are relatively text-heavy, but the authors have selected good images to illustrate many of the more complex concepts. The population and community ecology sections are equation free, which makes the material more approachable, though this may not be a good fit for all classes.

Consistency rating: 3

There is some variation in depth of coverage. For example, population growth models get a decent, basic coverage but human population growth is covered in a more superficial way.

Modularity rating: 4

I could definitely see using certain sections of this book independently, though my previous comment about consistency means that some sections are better than others at providing sufficient depth.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

There is a clear organization starting with an introduction to environmental science and sustainability followed by a few chapters of biology basics. The final half of the book covers environmental issues that build on the themes in the earlier sections of the book.

Interface rating: 4

I evaluated both the digital pdf and the online html version of the book. It was generally easy to navigate. Some images are missing. The formatting is a little wonky in places in the pdf version, but not so bad that it impedes comprehension.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No notable grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

Ch. 1.5. "Environmental Justice and Indigenous Struggles" is well-intentioned but a very surface coverage of these issues, which would be better to have been integrated throughout the book instead of marginalized in a brief section at the end of the first chapter. For example, the section on the water supply crisis in chapter 7 may have been a good place to bring up the Flint, MI water crisis instead of placing it in this section.

This book is a good overview of environmental science. As the title suggests, the primary science content is biological. In fact, the middle third of the book could also be used for a section of an introductory biology textbook (which I believe is the source of this content). The level of the material is probably best for a college non-majors survey course.

Reviewed by Tobias Gerken, Assistant Professor of Integrated Science, James Madison University on 7/16/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The text is composed as an introductory environmental science text. Consistent with the title of the book, the focus of the book is clearly set on biological processes with some additional consideration given to water issues, air pollution, and energy. The introductory chapter of the book also provides a brief introduction to scientific inquiry and the concept of environmental justice. The textbook’s approach to environmental science is generally descriptive and qualitative, making the text in my opinion appropriate for a general education or liberal-arts based course. I personally consider working with data and problem solving a key skill for science classes and this is something that is at present not reflected in the text and would need to be supplemented.

For me, as a non-biologist, the biology chapters (Ecosystems, Ecology, Biodiversity) are most comprehensive, while still being accessible. Subsequent chapters covering water, air, and energy production are much more condensed and lack, in my opinion, a bit of depth. For example, climate change is covered only as a subsection of the air chapter and is treated in very broad strokes. A more detailed treatment of the science of climate change, regional and system specific climate change impacts and connections to the societal causes of anthropogenic climate change would have been helpful. A similar argument could be made for air and water pollution, which have large negative impacts on human health.

Also, and given that energy is a key component of the Earth system and human society, more details on their workings and key associated environmental issues would be helpful.

The book does not contain an index or glossary, but key-terms are bolded highlighting important definitions and concepts. The addition of a summary index would be good, but the full text can be downloaded as a searchable PDF.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Overall, the content appears to be accurate and unbiased. The main limitation of this introductory text is that there is sometimes lack of detail or depth to the chapters on larger environmental issues, such that some important context (e.g. for climate change) is missing. I noticed one specific accuracy issue arising from this, for indoor air pollution. The section on indoor air pollution in the section on air pollution is titled: “Indoor air pollution (Major concerns in developed countries)” seems to imply by omission that indoor air pollution is mainly an issue in developed countries. However this is not the case as indoor air pollution from cooking fires presents a major health hazard globally. The chapter on human health (Chapter 6) correctly mentions this and it would have been good to reiterate this in the dedicated air pollution chapter.

Environmental science and current environmental issues such as air pollution, climate change, and biodiversity loss require regular updating of the text. The last major update to the text was in 2018 and sections are reasonably current. This text is based on two other open textbooks, OpenStax “Biology” and “Essentials of Environmental Science” by Kamala Doršner and I feel that the chapters of OpenStax are more current than the "Essentials" chapters. For example the water chapter contains a figure (Ch 7.2, Figure 2) about water scarcity that contrast 1995 as current with 2025 as the future and several graphs end in 2005 or present snapshots from c. 2005. I also found that number and figures in the human health and food chapters do not reference specific time periods, when comparing regions. For example, malnourishment and obesity are compared between regions (Ch 8.1, Figure 1) with no reference from when this data is. The accompanying text only makes reference to the last 20 years without specific a reference time. I understand that adding clear reference times, increases the need to keep the text current, but at least for the figures that is something that should likely be done and could also be easily accomplished by the individual instructor. Regarding climate change and air pollution, it would be good for the text to make reference to recent updates (e.g. the 4th National Climate Assessment) or the IPCC 1.5 degree special report or current trends in greenhouse gas emissions.

On a very positive note, the text does expose students to the ideas of environmental equity, environmental justice, and environmental racism, which is timely and unfortunately not yet standard.

The book is generally written in language accessible for lower-level college students or upper-level high-school students. Technical terms are clearly defined and bolded in the text and sometimes reappear to reinforce concepts. I would say that the text is sometimes a bit too dry giving clear explanations with context and direct appeals to interesting tidbits relegated to a few interspersed boxes and case-studies.

Consistency rating: 5

The text appeared to be consistent. I noticed that there are some minor formatting issues in the print-PDF, with some weird page changes and indentations, but this was not overly distracting from the contents. I noticed some imbalance in the way figures are used in the text: some chapters – like the biology chapters – have many figures demonstrating concepts, while other chapters for example chapter 1 seems to use photos as illustrations to visually break up the text.

Modularity rating: 5

I think the book is as modular as it gets, and it would be possible to re-arrange most chapters without confusing the reader. Chapters and chapter sections are fairly short with descriptive headings and concise, making it easy to divvy up readings/ work across class periods. I feel that sometimes the text is bordering on being too modular. For example, overarching concepts such as sustainability and how they related to each topic could be more clearly referenced across chapters to remind students about the bigger picture issues.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

Overall, the text has a logical structure, which is somewhat aligned with a bottom-up approach, after the introduction chapter the book covers biological topics from cellular biology to biodiversity and then pivots to environmental issues. I feel that either the book or individual instructors should provide some context on how these are related. There were a few instances, where I was surprised on how topics were arranged (for example joining air pollution, climate change, acid rain, and ozone depletion into a single chapter) or putting a box titled ‘Evolution in Action’ when talking about atomic composition. Similarly, the biodiversity chapter also includes a basic introduction to taxonomic groups, which at least for me feels out of place. At the same time, these are not major issues and can easily be overcome.

Interface rating: 5

I noticed only minor issues. One caveat is that the print-PDF has some additional formatting issues and at least one table (Chapter 6.3, Table 2) is cut-off in the PDF but not in the online version. Some of the figures could be higher resolution. Side-contents that is not part of the main text and labeled (‘Boxes’ or ‘Biology in Action’) could be more visually separated from the text (e.g. using actual boxes or shading). Some chapters contain QR codes to videos, which is a bit weird in the online version and even the PDF, since few students will use a printed copy and could simply access links directly.

I did not notice any major grammatical errors that reduced readability of the text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I did not notice any issues regarding cultural insensitivity and the book introduces students to issues of environmental equity and environmental racism, which should be highlighted when discussing environmental issues. The book is somewhat U.S.-centric with examples and references to regulations on environmental issues somewhat focusing on the U.S., which makes sense given the intended audience and that regulations are highly country specific. Some additional examples or regional differentiation when discussing water and climate issues on the other hand would be beneficial.

Reviewed by Margarita Poromanska, Environmental Science and Biology Instructor, College of DuPage on 4/16/21

The textbook covers the most important environmental topics. No index or glossary is provided read more

The textbook covers the most important environmental topics. No index or glossary is provided

The accuracy is good

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The treatment of the topics is contemporary. Future updates can be easily done.

There is a flow from chapter to chapter, with clear definitions and explanations.

The consistency is good

The textbook consists of 11 chapters, 342 pages, including end-of chapter review questions and an answer key.

The text is easy to navigate with a simple click (digital edition) from chapter to chapter, from one topic to another. Each chapter is provided with learning outcomes and a chapter outline.

It is well illustrated and provides online links, as well as lists of supplementary readings.

The grammar is good.

It provides with key case studies (Love Canal, The Aral Sea Crisis). It discusses Hetch Hetchy valley debate, The Tragedy of the Commons, among others.

Environmental Biology by Matthew R. Fisher can be used for beginner and intermediate Environmental Science/Environmental Biology classes.

Reviewed by pamela scheffler, professor, Hawaii Community College on 3/23/21

I am reviewing this book for a 100-level general education introduction to environmental science course. While the book lacks some of the detail of big publishing house textbooks it is still very thorough. It has a good range of topics/chapters and within the chapters it is comprehensive and includes enough explanation that most liberal arts students will not be confused by the content. It is, however, lacking is an index and glossary. The addition of those sections would improve the usability of the book immensely. In addition, I would have liked to have seen more depth (additional chapters) on some topics. Ecology is covered in a single chapter with community ecology, population ecology and human population all together. Human population growth could easily be covered as a stand-alone chapter rather than a sub-section of the fields of ecology. Also missing is a treatment of waste and waste management which deserve coverage (possibly it is the difference of 'environmental biology' vs. 'environmental science,' but it is relevant to biology and would have been a good addition). I like to cover fresh water and marine science in detail so would prefer a stand-alone chapter on oceans. Ditto for climate change which is covered along with air pollution and ozone depletion -- it deserves deeper coverage. Finally, I would have preferred the inclusion of a chapter on solutions/sustainability. However, this is one of the best OER texts on environmental science that I have come across and what it lacks in comprehensiveness can be made up through lecture and classroom activities.

I did not find many errors and those I found were not substantial.

There are a few places where time-sensitive numbers are used and those will become dated but that is not impossible to teach around. Most of the book is written in a rather modular style which will make updating sections relatively simple.

Clarity rating: 4

The book is written in a very understandable manner with explanations of terms that are complicated for students seeing them the first time around. The addition of a glossary would make me turn my '4' to a '5' since that gives students a quick way to look up terms that they can't quite remember.

Yes. The voice feels consistent throughout the book. The style remains the same for all chapters.

Very clean set up with chapters and sub-chapters for each topic. I like that the first page of every chapter has an overview of the chapter as a whole as well as short overviews of most of the sub-content. The chapter summaries are also helpful.

The organization is fine. I think that anyone teaching has their own style and will pair ideas differently, but it is not a problem to assign chapters out of order -- each stands alone without too much reference to previous material and so the instructor can essentially reorganize the book to suite their own teaching style. It starts with a good overview of the science and the issues that surround it and its implementation. The only thing I really lament is that the book ends with a chapter on energy. It did not feel very final to me, I would have liked to have seen a final chapter that tied the book together as well as the first chapter introduced it. I usually finish with (not-so-depressing) sustainable solutions to the problems that I have bombarded students with all semester and, if teaching with this text, would add an additional reading as a final assignment rather than end with the energy chapter from this book.

The online version is well-designed -- attractive and easy to navigate. I like the constant access to the Content menu while reading. The 'online,' 'pdf,' and 'ebook' links all opened to the same Open Oregon page for me, so I can't say comment the book would feel in printed form. The links to extras like videos, etc., all seemed to work and added to the educational experience in a non-obtrusive manner for those who want to use them.

I think I found one spelling error. Mostly it is a very clean book.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

I found the book to mostly focus on environmental science with little content that might be perceived as offensive. There is an introductory section on environmental justice and indigenous struggles. I thought that it was well-written and addressed the topics in a manner that was factual and inoffensive.

I think that this is a great OER textbook. It may not be the 'perfect' textbook, but is written in a way that including outside material to address missing content or skipping content that is not as relevant to the course being taught, will be a simple task to do. I appreciate that the 'voice' and organization are approachable for students who have not had a lot of science background and that this text informs without overwhelming.

Reviewed by Brad Carlson, Associate Professor, Wabash College on 2/24/21

I examined this book with two possible courses in mind: a non-majors environmental science course, and a 200 level ecology course for majors. For non-majors, it was nearly comprehensive (about a 4). It covered the primary environmental issues and provided a light primer on ecological concepts. However, many topics were arguably covered too briefly. For instance, the climate change section gave little sense of the relative impacts of different drivers of climate change (fossil fuels, land use change, etc.) and essentially no discussion of solutions beyond alternative energy sources (e.g., little or nothing about reforestation, carbon sequestration, etc.) Figures were somewhat lacking in parts of the text - for instance, the section on climate change discussed aerosols, albedo, sea level rise, disease spread, all without figures. For a majors course in ecology, it was inadequate. Many key ecological topics received only a cursory examination befitting of a high school textbook, at most, and broad theoretical ideas were minimal. Important concepts weren't covered in much depth at all: for example, a few thousand words is dedicated to community ecology, but more content here was focused on simplistic topics like prey being camouflaged to avoid predators than on the concept of competition and niches. There was very minimal quantitative content of any kind.

Little in the way of major inaccuracies, but some incompleteness (perhaps reflecting bias). For instance, as far as I could tell, organic agriculture was described essentially as environmentally superior in every regard, neglecting to discuss the lower yields (and hence higher land use) and reduced yield stability of organic agriculture.

Content seemed mostly up-to-date with room for further updates regarding dynamic topics (like climate change).

Generally was readable and written in a straightforward manner. I don't think the terminology would be too difficult for college students, although sometimes the explanations of terms may be separated from their first use. Some very important terms are unfortunately used with little explanation: the word "regulation" appears in the title and subheading when discussing population regulation, but the word is absent from the text, a notable omission given how many students struggle to understand the meaning of regulation in the context of population dynamics.

I noticed no inconsistencies and the format was relatively predictable, though "case studies" appeared in a somewhat surprising manner.

Overall it seemed to be about as modular as it could be, given the extent to which some topics need to be contextualized by other material.

I observed no organizational problems in general, though a straight read-through might lead someone to feel a bit confused by the pivots from general ecology to environmental issues.

The general interface seemed perfectly fine on my device. The text did not always appear to match up well with the figures/tables - some figures were not cited in the text, and one table had a noteworthy blank value in it that was unaddressed and would likely raise unanswerable questions.

No errors I noticed.

There was recognition of racial/socioeconomic/global disparities in environmental impacts, which would be a key way to address this matter within the context of this text, though certainly more could have been said. Though I did not notice it to be explicitly stated anywhere, the book has an America-centric quality, to the point of referring to "Our nation...", which I would suggest should be removed.

Reviewed by Paula Mejia-Velasquez, Adjunct Professor, Leeward Community College on 7/23/20

This book is a good resource for an introductory level class on Environmental Science, covering most of the topics usually addressed in a class at this level. Some topics are explained in more detail than others, but all the topics presented in the book are well explained. Several of the chapters include case studies, which help students connect the topics to real-life examples. Because of my personal interests, I would include more case studies in other chapters as well. For example, there are many examples of Biodiversity loss and restoration projects that could be included in the Biodiversity chapter. There are some topics that are missing in the book and that I consider crucial as part of any introductory level Environmental Science class: waste management and plastic pollution. Usually, these topics include concepts like landfills, waste to energy power plants, recycling, reducing waste, composting, and Pacific Garbage Gire. Climate change was included in the air pollution chapter, but it needs to be addressed in more depth, maybe devoting a whole chapter to it and include a more detailed section on how to decrease emissions.

The content of the book is mostly accurate and free of bias. However, there are several instances where the content is inaccurate or outdated. For example, in the section about climate change, the main consequences of climate change are presented as a future issue: “These changes will impact our food supply, water resources, infrastructure, ecosystems, and even our own health”. It then presents future scenarios on sea-level rise, ice melting, increases temperature, ocean acidification, and increases in storm frequency. All the scenarios included are presented as future scenarios, which is inaccurate and misleading because we are currently undergoing many of the severe consequences of climate change. In the future, of course, these effects will only get worse if greenhouse gasses emissions are not cut, but it is not accurate to present an issue as a future issue when it is already happening. The IPCC supplementary reading in this section is from 2013, so it should be updated with more up to date and accurate information, and also better descriptions of current and future effects of climate change.

The content of the book is relevant, as it covers most of the environmental issues that our planet is currently facing. In terms of longevity, the examples used in the book are good representations of the topics, but some of the case studies could be updated to include some recent developments relevant to the case studies or even replace the case study with a more recent event. For example, an environmental disaster like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico or the Flint Water Crisis could be great examples of environmental hazards, dangers of nonrenewable fuel extraction, the role of pollution in biodiversity decrease, and long term effects of toxic pollutants in the environment.

I find the book easy to follow and read, at a level that is accessible and understandable for undergrad students. Some terms are only mentioned in the text, but not defined, therefore a glossary would be helpful to increase the overall clarity of the content.

The book is consistent from beginning to end, presenting a similar writing style and format.

The organization of the chapters and the subunits is clear and consistent. Individual chapters or the subunits can be found easily on the chapter outline, and the order of the book content can be easily changed based on teaching preferences. For example, I first cover population and community ecology before moving to Biomes. This personalization in the topic’s order is facilitated by the fact that each chapter and subunit in the book can be linked independently, so one could easily just copy and paste the link to the school LMS or class website.

The topics in the book are presented in a logical order, but as stated above, the order of the chapters can be easily changed depending on how instructors teach their classes. The structure of the chapters and subunits is consistent throughout the book. Additional characteristics included in all chapters are learning outcomes, a chapter outline, a summary, and review questions. All of these characteristics are very useful to students, as they help them to understand what is expected of them in each chapter and they can use the review questions for self-evaluation.

The textbook is easy to navigate in its online version. I was very happy to see some videos included in the textbook, as well as links to other supplementary materials. Students really enjoy visual content and it is great if they can find it in the class textbook. Some videos on my computer looked like plain photos, so students might miss them. Maybe a caption can be added below the videos, including the video name (with hyperlink), author, and attribution, just to make clear it is a video. Some videos in the book have captions and some don’t. For example the video at the end of subunit “1.1. The Earth, humans and the environment” does not have a caption, but the video at the end of subunit “2.1 Matter” has a caption. There are some QR codes in the text that are useful if you have the printed version of the book, but they are not as convenient if you are accessing the textbook from a computer, or even from a phone. Maybe a link to the content can be added to the QR caption. I accessed the textbook using two different OER repositories to test the book’s navigation, it was smooth in both platforms. However, there were some figures missing in one of the OER repositories (i.e. Figure 1 in section 10.4. Climate Change), but this is probably a problem derived from the harvesting process of the materials by that specific repository. The pdf version of the book looks nice, the only things I found distracting were that it had several blank pages, and the questions at the end of the chapters had different font styles and sizes. Some of the figures in all of the 3 formats I accessed seem to be of low resolution, which renders them difficult to read if they are graphs or have some type of labeling. This is especially concerning in terms of accessibility. This is not unique to this textbook, as I have seen this in other OER textbooks as well.

The text contains no significant amount of grammatical errors.

I did not find the book to be culturally insensitive or offensive. It includes examples from a wide variety of places and ecosystems.

This book does a great job of covering and explaining most of the major environmental concepts and issues that are typically included in an introductory-level Environmental Science class. It includes videos and other supplementary materials, it is easy to read, each chapter includes learning outcomes, a chapter outline, a summary, and review questions. It could use some minor updates, but overall it is a great resource.

Reviewed by Judith Otto, Associate Professor, Framingham State University on 6/29/20

The text covers most areas and ideas of the subject appropriately, although in less detail than commercial textbooks. I reviewed this for a course on Environmental Science, where I would want more content on topics like energy resources and environmental regulations, but that is not a criticism of a textbook titled Environmental Biology. Unfortunately, there is no index or glossary. There are hyperlinks to many other resources like websites and video clips; these enhance the comprehensiveness and usefulness of the text. Learning objectives and an outline at the beginning of each chapter will help students to “pre-read” the text. Likewise, chapter summaries and comprehensive citations at the end of each chapter will help students to retain the main points and to seek further information on topics of interest. I believe that climate change deserves its own chapter, not a subsection in a chapter on Air Pollution.

Content is accurate and reasonably unbiased, although a few points “upon which reasonable people may differ” are presented as facts without supporting evidence.

The content is up to date. Some charts and graphs will need to be updated over the next five years. The text is written and/or arranged in such a way that necessary updates will be relatively easy and straightforward to implement.

The text is written in accessible prose suitable for the undergraduate reader.

Consistency rating: 4

The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework, although some non-standard acronyms are used: e.g, CFOs instead of the more common CAFOs, for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations.

The sequence of chapters/topics allows later chapters to build on earlier, more foundational material.. The organization of subunits is clear and well signposted.

The topics in the text are presented in a logical, clear fashion. The text is enhanced by bolded key terms. Each chapter contains multiple-choice test question banks, with answers provided in the appendix.

The textbook is attractively laid out in a single-column format suitable for on-screen reading. One table has its right-side cut off in the PDF version, and there are occasional font size and spacing inconsistencies, but these are not major distractors in reading the text.

The text contains only a handful of typographical errors.

Examples and case studies are drawn from a wide variety of geographical locations and biomes. There is no offensive or culturally insensitive language.

Reviewed by Natasha Gownaris, Assistant Professor, Gettysburg College on 4/23/20

I was impressed by the comprehensiveness of this textbook – which covers topics ranging from the structure of prokaryotic cells to environmental justice and Superfund sites. There were a few places that I found the textbook to be lacking (possibly because of my personal interests!) In particular: 1) Though marine and freshwater systems were discussed, the level of detail and examples provided throughout the book lean towards terrestrial systems. I think this does a bit of injustice to the ecosystems that cover most of our planet! For example, in the section on "biomes", eight major terrestrial biomes are detailed. However, for marine systems, only three "biomes" are discussed: the ocean, coral reefs, and estuaries. The ocean is such a large and diverse system and warrants more discussion (upwelling systems! hydrothermal vents! krill-dominated Antarctic food webs!). Or, in the least, the fact that this diversity exists can be stressed a bit more and the reader could be pointed to something like https://www.nationalgeographic.org/activity/mapping-marine-ecosystems/. 2) Interpreting data is so central to environmental biology, so helping students develop comfort with data, equations, and graphs is an important component to a course on the topic. There are a few equations in the text (e.g. the mark-recapture equation), but it would be great if more of this could be added (e.g. the equation for logistic population growth or for calculating diversity indices) in addition to providing more figures that require interpreting data (e.g. the Keeling curve when discussing CO2 in the atmosphere). 3) I was happy to see a section on water pollution and to see eutrophication brought up several times throughout the text, but I was surprised not to see much discussion of the many other types of (increasingly worrisome) anthropogenic pollutants – e.g. plastics and microplastics, sound pollution. 4) It might be worthwhile to add a bit more on international agreements as they relate to the environmental sciences. For example, things like CITES and the Paris Agreement are mentioned, but the Sustainable Development Goals would link up well with a lot of the concepts covered (food security, land/ocean preserves, etc.)

I did not note many inaccuracies but there were a few places that I wasn't sure were inaccurate or just simplifications/lack of detail. For example, the author seemed to be describing trophic cascades on coral reefs in the section on this biome, but it wasn't clear if this description was correct (fishing leading to an increase in predation on corals) – I think of this trophic cascade as impacting coral because parrotfish (which usually eat algae off the coral, reducing competition for light) populations have declined through trophic cascades. I did note an error in Review Question 1 of Chapter 2 (the answer should say something like "the heavier carbon isotope"; even 12C is an isotope). Two other small things: 1) my understanding is that phytoplankton produce more like 50-70% of the oxygen on earth (not 40%), 2) when discussing mutations and evolution, it would be good to make clear that most mutations are not beneficial.

I was surprised by the lack of references in the text. Much of the information likely does not require a reference, but some statements should be backed up by a reference. For example, "A 1986 study estimated that 40% of the product of terrestrial plant photosynthesis — the basis of the food chain for most animal and bird life — was being appropriated by humans for their use. More recent studies estimate that 25% of photosynthesis on continental shelves (coastal areas) is ultimately being used to satisfy human demand." could definitely use references since the author is referring to specific studies. My main concern here is showing by example since it is sometimes a struggle to get students to properly acknowledge their sources.

Most of the information seemed timely enough (and certainly kept more up to date than non-open textbooks) and easy to update. The one thing I was surprised about was the author's language when discussing climate change. There was a lot of "may" and a lot of future tense. The scientific evidence overwhelmingly shows that many of the impacts the author discusses *will* occur and that, in fact, they are already occurring. For example, in Section 5.4, the author talks about climate change driven extinction and states that it "has not yet had a large impact" and later in this chapter states that "climate change will alter regional climates" but we are already seeing these impacts. Maybe add an image of temperature anomalies here to make this clear?

For the most part, the text is clear and easy to read. There were some sections, however, that had long sentences that were a bit difficult to get through (especially if not the terms are known to the reader). For example, the very first section starts with a long statement that includes terms like "carrying capacity", though these terms may not yet be known to the student. In some sections, adding tables or additional figures could be helpful to students if possible. For example, a simple table showing the life history characteristics of r vs. K-strategists might be an extremely useful guide for students not familiar with this categorization. There are also a few sections that should be dropped or have more detail added for clarity. For example, at the end of the section on biomes the author briefly lists several types of wetlands (bogs, marshes, swamps, mudflats, salt marshes) but provides no further information on how these are differentiated. In the section on the carbon cycle, the author very briefly mentions subduction, which feels abrupt and out of place without more detailed discussion of plate tectonics. The information covered by the book is impressive, and I know not everything can be covered in detail, but it might be better to remove statements like this rather than give a surface-level description.

The textbook was very consistent overall (structure of each chapter, types of figures used – e.g. similar figures used for all biogeochemical cycles). There is some inconsistency in the level of detail across topics, but that is true of any textbook. I do think there could be more balance in the focus on terrestrial vs. marine systems (as outlined above). I did not always feel that the chapter summaries really captured the focus of the chapter (e.g. there might be a couple of sentences on something very briefly covered, and only one sentence on something discussed in detail in the chapter), but appreciate that the author took the time to create this extra resource for students.

The textbook is sufficiently modular so that educators might assign sections in a different order or only assign certain chapters to their class. For example, I would personally move up the sections on ecology (population growth, community interactions) then introduce the various biomes to showcase these concepts. I do, however, think that the sections on evolution should be moved up in the text/should be the first ecological concepts covered. Though it does mean that there is some repetition, concepts are in large part explained with enough detail each time they are brought up, so that it isn't necessary that the student has read the preceding chapter. For example, eutrophication is brought up several times in the text and briefly defined each time.

The chapters were very well organized, with well-thought-out subsections and helpful additional features (learning outcomes, additional readings, summary, review questions). Though it would be helpful to have a glossary or appendix, readers can easily search for terms using a PDF version of the book. It might be useful to add some overarching themes to the text to provide a broader structural framework for students. For example, feedback loops have relevance to many topics in environmental biology (e.g. global warming, ice melt, and albedo) and seeing this concept in different contexts is a nice way to tie the field together. One smaller comment is that it would be easier to point students to figures if they were named based on the chapter (e.g. Figure 2.1 rather than every chapter having a Figure 1).

I tried both PDF versions and the online version and had no problems with the interface. It is useful to have the chapter subsections linked so that you can get to them quickly by clicking on them in the table of contents. In general, my students seem to like that you can easily leave yourself comments and jump back to that section with PDF versions of textbooks. As mentioned below, the only thing I would change is swapping out the QR codes for links (though this might cause difficulty if students choose to get the book printed).

There were a few places that could use a bit of wordsmithing (e.g. under "The Nature of Science" there are three sentences in a row that end "about the world" or "about the natural world") but overall I found the book very readable and well-written. There are a few small typos (e.g. two periods at the end of a sentence in the section "Types of Biodiversity") but I didn't notice many or feel they interfered with my reading of the book.

I did not find the book to be culturally insensitive. I appreciated that the book not only included but started off with a discussion of topics like environmental ethics and environmental justice.

I like the use of figures and videos throughout the text, and even more of these might be useful. Students seem to especially enjoy the youtube links in open textbooks. Another option might be to include links to podcasts, TED talks, interactive websites/visualizations, etc. to aid student understanding. There were a couple of places where relevance of the linked media was not immediately apparent to me – for example, Figure 1 in Chapter 2 which covers "the history and future of everything". I also found using QR codes cumbersome and expect my students would just skip these resources.

Reviewed by Beth Reinke, Assistant Professor, Northeastern Illinois University on 4/20/20

Overall, this book provides a comprehensive introduction to environmental science appropriate for an undergraduate class. Some sections were incredibly comprehensive, including those on biodiversity, photosynthesis and its importance, estimating population size (making it easy to design an associated lab using these methods), and an excellent description of major biomes that read well instead of like a data table in sentence form. Some of these sections approached the content level I’d expect of Campbell’s Biology, rather than an interdisciplinary book. For instance, the evolution chapter contained a lengthy section on the history of evolutionary thought. There were some minor things I was surprised to find omitted. For instance, the precautionary principle is introduced early on, but the opposite principle, innocent-until-proven-guilty, is never mentioned, despite this being the more common approach used by Western governments. An introduction to the electromagnetic spectrum in early chapters would also have primed students for later discussion of infrared radiation and the different effects of ultraviolet lights. Despite a discussion of the debate around using nuclear energy, there were no details on nuclear energy or the process. Diagrams of nuclear plants and an in-depth discussion of plant operation and safety would have been helpful. Quite surprisingly, there was almost no mention of plastic pollution or municipal solid waste (MSW). MSW was only mentioned in passing as a potential renewable energy source, with no time dedicated to landfills, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, or mitigating solid waste pollution. No text was dedicated to discussing recycling plants or processes, the three R’s, or the difficulties of exporting waste to be recycled. I do believe this is a significant oversight that will hopefully be corrected in later versions.

This book impressed me immediately with two sections in the first chapter that are oft neglected or put at the very end as an afterthought in many other environmental science books: “Environmental Ethics” and “Environmental Justice & Indigenous Struggles”. This was a refreshing change of pace to the typical introductory chapters of Environmental Science books. The first chapter also contains an extremely important section on the process of doing peer-reviewed science (page 13). This topic is often neglected in undergraduate courses across the sciences but is so essential (in my opinion) to helping students understand how science is done and why science literacy is so important. The text also contains great sections on zoos and their conservation successes and failures, an introduction to the concept of wilderness preserves reinforcing cultural perceptions of humans being separate from nature, and a great thorough discussion on GMOs and selective breeding. Finally, the section on modern agriculture and its effects is the most thorough I’ve seen in this type of textbook. Many sections contained actionable items for students and readers to do or be aware of to mitigate the issue being discussed, including a weighing of the different types of wood that I haven’t seen in any other textbook. All content was accurate to the best of my knowledge, though sentences were sometimes poorly worded (e.g., ‘Limiting nutrient’ appears to be defined as ‘necessary for growth’ which is misleading; page 79) or conflicted slightly with the associated figure (the discussion of taxonomy says that the “most specific [category] is species” and then the figure shows subspecies). Other things feel awkwardly omitted which makes me think maybe there is a reason I’m unaware of for excluding them, such as the two types of mimicry being discussed in detail in Section 4.4, without naming them as Batesian and Mullerian. The discussion of the differing capacity of regions of the world to switch to renewable geothermal or solar energy could have benefited from maps showing these trends (which I have seen elsewhere).

The last major update to this book occurred in November 2019 and included updates to sections with current information. The book includes a reference to the Flint Water Crisis in Chapter 1, and to President Trump, for example. Given the recent drastic changes in federal regulations, I expect more updates will be added to discussions of the Paris Agreement, governmentally-regulated acceptable levels of toxins, and the EPA. Many graphs with projections end in the 2000’s and are due for updates. There are some sections that don’t seem relevant for an environmental science book. A detailed introduction of prokaryotic vs. eukaryotic cells doesn’t seem necessary for a solid understanding of environmental science and is never touched on again after its introduction.

There are some definitions and acronyms that could use more explanation for an undergraduate class. For example, the first chapter refers to ‘per capita’ consumption without defining ‘per capita.’ CFCs and PCBs are also alluded to without definition in the first chapter. Taken literally, the clarity is poor on some graphs that appear to be low-resolution and are difficult to read.

The content in this textbook is very consistent. There are, however, lots of inconsistencies in formatting. For instance, in some cases figures span pages awkwardly and tables extend off the page, there are changes in text size for no reason, and sometimes words are bolded as vocabulary words while other times they are bolded for emphasis.

Like with most textbooks, key vocabulary words are bolded. Some of these are repeatedly defined which enhances the modularity of sections and chapters (e.g. biome in Section 3.1 and 3.3). Many of the early chapters contain supplementary resources and links but these dwindle as the book goes on, so if students are only introduced to later chapters, or chapters out of order, they will not know to reference those.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

Each chapter contains a set of objectives at the beginning, a summary section at the end, and a set of review questions with answers in the appendices. Some chapters contain subsections, denoted by small caps, or labeled as boxes. The text is written in a very readable voice and sections are no longer than they need to be. This book takes the approach of starting very specifically within environmental science, discussing the process of science and the importance of environmental studies and environmental justice, before diving into building the foundation of knowledge (e.g., atoms, energy, chemistry in Chapter 2). I think this works well, but have not tried this approach, to this breadth, in the classroom. There are a few major topics that I believe should be introduced much sooner than they are: evolution and climate change. Evolution doesn’t get introduced until Chapter 5 despite it being fundamental for understanding chapters like Chapter 4: Community and Population Ecology (as even noted in the famous Dobzhansky quote). A brief discussion of evolution, selection, and adaptation should probably be a subsection of Chapter 2. Similarly, Chapter 5 refers a lot to consequences of climate change but climate change itself isn’t defined or explained until the second-to-last chapter of the book. Given the consequences of climate change, it wouldn’t be difficult or far-fetched to frame most of the sections in the context of climate change, if it’s introduced first. The subsections, denoted by small caps such as “Evolution in Action,” “Biology in Action”, and “Evolution Connection” aren’t well differentiated and appear somewhat arbitrary. They pop up in the middle of marginally related topics. This is especially confusing in early chapters before evolution is discussed at all.

Interface rating: 3

The text pages are short but dense, without the spaces, columns, and colorful figures that typically space out text in a print textbook. I prefer it this way but students may disagree. Figures numbers restart in each subsection which can make them tricky to refer to in class or in class worksheets. Figures also aren’t always referenced in the text, are sometimes referenced incorrectly (e.g. Figure 2 is cited when Figure 3 should be, as on page 245), and are formatted inconsistently (not really a significant issue but still worth noting). Pages also don’t have a header or a footer stating the chapter or section, which made quickly referencing previous sections of the pdf a hassle. There is strange formatting in the review questions at the ends of chapters, in figures, between sections, and in text sizes. These are not major issues at all and don’t interfere with readability. In the pdf version, internal links do not work, except in Table of Contents, (but links going externally do). Some external links are behind paywalls (all National Geographic links) or are broken (Flint water crisis in Section 1.5, ‘multiple countries’ in Section 6.2) There are some figures that are links to MinuteEarth videos. These are very cool but are easy to miss so make sure you check them out! A major flaw, to me, is that many figures especially in the second half of the book, are QR codes. These codes are not clickable and so if students are reading on desktops or laptops, it will be cumbersome to get out their cell phones just to access the external links. Additionally, students without smartphones, or with older models, may be unable to access this content without clickable links.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

There are occasional typos and grammatical errors. There are some incomplete sentences (e.g. beginning of page 51, end of page 112), some omitted words (first sentence of page 84) or omitted spaces (top of page 94). These aren’t common enough to be distracting but are more prevalent than I’d expect in an edited print textbook.

See the comment above about the Environmental Ethics and Environmental Justice & Indigenous Struggles sections. This book is definitely geared towards a North American audience, though it does contain Case Studies and standard examples from around the world. The first chapter contains a cursory description of environmental racism, with a somewhat dismissive approach to the topic, and a brief introduction to environmental justice that is not expanded upon in further chapters.

This book also has an associated Google Drive folder of lecture slides. The slides are View Only but contain lots of great exercises (Think-Pair-Share, etc.) and links to external sources that make them a valuable resource. Updates to the book are also listed in the front, making continued use of this textbook simple from semester to semester. Note: I reviewed the downloaded pdf version of this OER so any page numbers or formatting issues mentioned below may not be accurate across platforms.

Reviewed by Michael Renfroe, Professor, James Madison University on 1/8/20

This text covers a very broad topic and is, for the most part, comprehensive in its treatment of the topics. There are a few areas where some increased explanation would be helpful for clarity. For example, in the discussion of eutrophication the author does not adequately explain the role of aerobic decomposers in oxygen depletion leading to hypoxia/anoxia and subsequent fish kills. In Chapter 5 – Conservation and Biodiversity, the section on Conservation of Biodiversity is under-developed. There is no mention of aquatic biodiversity, its importance, or methods for conservation. There is no glossary or index included with the text.

The content is accurate and there is no obvious bias. The authors go to great measures to speak from an objective perspective. If anything, the perspective is a bit too sterile and dispassionate, rendering the text a bit boring.

The broader principles and content information are timeless. Some of the case studies are a bit out of date. For example, case study 7.5 The Aral Sea does not mention any of the multinational remediation efforts that are underway to remediate this aquatic ecosystem.

The text is composed in a clear fashion. Terminology is defined or explained as it is introduced. Some figure legends could be expanded a little to improve the ability of the figure to stand alone without reference from within the text.

Some chapter sections are much more developed (6.3 Environmental Toxicology) than others (6.4 Bioremediation). There is somewhat uneven coverage of topics. The role of the intertidal sea star as a keystone species could be given increased coverage, especially given changes in the Pacific northwest oceanic community that is occurring now. The text refers to soils being depleted and interactions in the ecosystem being lost, but does not explain what interactions maintain the ecosystem or whether they can be restored.

The chapters could be easily redacted as to sequence, or could be selected to form shorter subject coverage. The units are easily sub-divisible into smaller sections.

The topics are in a logical progression, but also could be easily reorganized into a different progression depending upon what one wished to emphasize in the course or how one wished to organize and sequence the material.

When printed, there were changes in font sizes from paragraph to paragraph within sections. Also the review questions print out in different font sizes within a single chapter.

Few errors were noted. Most are minor such as the following sentence from Section 4.3. “Clean drinking water and proper disposal sewage has drastically improved health in developed nations.” The sentence should probably read “Clean drinking water and proper disposal of sewage has drastically improved health in developed nations.” An alternative version could be “Clean drinking water and properly disposed sewage has drastically improved health in developed nations.”

The text addresses multiple perspectives and addresses cultural differences in an objective and respectful manner.

The text goes into Matter, Energy, and Cell Structure in some detail, yet does not cover essential details of photosynthesis and respiration either in the context of energy cycling or in the carbon cycle. A course in environmental science is not likely to be a student's fist science course. Therefore Chapter 2 is likely to have been covered in greater detail in some previous course. I think this chapter could be eliminated. The section on protecting biodiversity is wholly inadequate with a mere four pages covering conservation practices. The importance of nature (and especially plants) to human psychology and physiology (biophilia and phytoncides) should be mentioned given the large body of published evidence on this topic. The text regularly makes bold statements, then leaves the topic without elaboration. For example, toward the end of section 5.3, it is stated: "The world's growing human population faces significant challenges in the increasing costs and other difficulties associated with producing food." This begs the question of how do we address these challenges? We need to leave our students with some sense of hope. Overall, this is a laudable work, but I would like to see some tweaking of the level of coverage of various topics.

Reviewed by Karen Bledsoe, Instructor, Chemeketa Community College on 5/23/19

The book covers most topics found in other environmental science books, with enough background material (ecology topics covered in general biology courses) for understanding of basic ecological principles. Some topics I did not notice: soil erosion, habitat fragmentation, and desertification in the context of habitat loss, solid waste issues (including recycling uses and limitations, microplastics in the environment, plastic waste in general, landfills, garbage burners, and exporting solid waste), effects of the loss of genetic diversity on endangered wildlife, and newer innovations in renewable energy (such as tidal energy and solar glass).

I’m pleased to see the term “scientific inquiry” used to describe the processes of science. However, the book still speaks of “THE scientific method,” as though there is a single set of steps for “doing science.” The authors may want to look into literature on scientific inquiry in education for more up-to-date and comprehensive descriptors of the processes of science. Two issues I have with the presentation of photosynthesis: 1) I prefer a plant-centered view, in which fixing energy in the form of carbon compounds is THE reason autotrophs carry out photosynthesis. The presentation suggests that oxygen generation – only a waste product of photosynthesis – is the important goal. 2) It would be easy to draw a common misconception out of some of the language here: that photosynthesis MAKES energy. In fact, photosynthesis USES energy to manufacture energy-rich carbon compounds. Discussion of biomes is standard in life science textbooks, but I think it’s imperative that students understand that “biome” is an abstract concept. I stand in the middle of the southernmost end of what the map describes as Boreal Forest, and I see a region that was dominated by oak savannah and patches of coniferous forest and maple woodland before it was broken up into farms, all framed by conifer-enrobed mountains. “Biome” is a broad-brush description of a general climate pattern. A finer-grained look will reveal a patchwork of ecotypes, right down to the microbiomes on different sides of the same hill. The discussion of GMO crops does, as it should, distinguish between traditional methods (selective breeding, hybridization) and insertion of new genes via laboratory methods. However, the illustration in the chapter does not. It implies that “traditional” methods of cross-breeding cause strands of DNA to hybridize into entirely new chromosomes. While crossing-over does occur during meiosis, the figure does not accurately describe that. The section on sustainable agriculture needs fleshing out. The methods employed by Joel Salatin at Polyface Farms are highly sustainable and yet don’t fit the brief descriptions outlined here. Consider Community-Supported Agriculture, old-fashioned “truck farms” serving farmer’s markets, the loss of farmland to suburbs and the rise of the “food, not lawns” movement and urban agriculture to address the problem, and much more. Climate change really deserves its own chapter and an in-depth discussion that includes how scientists know that humans are contributing to climate change. Ocean acidification is included in one small section, and could be expanded. The chapter on energy includes a discussion of renewable energy that touches on the most common forms of renewable (and more or less sustainable) energy: solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower, biomass, ethanol, and biodiesel. The authors might also look at tidal energy generators, the prospects of hydrogen fuel (it takes electricity to make hydrogen fuel, so why not use electricity directly? In what cases would it make more sense to make hydrogen fuel?), and interesting community approaches such as gyms that hook the exercise machines to the electrical system to run the lights, the turbines Portland, OR has installed in the storm sewer system, and the capability of homeowners to produce their own electricity via solar roofs, solar panels, small wind turbines, and so on. And what about solar roadways?

The discussions of sustainability, environmental ethics, and environmental justice are both comprehensive and concise. Highly relevant to today’s environmental science students because it includes multiple stakeholders. The discussion of equity is brief, but I’m glad to see it included. Obviously material on environmental problems, sustainable energy, sustainable agriculture, and human-devised solutions will have to be updated frequently. The book appears fairly current, while including historical examples.

Writing is clear and accessible to lower-division college and upper high school readers. Layout includes sufficient white space and few long, intimidating paragraphs. Diagrams are chosen to enhance understanding. Typeface size is adjustable.

Chapters are organized in a consistent manner. Writing style and formatting is consistent throughout.

Chapters are organized in a “bottom-up” fashion typical of life science textbooks, from atoms and molecules to the entire biosphere, ending with human effects. I think an instructor could arrange a course as they wished without having to present the chapters in order. For example, the chapters on matter and energy could be referred to while presenting material on energy flow and material cycling. Understanding matter and energy are necessary to understanding ecological concepts, but the arrangement allows for presenting the material on a “need to know” basis.

Chapters are divided into short sections and paragraphs, which makes reading fairly easy.

Pull-down menu access to each chapter is simple to navigate. Throughout the book there are links to websites with further information and activities to enhance student learning. So long as these are kept up to date and replaced now and then with more recent resources and modules, I think this can be a useful addendum to an online textbook. Adjustable typeface size helps with accessibility. Most figure captions are descriptive to assist students with vision issues.

No grammatical errors found.

The book has a fair discussion of environmental justice and equity at the beginning, putting in in line with modern takes on environmental science and sustainability. The theme is picked up again in the chapter on environment and human health.

The first part of the book contains short, comprehensive discussions of material found in most standard introductory life science textbooks, while the second half details environmental issues largely from a human perspective. I would like to see a presentation of the field methods of environmental science – HOW populations are studied, for example, in the population chapter. Further, each chapter resources section could include actionable items, that is, suggestions for activities students can do at home or in the classroom to demonstrate chapter concepts. Students should be able to step outside, observe the environment around them, and draw conclusions based on their observations. Some chapters, such as the chapter on environment and human health, include a case study – case studies could be included in each chapter as a demonstration of scientific inquiry applied to environmental problems, and including cultural and social issues. But also consider inclusion of some less human-centered material, considering the rest of the biosphere less as something we use and that impacts us and more as a web of living things that are also trying to survive on this planet.

Chapter 1: Environmental Science
Chapter 2: Matter, Energy, & Life
Chapter 3: Ecosystems and the Biosphere
Chapter 4: Community & Population Ecology
Chapter 5: Conservation & Biodiversity
Chapter 6: Environmental Hazards & Human Health
Chapter 7: Water Availability and Use
Chapter 8: Food & Hunger
Chapter 9: Conventional & Sustainable Agriculture
Chapter 10: Air Pollution, Climate Change, & Ozone Depletion
Chapter 11: Conventional & Sustainable Energy

Ancillary Material

About the book.

This open textbook covers the most salient environmental issues, from a biological perspective. The text is designed for an introductory-level college science course. Topics include the fundamentals of ecology, biodiversity, pollution, climate change, food production, and human population growth.

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Lesson Plans, Teacher Guides and Online Environmental Resources for Educators

Find an array of environmental and science based lesson plans, activities and ideas below from EPA, other federal agencies and external organizations. Encontrar recursos para estudiantes y maestros.

Acid Rain: A Teacher's Guide (PDF 56 pp, 4.6 MB) Lesson plan and activities from EPA for teachers on acid rain. Grades: 6-8 Type of Resource: Lesson plan

Acid Rain Student Pages Find the acid rain student pages, as well as general information for older students or adults. Grades: K-12 Type of Resource: Lesson plans and experiments

AIRNOW Get up-to-the-minute information about air pollution in your community, through a joint project from EPA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Park Service and other partners. The AIRNOW website includes maps, forecasts, and information about the health effects of air pollution. Grades: 9-12 Type of Resource: Website

AIRNOW Air Quality Resources Find air quality curriculum materials and activities from AIRNOW, including a toolkit and workshop opportunities for teachers. Grades: K-8 Type of Resource: Curriculum guide

Measuring Air Quality Improvements from Vegetative Barriers This unit has been designed by EPA as a teaching aid on the topic of air quality; particularly, investigating the role vegetative barriers play in improving air quality for surrounding areas. Grades: K-5 Type of Resource: Lesson Plan

Carl Gets Some Rest (PDF 12 pp, 765 KB) This EPA coloring and story book, for children in pre-school through 2nd grade, teaches a simple lesson: there are many transportation alternatives to using a car. Grades: K-2 Type of Resource: Coloring Book

Creating Healthy Indoor Air Quality in Schools This EPA page provides information on indoor air quality in school buildings and how to order the Tools for Schools Action Kit. The kit shows how to carry out a practical plan of action to improve indoor air quality at little or no cost using common-sense activities and in-house staff. Grades: K-12 Type of Resource: Toolkit

EnviroAtlas Educational Materials These ready-made lesson plans can be used in formal and informal education settings and are aligned with Next Generation and State Science Standards. Grades: K-12 Type of Resource: Lesson Plans

Noise Pollution for Kids (PDF 15 pp, 6.54 MB) This EPA booklet for your students will teach you how to identify which sounds are loud and ways to protect your hearing and health. Grades: K-5 Type of Resource: Activity book

Particulate Matter (PM) Air Sensor Kits Particle pollution known as particulate matter (PM) is one of the major air pollutants regulated by EPA to protect public health and the environment. A PM air sensor kit has been developed by EPA researchers as an educational tool to teach children about air quality and air science. Grades: 5-12 Type of Resource: Hands-on activity guide

Basic Ozone Layer Science Find a straightforward explanation of the ozone layer and ozone depletion. Grades: 9-12 Type of Resource: Website

AIRNOW's Ozone: Good Up High, Bad Nearby (PDF 4 pp) Ozone acts as a protective layer high above the Earth, but it can be harmful to breathe. This publication provides basic information about ground-level and high-altitude ozone. Grades:6-12 Type of Resource: Booklet/Brochure

Plain English Guide to the Clean Air Act A brief introduction to the 1990 version of the Clean Air Act, to help you understand what is in the law and how it may affect you. Grades: 9-12 Type of Resource: Booklet

RadTown USA EPA's RadTown USA is a virtual community that aims to educate students about the sources of radiation in our daily lives. Grades: 9-12 Type of Resource: Virtual activity

Teaching Kids to Conserve Energy at Home: Resources for K-12 teachers and parents This 11-minute presentation focuses on an introduction to energy and the environment, energy saving tips, how to use the Energy Star home energy yardstick, and homework ideas. Grades: K-12 Type of Resource: Video

Village Green Project These lessons provide a unique opportunity for students to learn about air quality as it relates to various topics of science appropriate to their grade level. The purpose of these lessons is to engage students of varying ability levels through hands-on and minds-on thinking. Each lesson is designed to focus around the topic of air quality; from issues of human health to career and 21st century skills. Grades: K-8 Type of Resource: Lesson Plan (PDF) (52 pp)

Lea en español: ¿Por qué Coco es de color naranja?

Why is Coco Orange? Coco has a problem. He is a chameleon, but he cannot change colors, and his asthma is acting up. Read how Coco and his friends at Lizard Lick Elementary solve this mystery as they learn about air quality and how to stay healthy when the air quality is bad. Grades: Pre K-2 Type of Resource: Book

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NOAA's Education Resources Website Explore this site to find the information you need to teach students about weather, climate change, and oceans. You'll find activities, background information, and much more! Grades: 6-12

National Park Service Education Resources Classroom materials, field trip opportunities and professional development programs for educators from the National Park Service. Grades: All

Climate and Health Lesson Plan and Toolkit by The American Public Health Association This lesson adopts materials developed by the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIH) to make it easy for public health professionals to guest teach at local high schools. For more resources aimed directly at teachers, see Climate Change and Human Health Lesson Plans by NIH. Grades: 9-12

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Chapter 7 ~ Biodiversity

Key concepts.

After completing this chapter, you will be able to

Outline the concept of biodiversity and explain its constituent elements.
Explain the reasons why biodiversity is important and should be preserved.
Define the classification of life in terms of species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, and kingdom.
Describe the five kingdoms of life.

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the richness of biological variation. It is often considered to have three levels of organization:

genetic variation within populations and species
numbers of species (also known as species richness)
and the variety and dynamics of ecological communities on larger scales, such as landscapes and seascapes

Genetic Variation

In almost all species, individuals differ genetically – that is, in terms of information encoded in their DNA. This variation constitutes genetic biodiversity at the level of populations, and ultimately of the species.

However, there are exceptions to this generalization. Some plants, for example, have little or no genetic variability, usually because the species relies on asexual (vegetative) means of propagation. In such species, genetically uniform clones can develop, which consist of plants that, although discrete, nevertheless constitute the same genetic “individual.” For example, clones of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) can develop through vegetative propagation, in some cases covering more than 40 ha and consisting of thousands of trees. Such aspen clones may be the world’s largest “individual” organisms (in terms of total biomass). Similarly, the tiny plant known as duckweed (Lemna minor), which grows on the surface of fertile waterbodies, propagates by developing small vegetative buds on the edge of its single leaf. These break off to produce “new” plants, resulting in a genetically uniform population. These interesting cases are exceptions, however, and most populations and species contain a great deal of genetic variation.

Image 7.1. Species are a familiar element of biodiversity. The jaguar (Panthera onca) is a widespread large predator in South and Central America. This one was photographed in Tambopata National Park, Peru. Source: B. Freedman.

A high level of genetic diversity in a population is generally considered a desirable attribute. With greater genetic diversity, populations are more likely to have resistance to new diseases and to be more adaptable to changes in environmental conditions. In general, small populations with little genetic diversity are thought to be at risk because of inbreeding and low adaptability. Examples of such populations-at-risk include the several hundred beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) living in the estuary of the St. Lawrence River and the population of only about 150 panthers (Felis concolor coryi) in Florida.

Richness of Species

Species richness is the number of species in a particular ecological community or in another specified area, such as a park, province, country, or, ultimately, the biosphere. Species richness is the aspect of biodiversity that people can most easily relate to and understand.

It is well known that many tropical countries support a greater species richness than do temperate countries (such as Canada). In fact, tropical rainforest supports more species than any other kind of ecosystem. Unfortunately, species-rich rainforest in tropical countries is being rapidly destroyed, mostly by conversion into agricultural land-uses and other disturbances. These changes are causing the endangerment or extinction of many species and are the overwhelming cause of the modern-day biodiversity crisis (see Chapter 26). The magnitude of this crisis is much smaller in Canada. Nevertheless, many of our native species have become extinct or otherwise at risk because of over-harvesting or habitat loss (Chapter 26).

A total of about 1.9 million species have been identified and given a scientific name. About 35% of these “known” species live in the tropics, 59% in the temperate zones, and 6% in boreal or polar latitudes. However, it is important to recognize that the identification of species is very incomplete. This is especially true of tropical ecosystems, which have not yet been thoroughly explored and characterized. According to some estimates, the global richness of species could range as high as 30–50 million, with 90% of them living in the tropics, particularly in rainforests.

Most of the species that biologists have named are invertebrates, with insects making up the bulk of that total, and beetles (order Coleoptera) comprising most of the insects (Table 7.1). The scientist J.B.S. Haldane (1892–1964) was once asked by a theologian to succinctly tell, based on his deep knowledge of biology, what he could discern of God’s purpose. Haldane reputedly said that God has “an inordinate fondness of beetles.” This reflects the fact that, in any random sampling of all the known species on Earth, there is a strong likelihood that a beetle would be the chosen specimen.

Table 7.1. Numbers of Species in Various Groups of Organisms. The numbers of identified species are based on recent tallies, while the estimated numbers are based on the opinions of biologists about how many species will eventually be discovered in the major groups of organisms.

*This is a conservative number. Some estimates suggest more than 30 million species of insects living in tropical forests alone (see text). Sources: Modified from Groombridge (1992), Heywood (1995), Environment Canada, (1997), Chapman (2009), and United Nations Environment Program (2001), and Bernhardt (n.d.).

Furthermore, it is believed that many tropical insects have not yet been described by biologists – perhaps more than another 30 million species, with many of them being small beetles. This remarkable conclusion initially emerged from research by T.L. Erwin, an entomologist who was studying tropical rainforest in South America. Erwin treated small areas of forest canopy with a fog of insecticide, which resulted in a “rain” of dead arthropods that was collected in sampling trays laid on the ground. In the trays were large numbers of unknown species of insects, most of which had a highly localized distribution, being limited to only a single type of forest or even to a particular species of tree.

Clearly, biologists know remarkably little about the huge numbers of relatively small, unobtrusive species that occur in poorly explored habitats in the tropics and elsewhere, such as the deep ocean. However, even in a relatively well-prospected country like Canada, many species of invertebrates, lichens, microbes, and other small organisms have not yet been discovered. Of course, larger plants and animals are relatively well known, partly because, for most people (including scientists), these have greater “charisma” than small beetles, microbes, and the like. Still, even in Canada and other relatively well-studies countries, new species of vascular plants and vertebrate animals are being discovered.

Compared with invertebrates and microbes, the species richness of other groups of tropical-forest organisms is better known. For example, a survey of rainforest in Sumatra, Indonesia, found 80 species of tree-sized plants (with a diameter greater than 20 cm) in an area of only 0.5 hectare. A study in Sarawak, Malaysia, found 742 woody species in a 3-ha plot of rainforest, with half of the species being represented by only a single individual. A similar study in Amazonian Peru found 283 tree species in a 1 ha plot, with 63% represented by only one individual and 15% by only two. In marked contrast, temperate forest in North America typically has fewer than 9-12 tree species in plots of this size. The richest temperate forest in the world, in the Great Smokies of the eastern United States, contains 30–35 tree species, far fewer than occur in tropical forest. More northern boreal forest, which covers much of Canada, has only 1-4 species of trees present.

A few studies have been made of the richness of bird species in tropical rainforest. A study of Amazonian forest in Peru found 245 resident bird species, plus another 74 migrants, in a 97-ha plot. Another study found 239 species of birds in a rainforest in French Guiana. In contrast, temperate forest in North America typically supports 30-40 species of birds. Not many comprehensive studies have been made of other kinds of biota in tropical ecosystems. In one study, a 108 km 2 area of dry tropical forest in Costa Rica was found to contain about 700 species of plants, 400 vertebrate species, and 13,000 species of insects, including 3,140 kinds of moths and butterflies.

Image 7.2. Community-level biodiversity. This intertidal community in Pacific Rim National Park on the west coast of Vancouver Island sustains various algae, barnacles, mussels, starfish, and other species that vary in their tolerance of environmental stress associated with tidal cycles. Source: B. Freedman.

Richness of Communities

Biodiversity at the level of landscape (or seascape; collectively these are referred to as ecoscapes) is associated with the number of different communities that occur within a specified region, as well as their relative abundance, size, shape, connections, and spatial distribution. An area that is uniformly covered with a single kind of community would be judged as having little biodiversity at the level, compared with an ecoscape having a rich and dynamic mosaic of different communities.

Because natural ecoscapes contain many species and communities that have evolved together, it is as important to conserve this level of biodiversity as it is to protect genetic and species diversity. Natural communities, landscapes, and seascapes are being lost in all parts of the world, with the worst damages involving the destruction of tropical forest and coral reefs. However, dramatic losses of this level of biodiversity are also occurring in Canada:

Only about 0.2% of the original area of tall-grass prairie remains, the rest having been converted to agricultural use.
Almost all of the Carolinian forest of southern Ontario has been destroyed, mostly by conversion to agricultural and urbanized landscapes.
The survival of old-growth forest in coastal British Columbia is at risk, with the dry coastal Douglas-fir type being especially depleted. The loss of old-growth forest is mostly due to timber harvesting, which converts the ecosystem into a younger, second-growth forest (see Chapter 23).
Throughout southern Canada, wetlands of all kinds have been destroyed or degraded by pollution, in-filling, and other disturbances.
Natural fish populations have been widely decimated, including mixed-species communities in the Great Lakes, populations of salmonids (salmon and trout) in western Canada, and cod and redfish off the Atlantic Provinces.
The habitats of various bottom types have been obliterated by the extensive practice of bottom-dragging in fisheries on the continental shelves, with great consequences for dependent types of ecological communities.

In all of these Canadian examples, only remnant patches of endangered natural communities and ecoscapes remain. These are at great risk because they are no longer components of robust, extensive, naturally organizing ecosystems.

The Value of Biodiversity

Biodiversity is important for many reasons. The value of biodiversity provides credence for its conservation. The reasons why biodiversity is important can be categorized into several groups.

Utilitarian Value

Humans are not isolated from the rest of the biosphere, in part because our survival depends upon having access to products of certain elements of biodiversity. Because of this requirement, humans must exploit species and ecosystems as sources of food, biomaterials, and energy—in other words, for their utilitarian value (also known as instrumental value).

For instance, all foods that we eat are ultimately derived from biodiversity. Moreover, about one-quarter of the prescription drugs dispensed in North America contain active ingredients extracted from plants. In addition, there is a wealth of additional, as yet undiscovered products of biodiversity that are potentially useful to people. Research on wild species of plants, animals, and microorganisms has discovered many new bio-products that are useful as food, medicines, materials, or other purposes. Like many of the species already known to be useful, some of the newly discovered ones have a potentially large economic value.

To illustrate the importance of medicinal plants, consider the case of the rosy periwinkle (Catharantus roseus), a small herbaceous plant that is native to Madagascar, a large island off northeastern Africa. One method used in the search for anti-cancer drugs involves screening large numbers of wild plants for the presence of chemicals that have an ability to slow the growth of tumours. During one study of that kind, an extract of rosy periwinkle was found to counteract the reproduction of cancer cells. Further research identified the active chemicals to be several alkaloids, which are probably synthesized by the rosy periwinkle to deter herbivores. These natural biochemicals are now used to prepare the drugs vincristine and vinblastine, which have proved to be extremely useful in chemotherapy to treat childhood leukemia, a cancer of the lymph system known as Hodgkin’s disease, and several other malignancies.

The exploitation of wild biodiversity can be conducted in ways that allow the renewal of harvestable stocks. Unfortunately, many potentially renewable biodiversity resources are overharvested, which means they are managed as if they were non-renewable resources (they are being “mined”; see Chapters 12 and 14). This results in biological resources becoming degraded in quantity and quality.

Sometimes, over-exploited species become locally extirpated or are even rendered globally extinct, and when this happens their unique values are no longer available for use by humans. The great auk and passenger pigeon are examples of Canadian species that were made extinct by over-harvesting. Local and regional extirpations have been more numerous and include the cougar, grizzly bear, timber wolf, and wild ginseng over most of their former ranges (see Chapters 14 and 26).

Image 7.3. Many elements of biodiversity provide products useful to people as food, materials, and medicines. In the 1990s, a chemical called taxol extracted from species of yews was found to be helpful in treating certain malignancies, particularly ovarian cancer. Commercial harvests were made of two yews native to Canada to supply biomass from which taxol can be extracted. These are the Pacific yew (Taxus brevifolia) of British Columbia and the Canada yew (Taxus canadensis) of eastern Canada. The wild harvest is less now, because the taxol can be synthesized in laboratories. This image is of Canada yew growing in Prince Edward Island. Source: B. Freedman.

Canadian Focus 7.1. Medicinal Plants Plants and products derived from them have always been vital to human survival, being used as sources of food, medicine, material, and energy. For instance, most foods eaten by people are the biomass of plants; the rest is animal or microbial products, but even these are produced indirectly from plants. Moreover, useful products are derived from a great richness of plant species—about 1,800 medicinal plants are commercially available in North America, and perhaps 20,000 worldwide. All of these bio-products are potentially renewable resources that can be harvested and managed on a sustainable basis (see Chapter 12). Studies by anthropologists have repeatedly shown that Aboriginal peoples are intimately aware of useful medicinal plants that grow within their local ecosystems. This “traditional ecological knowledge” is helpful in identifying useful plants for further investigation by scientists. Nevertheless, only a small fraction of the enormous richness of biodiversity has been investigated by scientists for its potential to supply us with useful products. Because of the likelihood of discovering new bio-products, it is imperative that we continue to engage in “bio-prospecting” research. Work of this sort is ongoing in many countries, including Canada. Canada supports about 3,200 species of native plants, of which as many as 1,000 have been used for medicinal purposes, mostly by Aboriginal peoples. Of this relatively large number, several tens of species have become widely enough used that they are of significant commercial value. Some of them are being cultivated to supply the emerging herbal medicine markets, while others are still harvested from the wild. A few examples of Canadian species that are of interest as medicinal plants include the following: Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is a widespread perennial herb of disturbed habitats and meadows that can be taken (often in capsule form) to treat the common cold, diarrhea, fever, and some other maladies, or used as a poultice to stanch the flow of blood from wounds. It is easily cultivated or may be gathered from the wild. Purple coneflower (Echinacea pallida var. angustifolia) is a perennial herb of prairie habitats that is widely drunk as a root extract. The root may also be chewed or taken in other forms to prevent or treat the common cold, sore throat, bacterial infections, and other ills. It is easily cultivated and is one of the most widely used herbal medicines in North America. Evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) is a widespread biennial herb of disturbed habitats and meadows that may be taken as a whole-plant infusion to treat asthma and gastrointestinal disorders, or as a pressed-oil product as a nutritional supplement. It is easily cultivated or can be gathered from the wild. Ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) is a perennial understorey plant of eastern hardwood forest that may be taken as a root infusion as a general tonic or to treat headache, cramps, fever, rheumatism, and other maladies. It is cultivated on a five- to seven-year rotation, and may be the most widely used herbal medicine in the world. It should not be gathered from the wild because past over-harvesting has rendered it endangered. Pacific yew (Taxus brevifolia) is a tree-sized plant of the humid of the west coast, and Canada yew (T. canadensis) a shrub of eastern forest. An extract of bark or leaves containing the chemical taxol has proven useful in the treatment of certain malignancies, particularly ovarian and breast cancers. Biomass for processing is gathered from wild plants, but local over-harvesting has been an issue in some areas. Plantations of Pacific yew and other yews are being established to relieve the pressure on slow-growing populations of wild plants. Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) is a widespread trailing shrub of bog wetlands that may be taken as a pressed juice as a source of vitamin C, to treat urinary tract infections and kidney ailments, and for other purposes for which its diuretic properties are useful. The species is extensively cultivated and is also gathered from wild habitats. Reference and Additional Information Small, E. and P.M. Catling. 1999. Canadian Medicinal Plants. Ottawa, ON: NRC Research Press. Deur, D. and N. Turner (editors). 2005. Keeping It Living: Traditions of Plant Use and Cultivation on the Northwest Coast of North America. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.

Provision of Ecological Services

Biodiversity provides many ecological services that are critical to the stability and integrity of ecosystems as well as the welfare of humans. They include nutrient cycling, biological productivity, control of erosion, provision of oxygen, and removal of carbon dioxide and its storage as organic carbon. All of these services are critical to the welfare of people and other species, but they are not usually assigned economic value. In part, this is because we do not yet have sufficient understanding and appreciation of the “importance” of ecological services and of the particular species and communities that provide them. According to Peter Raven, a famous botanist and advocate of biodiversity, “In the aggregate, biodiversity keeps the planet habitable and ecosystems functional.”

Intrinsic Value

Biodiversity has its own intrinsic value (or inherent value), regardless of any direct or indirect worth in terms of the needs or welfare of humans. This value is fundamental to all elements of biodiversity, and is irreplaceable. This intrinsic value raises certain ethical questions about actions that threaten biodiversity. Do humans have the “right” to impoverish or exterminate unique and irretrievable elements of biodiversity, even if our species is technologically able to do so? Is the human existence somehow impoverished by extinctions caused by our actions? These are philosophical issues, and they cannot be resolved by science alone. However, enlightened people or societies would not facilitate the endangerment or extinction of species or natural communities.

Biodiversity Is Worthwhile

Many people firmly believe that wild biodiversity and natural ecosystems are worthwhile and important. They cite the utilitarian and intrinsic values of biodiversity, but may also mention less tangible opinions, such as the charisma of many species (such as wolves, pandas, and baby harp seals) and the spirituality of natural places (such as towering old-growth forest and other kinds of wilderness). Because this belief is becoming increasingly widespread and popularized, it is having a major influence on politicians, who are including biodiversity issues in their agendas for action—threats to biodiversity have become politically important.

Undoubtedly, there is an undiscovered wealth of products of biodiversity that are potentially useful to humans. Many of these bio-products will be found in tropical species that have not yet been “discovered” by biologists. Clearly, the most important argument in favour of preserving biodiversity is the need to maintain natural ecosystems so they can continue to provide their vast inventory of useful products and their valuable ecological services. In addition, biodiversity must also be preserved for its intrinsic value.

Image 7.4. Landscapes and seascapes are spatial mosaics of various communities occurring at a large scale. This landscape in Nova Scotia is characterized by a mosaic of conifer-dominated (dark green) and hardwood (bright colours) stands of forest, plus lakes, streams, and wetlands. Source: B. Freedman.

Classification of Organisms

Biologists classify species into higher-order groupings on the basis of their relatedness and similarities. Similarity is judged using information about anatomy, development, biochemistry, behaviour, and habitat selection. These classifications are made by systematists (biologists who study the evolutionary relationships among groups of organisms) and taxonomists (who focus on naming groups of organisms).

The systematics of life is organized hierarchically, with levels ranging through subspecies, species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, and kingdom. This system is illustrated in Table 7.2.

Table 7.2. Biological Classification. The hierarchical, systematic classification of organisms is illustrated by three representative species.

A species is described using two Latinized words, known as a binomial. If a subspecies is also recognized, the name has three Latin words (such as Pseudotsuga menziesii glauca, the interior form of the Douglas-fir).

Many species also have a scientifically recognized “common name,” and they may also have informal common names. For example, the scientifically recognized common name of the widespread tree Populus tremuloides is trembling aspen, but this species is also known as aspen, golden aspen, mountain aspen, poplar, quaking asp, quaking aspen, trembling poplar, and that old-time favourite, “popple.” Some of the common names have only a local use and are unknown in other parts of the range of the species. Common names may also overlap among species—for instance, both the balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera) and large-toothed aspen (P. grandidentata) are often called “poplar.”

To avoid the ambiguities associated with common names, species are assigned a globally recognized binomial and sometimes a “proper” common name. Because of this system, biologists working in Canada, the United States, Germany, Turkey, Russia, China, and other countries where the animal Ursus arctos occurs all know it by its binomial. In English, this animal is known as the grizzly or brown bear, and in other languages by other common names. But no one is confused by its scientific binomial name.

The Organization of Life

Most biologists divide all of Earth’s species into five major groups, known as kingdoms. Although somewhat controversial and subject to ongoing refinement, this systematic organization is believed to reflect the evolutionary relationships among groups of organisms. The kingdoms and their major characteristics are briefly described below.

Monerans are the simplest of single-celled microorganisms and include bacteria and blue-green bacteria, the latter being photosynthetic. They are prokaryotes, because their genetic material is not contained within a membrane-bounded organelle called a nucleus. Organisms in the other kingdoms have nuclei within their cells and are called eukaryotes. Prokaryotes also do not have other kinds of organelles, such as chloroplasts, flagella, or mitochondria. They were the first organisms to evolve, about 3.5 million years ago. It was not until 1.5 billion years ago that the first eukaryotes appeared.

At least 7,643 species of bacteria have been named (Table 7.1), but there are many additional species that have not yet been described by microbiologists. The diversity of bacteria includes species capable of exploiting a phenomenal range of ecological and metabolic opportunities. Many are decomposers, found in “rotting” biomass. Some species are photosynthetic, others are chemosynthetic, and still others can utilize virtually any organic substrate for their nutrition, either in the presence or absence of oxygen. Some bacteria can tolerate extreme environments, living in hot springs as torrid as 78°C, while others are active as deep as 400 m in glacial ice.

Many bacterial species live in mutually beneficial symbioses (mutualisms) with more-complex organisms. For example, some live as a community in the rumens of cows and sheep, and others live in the human gut, in both cases aiding in the digestion of food. Other bacteria, known as Rhizobium, live in the roots of leguminous plants (such as peas and clovers), where they fix atmospheric nitrogen gas into a form (ammonia) that plants can use as a nutrient (see Chapter 5).

Many bacteria are parasites of other species, causing various diseases. For example, Bacillus thuringiensis is a pathogen of moths, butterflies, and blackflies and has been used as a biological insecticide against certain pests in agriculture and forestry. Species of bacteria also cause important diseases of humans, including cholera, diphtheria, gonorrhea, Legionnaire’s disease, leprosy, pneumonia, scarlet fever, syphilis, tetanus, tooth decay, tuberculosis, whooping cough, most types of food poisoning, and the “flesh-eating disease” caused by a virulent strain of Streptococcus.

Protists include a wide range of simple, eukaryotic organisms, comprising both unicellular and multicellular species. Protists include foraminifera, protozoans, slime moulds, and single-celled and multicellular algae. The latter group includes the large seaweeds known as kelps, some of which are over 10 m long. The kingdom Protista consists of 14 phyla and about 60,000 named species, which vary enormously in their genetics, morphology, and function. Many biologists believe that the Protista is a catch-all group of not-so-closely related groups. It is likely that the protists will eventually be divided into several kingdoms because of accumulating evidence of key differences among groups and recognition that the other, more-complex eukaryotic kingdoms (fungi, plants, and animals) evolved from different protistan ancestors.

Several phyla of protists, broadly known as algae, are photosynthetic. These groups include the diatoms (Bacillariophyta), green algae (Chlorophyta), dinoflagellates (Dinoflagellata), euglenoids (Euglenophyta), red algae (Rhodophyta), and brown algae such as kelps (Phaeophyta). Algae are important primary producers in marine and freshwater ecosystems. Some seaweeds are harvested to extract chemicals known as alginates, which are important additives to many foods and cosmetics. Uncommon marine phenomena known as “red tides” are blooms of certain dinoflagellates that produce extremely toxic metabolites.

Other phyla of protists are heterotrophic in their nutrition. These groups include the ciliates (Ciliophora), forams (Foraminifera), slime moulds (Myxomycota), amoebae (Rhizopoda), and unicellular flagellates (Zoomastigina). Forams are unicellular microorganisms that form an architecturally complex shell of calcium carbonate, the remains of which may accumulate over geological time to form a mineral known as chalk- the white cliffs of Dover in southern England are made of foram remains. Trypanosomes are unicellular flagellates that are responsible for sleeping sickness, a disease of humans and other vertebrate animals. Certain species of amoebae are parasites of animals, including amoebic dysentery in humans. The ciliate Giardia causes a water-borne disease known as hiker’s diarrhea (or beaver fever), the risk of which is a reason why even the cleanest-looking natural water should be boiled or otherwise disinfected before drinking.

This kingdom consists of yeasts, which are single-celled microorganisms, and fungi, which are multicellular and filamentous. Fungi evolved at least 400 million years ago, but they may be much older than that because their remains do not fossilize well. Fungal cells excrete enzymes into their surroundings, which then externally digest complex organic materials. The fungus then ingests the resulting simple organic compounds. All fungi are heterotrophic—most are decomposers of dead organic matter, while others are parasitic on plants or animals. There are three major divisions (phyla) of fungi, distinguished mainly by their means of sexual reproduction. Asexual reproduction is also common.

The zygomycetes (division Zygomycota) achieve sexual reproduction by the direct fusion of hyphae (the thread-like tissues of fungi), which form resting spores known as zygospores. There are about 600 named species, the most familiar of which are the bread moulds, such as Rhizopus, with their fluffy mycelium (a loosely organized mass of hyphae).

The ascomycetes (division Ascomycota) include about 30,000 named species, some of which are commonly known as a cup fungus or morel. During sexual reproduction, ascomycetes form numerous microscopic, cup-shaped bodies known as asci, which are located in specialized fleshy structures called ascocarps. Familiar species include yeasts, morels, and truffles, as well as the pathogens that cause chestnut blight and Dutch elm disease (see below).

The basidiomycetes (division Basiodiomycota) include about 16,000 named species. Sexual reproduction involves a relatively complex spore-producing structure known as a basidium, which depending on its shape may be called a mushroom, puffball, toadstool, or shelf fungus. In Canada, the largest of these structures is developed by the giant puffball (Calvatia spp.), which has a ball-like basidium with a diameter up to 50 cm.

Lichens are mutualisms between a fungus and either an alga or a blue-green bacterium. Most of the lichen biomass is fungal tissue, which provides habitat and inorganic nutrients for the photosynthetic partner, which in turn provides organic nutrition to the fungus. Another type of mutualism, known as a mycorrhiza, involves a relationship between plant roots and certain fungi. This relationship is beneficial to the plant because it allows more efficient absorption of inorganic nutrients from the soil, especially phosphate. About 80% of plant species develop mycorrhizae.

Fungi are ecologically important because they are excellent decomposers, allowing nutrients to be recycled and reducing the accumulation of dead biomass.

Various kinds of fungi are economically important because they spoil stored grain and other foods, are parasites of agricultural or forestry plants, or cause diseases in humans and other animals. Ringworm is a disease of the skin, usually the scalp, which is caused by various fungi. The chestnut blight fungus (Endothia parasitica) was accidentally introduced to North America and wiped out the native chestnut (Castanea dentata), which used to be a prominent and valuable tree in eastern forests. The Dutch elm disease fungus (Ceratocystis ulmi) is another introduced pathogen that is killing elm trees (especially white elm, Ulmus americana).

Economically useful fungi include a few species of yeast that can ferment sugars under anaerobic (O 2 -deficient) conditions, yielding gaseous CO 2 and ethanol. The CO 2 raises bread dough prior to baking, while brewers take advantage of the alcohol production to make beer and wine. Other fungi are used to manufacture cheese, soy sauce, tofu, food additives such as citric acid, and antibiotics such as penicillin.

Some mushroom-forming fungi are cultivated as a food, while other edible species are collected from natural habitats. The most commonly cultivated species is the meadow mushroom (Agaricus campestris), while the most prized wild mushroom is the extremely flavourful truffle (Tuber melanosporum). Some wild mushrooms contain chemicals that induce hallucinations, feelings of well-being, or other pleasurable mental states, and are sought by people for religious or recreational use. These include the fly agaric (Amanita muscaria), a species widespread in Canada and elsewhere, and psilocybin (Psilocybe spp.) of more southern regions of North America and Central America. Some wild mushrooms are deadly poisonous even when eaten in tiny quantities. The most toxic species in Canada are the destroying angel (Amanita virosa) and deathcap (A. phalloides).

Plants are photosynthetic organisms that manufacture their food by using the energy of sunlight to synthesize organic molecules from inorganic ones. Plants evolved from multicellular green algae about 430 million years ago, and the first tree-sized ones appeared 300 million years ago. Plants are different from algae in that they are always multicellular, have cell walls rich in cellulose, synthesize a variety of photosynthetic pigments (including chlorophylls and carotenoids), and use starch as their principal means of storing energy. Plants are extremely important as photosynthetic fixers of CO 2 into organic carbon, and they are dominant in terrestrial ecosystems, where algae and blue-green bacteria are sparse. Plants can be separated into 12 divisions, which are aggregated into two functional groups.

Bryophytes are relatively simple plants that lack vascular tissue and do not have a waxy cuticle covering their foliage, a characteristic that restricts these plants to moist habitats. The bryophytes consist of the following:

liverworts (division Hepaticophyta), of which there are about 6,500 species
mosses (Bryophyta), including about 10,000 species, which are prominent in some wetlands, especially in bogs, where the dead biomass of peat mosses (species of Sphagnum) accumulates as a partially decayed material known as peat, which is mined as a soil conditioner and a source of energy
hornworts (Anthocerophyta), with 100 species

Vascular plants are relatively complex and have specialized, tube-like, vascular tissues in their stems for conducting water and nutrients. There are nine divisions of vascular plants:

whisk ferns (division Psilophyta), containing several species
club mosses and quillworts (Lycophyta), about 1,000 species
horsetails or scouring rushes (Sphenophyta), 15 species
ferns (Pterophyta), 12,000 species
cycads or sago palms (Cycadophyta), 100 species
gnetums (Gnetophyta), 70 species
ginkgo (Ginkgophyta), with one relict species (Ginkgo biloba)
conifers (Coniferophyta), including about 550 species of firs, hemlocks, pines, redwoods, spruces, yews, and others
flowering plants (Anthophyta), containing a diverse assemblage of about 235,000 species

The flowering plants are also known as angiosperms, because their ovules are enclosed within a specialized membrane, and their seeds within a seedcoat. The conifers, ginkgo, and gnetums lack these structures and are referred to as gymnosperms. Together, the angiosperms and gymnosperms are known as seed plants. Their seeds develop from a fusion between specialized haploid cells known as pollen and ovules, in a process called pollination.

The seed plants are extremely diverse in their form and function. The tallest species are redwood trees (Sequoia sempervirens), which can exceed 100 m in height. The smallest is an aquatic plant known as watermeal (Wolffia spp.), only the size of a pinhead. Many seed plants live for less than one year (these are “annual” plants), while the age of others can exceed 4,500 years—for example, the oldest bristlecone pines (Pinus aristata).

Many flowering plants grow as shrubs or trees. Rigid, woody tissues in their stems provide mechanical strength that allows these plants to grow tall against the forces of gravity and wind. Other angiosperms lack rigid stem tissues and grow as herbaceous plants that die back to the ground at the end of the growing season.

Species of angiosperms are important crops in agriculture, while both conifer and angiosperm trees are prominent in forestry. Plants are also economically important as sources of biochemicals in industry and medicine, and because they provide the food and habitat required by so many other organisms, including many animals that are used by people as food.

Animals are multicellular organisms, and most are mobile during at least some stage of their life history, having the ability to move about to search for food, to disperse, or to reproduce. Animals are heterotrophs: they must ingest their food, ultimately consuming the photosynthetic products of plants or algae.

Most animals (except the sponges) have their cells organized into specialized tissues that are further organized into organs. Almost all animals reproduce sexually, a process that involves the joining of haploid gametes from a male and female to produce a fertilized egg. Animals comprise the bulk of identified species of organisms, with insects being the most diverse group. Apart from these broad generalizations, animals are extremely diverse in their form and function. They range in size from the largest blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus), which can reach 32 m in length and 136 tonnes of weight, to the smallest beetles and soil mites, which are less than 1 mm long and weigh a few milligrams.

The animal kingdom includes about 35 phyla. The majority occur in marine habitats, with a smaller number in freshwater and on land. All animals in all the phyla except one are considered to be invertebrates (with no backbone), while the phylum Chordata includes the vertebrates – animals with a backbone. The most prominent phyla are described below.

Sponges (phylum Porifera) include a marine group of about 5,000 species plus 150 freshwater ones. Sponges are simple animals, sessile (non-mobile) as adults, with no differentiation of tissues into organs. They filter-feed on organic matter suspended in their watery habitat. The slow flow of water through sponges is driven by surface cells that use flagella, tiny whip-like structures, to move water over their surface.

Cnidarians (phylum Cnidaria) include about 9,000 species, almost all of which are marine. Familiar groups include corals, hydroids, jellyfish, and sea anemones. Cnidarians have a simple, gelatinous body structure. They display radial symmetry, meaning a cross-section in any direction through their central axis yields two parts that are mirror images. Jellyfish are weakly swimming or floating animals, with a body form known as a medusa. Most other cnidarians are sessile as adults, being attached to a bottom substrate. Cnidarians are carnivores that use tentacles ringing their mouth opening to capture prey, often after subduing the victim by stinging it with specialized cells. Corals develop a protective casement of calcium carbonate and are important reef-building organisms.

Flatworms and tapeworms (phylum Platyhelminthes) include about 12,000 species of soft-bodied, ribbon-shaped animals. Many flatworms are free-living scavengers or predators of small animals, while tapeworms and flukes are internal parasites of larger animals, including humans.

Nematodes (phylum Nematoda) include 12,000 species of small, worm-like creatures. These animals are round in cross-section and are abundant in almost all habitats that contain other forms of life, ranging from aquatic habitats to desert. Many species are parasites, living in or on their hosts. Virtually all plants and animals are parasitized by one or more species of nematodes, which are often specialized to a particular host. Species of hookworms, pinworms, and roundworms are important parasites of humans. The Trichinella roundworm causes a painful disease known as trichinosis, while Filaria causes filariasis, a tropical disease.

True worms (phylum Annelida) include about 12,000 species of tubular, segmented, soft-bodied animals. Most worms are marine, but others occur in freshwater and moist terrestrial habitats. Worms are divided into three major groups: bristleworms or polychaetes, typical worms or oligochaetes (including earthworms), and leeches or hirudineans. Most feed on dead organic matter, but leeches are blood-sucking parasites of larger animals. Earthworms provide an important service by helping to recycle dead biomass in many terrestrial habitats.

Molluscs (phylum Mollusca) comprise about 85,000 species of clams, cuttlefish, octopuses, oysters, scallops, slugs, snails, and squids. Many have a hard shell of calcium carbonate that protects the soft body parts. Other molluscs, such as squid and octopus, lack this hard shell. Molluscs are most abundant in marine and freshwater habitats, with relatively few terrestrial species. Most are herbivores or scavengers, but some are predators. Various species are used by humans as food, and several produce pearls, used for making jewellery. Some slugs and snails are pests in agriculture, while others are alternative hosts for certain parasites, such as the tropical fluke that causes schistosomiasis in humans.

Arthropods (phylum Arthropoda) comprise the largest group of organisms. There are more than a million named species and likely millions of others that have not yet been described. Arthropods have an exterior skeleton (exoskeleton) made of a polysaccharide known as chitin, with their body parts segmented to allow movement. They have at least three pairs of legs. The most abundant groups are the spiders and mites (class Arachnida), crustaceans (Crustacea), centipedes (Chilopoda), millipedes (Diplopoda), and insects (Insecta). Insects alone make up more than half of all named species. Arthropods are of great economic importance, with some species being used by people as food (such as lobster), and others used to produce food (such as the honey of certain bees). Termites damage buildings by eating wood, while various insects are pests in agriculture. Species of mosquitoes, blackflies, fleas, and ticks spread diseases of humans and other animals, including malaria, yellow fever, encephalitis, and plague.

Echinoderms (phylum Echinodermata) include about 6,000 species of marine animals, such as brittle stars, sand dollars, sea stars, sea cucumbers, and sea urchins. Echinoderms have radial symmetry as adults. Most have an exoskeleton of calcium carbonate, some are covered with spiny projections, and some move about using large numbers of small, tube-feet. Sea urchins and sea cucumbers are harvested as a minor source of food, popular in some Asian countries.

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are the most familiar group of animals. Distinctive characters (in at least the embryonic phase) include a hollow nerve cord that runs along the dorsal (top) surface and a flexible, rod-like dorsal structure (the notochord), which is replaced by the vertebral column in adults. There are about 63,000 species of chordates, divided among three subphyla. The tunicates (Urochordata) are composed of about 1,000 species of marine animals, including sea grapes and sea peaches. Tunicates have a small notochord and adults are sessile filter-feeders. The lancets (Cephalochordata) consist of 23 species of filter-feeding marine animals, which have a long, laterally compressed body. The vertebrates (Vertebrata) comprise almost all species in the group, most of which have a vertebral column as adults. The major classes of living vertebrates are the following.

The jawless fishes (class Agnatha) include 63 species of lampreys and hagfishes, which first evolved 470 million years ago. These marine or freshwater animals have a notochord and a skeleton of cartilage.

The cartilaginous jawed fishes (class Chondrichthyes) consist of 850 species of dogfish, rays, sharks, and skates, all of which occur in marine habitats. Cartilaginous fishes evolved more than 410 million years ago.

The bony fishes (class Osteichthyes) include about 30,500 species of typical fish, such as cod, salmon, tuna, and guppies. The first bony fishes evolved about 390 million years ago.

The amphibians (class Amphibia) consist of 6,515 species of frogs, salamanders, toads, and legless caecilians. The first amphibians evolved about 330 million years ago. Early stages in the life history (egg and larva) are aquatic, but adult stages of many species can live in terrestrial habitats.

The reptiles (class Reptilia) include 8,734 species of crocodilians, lizards, snakes, and turtles. Reptiles first evolved about 300 million years ago. Extinct groups include the dinosaurs, plesiosaurs, and pterosaurs, the last of which became extinct about 65-million years ago. Reptiles were the first fully terrestrial animals, capable of completing all stages of their life history on land (although some species, such as turtles, are highly aquatic as adults). Reptiles have a dry skin and lay eggs on land. Their young are miniature versions of the adults.

The birds (class Aves) consist of 9.990 species, which first evolved about 225 million years ago from small, dinosaurian ancestors. Birds are homeothermic (warm-blooded), are covered in feathers, lay hard-shelled eggs, and have a horny covering of the jaws known as a beak. Most species can fly, the exceptions being the largest birds, penguins, and many species that evolved on islands lacking predators.

The mammals (class Mammalia) consist of 5,487 species, which first evolved about 220 million years ago (the earliest fossil mammals are difficult to distinguish from reptiles). Mammals became prominent after the extinction of the last dinosaurs, about 65 million years ago. Mammals are homeotherms, have at least some hair on their body, feed their young with milk, and have a double circulation of the blood (i.e., a four-chambered heart and fully separate circulatory systems for oxygen-poor and oxygen-rich blood). There are three major groups of mammals: Monotremes are a few species of egg-laying mammals that live in Australia and New Guinea—the platypus and several species of echidnas. Marsupials bear live young that at birth are at an extremely early stage of development. After birth, the tiny young migrate to a special pouch (the marsupium) on the mother’s belly where they develop further while feeding on milk. Examples of marsupials include kangaroos, koala, and wallabies, which live only in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, and the opossum of the Americas. Placental mammals include many familiar species of the Americas, Africa, and Eurasia. Placental mammals give birth to live young that are suckled by the mother. Humans are a species of placental mammal.

Image 7.5. Humans and dogs are species of mammals. Humans (Homo sapiens), along with other great apes, are in the family Hominidae. Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) are a domesticated subspecies of the wolf and are in the family Canidae. Source: B. Freedman.

Conclusions

Biodiversity is the richness of biological variation—it exists at the levels of genetics, species richness, and community diversity on landscapes and seascapes. Biodiversity is important to the survival of humans and their economy, and also to all other species. Biodiversity also has inherent value. Human activities have resulted in the extinction of many elements of biodiversity, and the survival of many others is being placed at grave risk (Chapter 26). Damage to biodiversity is a principal aspect of the environmental crisis.

Questions for Review

What are the major components of biodiversity? Provide an example of each.
Pick any species in which you are interested. Illustrate the hierarchical classification of life by giving the scientific names of its species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, and kingdom.
What are the five kingdoms of life? Identify several groups within each of the kingdoms.

Questions for Discussion

Why is biodiversity important? Outline several reasons.
Discuss the notion that all species are similarly “advanced” in the evolutionary sense but may vary greatly in their complexity.
All elements of biodiversity are considered to have intrinsic value. What does this mean? Can it be fully justified in a strictly scientific context?
Choose an economically important “pest,” such as the house mouse (Mus musculus), a disease-carrying mosquito (such as an Anopheles species), or the groups A and B Streptococcus bacteria that cause deadly infections. Now suppose that a new method has been discovered to eradicate that pest, which would cause its global extinction. Based on ideas about intrinsic value and other considerations, could you mount a logical defence of the pest to argue against its extinction?

Exploring Issues

You are a biodiversity specialist, and a group of politicians has asked why it should spend public money to protect an endangered species occurring within their jurisdiction. You know that these people are sceptical, and that if you do not convince them to preserve the species and its habitat, it may become extinct. What information and arguments would you include in your presentation to the politicians?
Make a comprehensive list of products of biodiversity that you use in a typical day. The list can include raw and processed foods, medicines, materials, and sources of energy.

References Cited and Further Reading

Begon, M., R.W. Howorth, and C.R. Townsend. 2014. Essentials of Ecology. 4th ed. Wiley, Cambridge, UK.

Bernhardt, T. n.d. The Canadian Biodiversity Website. Heritage Canada and the Redpath Museum, McGill University, Montreal, PQ. http://canadianbiodiversity.mcgill.ca/english/

Bolandrin, M.F., J.A. Klocke, E.S. Wurtele, and W.H. Bollinger. 1985. Natural plant chemicals: Sources of industrial and medicinal materials. Science, 228: 1154-1160.

Boyd, R. 1988. General Microbiology. Mosby Year Book, St. Louis, MO.

Chapman, A.D. 2009. Numbers of Living Species in Australia and the World, 2nd ed. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of the Environment, Canberra. http://www.environment.gov.au/node/13875

Ehrlich, P.R., and A. Ehrlich. 1981. Extinction: The Causes and Consequences of the Disappearance of Species. Ballantine, New York, NY.

Environment Canada. 1997. The State of Canada’s Environment. Ottawa: State of the Environment Reporting Organization, Environment Canada, Ottawa, ON.

Erwin, T.L. 1991. How many species are there? Revisited. Conservation Biology, 5: 330-333.

Freedman, B. 1995. Environmental Ecology. 2nd ed. Academic Press, San Diego, CA.

Freedman, B., J. Hutchings, D. Gwynne, J. Smol, R. Suffling, R. Turkington, R. Walker, and D. Bazeley. 2014. Ecology: A Canadian Context. 2nd ed. Nelson Canada, Toronto, ON.

Gaston, K.J. (ed.). 1996. Biodiversity: A Biology of Numbers and Difference. Blackwell Science, Cambridge, UK.

Gaston, K.J. and J.I. Spicer. 2004. Biodiversity: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Blackwell Science, Cambridge, UK.

Groombridge, G. 1992. Global Biodiversity. World Conservation Monitoring Center. Chapman & Hall, London, UK.

Groombridge, B. and M.D. Jenkins. 2002. World Atlas of Biodiversity: Earth’s Living Resources in the 21st Century. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.

Heywood, V.H. (ed.). 1995. Global Biodiversity Assessment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

Janzen, D.H. 1987. Insect diversity in a Costa Rican dry forest: Why keep it, and how. Biological Journal of the Linnaean Society, 30: 343-56.

Miller, K. and L. Tangley. 1991. Trees of Life. Beacon, Boston, MA.

Myers, N. 1983. A Wealth of Wild Species. Westview, Boulder, CO.

Perlman, D.L. and G. Adelson. 1997. Biodiversity: Exploring Values and Priorities in Conservation. Blackwell Science Publishers, Cambridge, UK.

Pough, F.H., C.M. Jans, and J.B. Hirser. 2012. Vertebrate Life. 9th ed. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Raven, P.H., G.B. Johnson, K.A. Mason, and J. Losos. 2013. Biology. 10th ed. McGraw-Hill, Columbus, OH.

Reaka-Kudla, M.L., D.E. Wilson, and E.O. Wilson (eds.). 1997. Biodiversity II: Understanding and Protecting Our Biological Resources. National Academy Press, Washington, DC.

Terborgh, J., S.K. Robinson, T.A. Parker, C.A. Muna, and N. Pierpont. 1990. Structure and organization of an Amazonian forest bird community. Ecological Monographs, 60: 213-238.

United Nations Environment Program. 2001. Global Biodiversity Outlook. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal, PQ.

Wilson, E.O. (ed.). 1988. Biodiversity. National Academy Press, Washington, DC.

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7.5 Ecosystem Dynamics

How does changing an ecosystem affect what lives there?

Unit Summary

This unit on ecosystem dynamics and biodiversity begins with students reading headlines that claim that the future of orangutans is in peril and that the purchasing of chocolate may be the cause. Students then examine the ingredients in popular chocolate candies and learn that one of these ingredients--palm oil--is grown on farms near the rainforest where orangutans live. This prompts students to develop initial models to explain how buying candy could impact orangutans.

Students spend the first lesson set better understanding the complexity of the problem, which cannot be solved with simple solutions. They will figure out that palm oil is derived from the oil palm trees that grow near the equator, and that these trees are both land-efficient and provide stable income for farmers, factors that make finding a solution to the palm oil problem more challenging. Students will establish the need for a better design for oil palm farms, which will support both orangutans and farmers. The final set of lessons engage students in investigations of alternative approaches to growing food compared to large-scale monocrop farms. Students work to design an oil palm farm that simultaneously supports orangutan populations and the income of farmers and community members.

Simulations

Unit 7.5 Lesson 7: Orangutans in Protected Areas StoryMap

Unit 7.5 Lesson 15: Diversified Farming Storymap

Unit 7.5 L8 Orangutan Energy Model 1 – Classroom Use

Unit 7.5 L8 Orangutan Energy Model 2 – Remote or Absent Students

Unit 7.5 L9 Orangutan Population Model – Classroom and Remote Use

Unit examples, additional unit information, next generation science standards addressed in this unit.

Performance Expectations

MS-LS2-1: Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
MS-LS2-4: Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
MS-LS2-2: Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.
MS-LS2-5: Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
MS-ESS3-3: Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
MS-ETS1-1: Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.

Disciplinary Core Ideas

LS2.A: Organisms, and populations of organisms, are dependent on their environmental interactions both with other living things and with non-living factors. Students investigate how organisms (see Lessons 8) and populations of organisms (Lessons 7, 9-12) depend on interactions with other populations particularly as they search for food resources. Students focus on plant interactions with non-living factors in Lesson 3.
LS2.A: In any ecosystem, organisms and populations with similar requirements for food, water, oxygen, or other resources may compete with each other for limited resources, access to which consequently constrains their growth and reproduction. Students investigate competition between orangutans in a simulation in Lesson 8 and circle back to competition in Lesson 13.
LS2.A: Growth of organisms and population increases are limited by access to resources. Students build these ideas through simulations and additional case studies across Lessons 8-11.
LS2.A: Similarly, predatory interactions may reduce the number of organisms or eliminate whole populations of organisms. Mutually beneficial interactions, in contrast, may become so interdependent that each organism requires the other for survival. Although the species involved in these competitive, predatory, and mutually beneficial interactions vary across ecosystems, the patterns of interactions of organisms with their environments, both living and non-living, are shared. Students model different interactions in the rainforest and oil palm systems, including predation, competition, and mutualism between orangutans and fruit tree populations (see Lessons 11-13).
LS2.C: Ecosystems are dynamic in nature; their characteristics can vary over time. Disruptions to any physical or biological component of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all its populations. Students model different disruption scenarios and predict how those disruptions would shift populations. Students hear from farmers about the strategies they employ to protect themselves from disruptions (see Lessons 13, 15, 16).
LS2.C: Biodiversity describes the variety of species found in Earth’s terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems. The completeness or integrity of an ecosystem’s biodiversity is often used as a measure of its health. Students compare rainforest systems to oil palm systems in terms of the biodiversity found in each system (see Lesson 13). Students learn that farmers are interested in supporting biodiversity in Lesson 14.
LS4.D: Changes in biodiversity can influence humans’ resources, such as food, energy, and medicines, as well as ecosystem services that humans rely on—for example, water purification and recycling. Students figure out that people engage with different ways to grow food compared to monocrop in order to obtain different benefits, or services (see Lessons 15-16).
ESS3.C: Human activities have significantly altered the biosphere, sometimes damaging or destroying natural habitats and causing the extinction of other species. But changes to Earth’s environments can have different impacts (negative and positive) for different living things. Students focus on understanding the problem, which involves humans altering the biosphere in ways that negatively impact orangutans (Lessons 2-4) and alterations in their own communities (Lessons 5). Students also encounter ways humans farm for food that positively support biodiversity in Lesson 14.
ETS1.A: The more precisely a design task’s criteria and constraints can be defined, the more likely it is that the designed solution will be successful. Specification of constraints includes consideration of scientific principles and other relevant knowledge that are likely to limit possible solutions. Students use criteria and constraints, based on the science and engineering ideas developed in the unit, with a particular attention to what land-use strategies work for different stakeholders and the limits of their application. Students make their first pass at criteria and constraints in Lesson 6 and revisit them to make them more precise in Lesson 17. Students evaluate design based on criteria and constraints in Lesson 18.

Science & Engineering Practices

Asking Questions and Defining Problems: This unit is anchored by a complex socioscientific issue. Students’ initial questions on the DQB lead them to investigate simple fixes to a complex problem. The first lesson set serves to complicate the problem for them, culminating in defining it more clearly later in Lesson 6. Students define a design problem that can be solved through the development of a system , but a designed system that is limited by both scientific and social factors.
Developing and Using Models: Students develop new understandings about how to use a computer model to generate data to test ideas about population dynamics in the rainforest and farm designs. They evaluate the limitations of the computer model in comparison to the complex real-world systems the model is representing.
Planning and Carrying Out Investigations: Students engage in planning and carrying out investigations with independent and control variables in a computer simulation. They use the simulation in the unit as a way to collect data and produce data about design solutions and proposed systems under a range of conditions. Mathematics and Computation Thinking: Students calculate ratios of orangutans to land area to understand population density. They characterize and use graphical representations of populations over time to draw conclusions about resource availability and farm designs. The lesson 10 assessment on Monarch butterflies allows for assessment of this practice.

Crosscutting Concepts

Cause and Effect: Cause and effect is a lens students apply throughout the unit, focusing on establishing cause and effect relationships in order to predict phenomena. Students use cause and effect in the context of natural systems and in their designs land-use systems.
System and System Models: Students develop system models to allow them to understand the different components and interactions occurring within the system. They discuss limitations of their system models for representing the complexity of the real-world systems (e.g., simulations representing limited components and interactions).
Stability and Change: Stability and change is a consistent lens students apply throughout the unit as they make sense of small changes in the system that have large impacts, as well as sudden and gradual changes over time. They look to stabilize orangutan populations and farmers income in their final designs.

Nature of Science Connections

Which elements of the Nature of Science are developed in the unit?

Science investigations use a variety of methods and tools to make measurements and observations. (NOS-SEP)
Science is a way of knowing used by many people, not just scientists. (NOS-CCC)
Men and women from different social, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds work as scientists and engineers.(NOS-CCC)
Scientists and engineers rely on human qualities such as persistence, precision, reasoning, logic, imagination and creativity. (NOS-CCC)
Scientific knowledge can describe the consequences of actions but does not necessarily prescribe the decisions that society takes. (NOS-CCC)

How are they developed?

Students observe different ways scientists count orangutans using their nests. They analyze different sources of real data from scientists studying orangutans to count how they disperse fruit seeds in the forest.
Students hear from and read texts by scientists, farmers, and local Indigenous researchers and educators from both the US, Indonesia, and Costa Rica. They learn that much of this science research occurs over years to decades of time.
Scientists of different genders and cultural and ethnic groups are profiled in videos and texts. Students hear from scientists working with communities in Indonesia to study orangutans and generate solutions for protecting the rainforest and the many populations that depend on this ecosystem.
Students encounter different images of scientists who persist at their work in difficult circumstances to advance our collective understanding of ecosystem change, such as the work by researchers at GPOCP, who develop creative ways to gather data and measure changes in the rainforest ecosystem in order to monitor orangutan populations. They view a video of scientists working in Costa Rica to re-imagine the palm industry as an intercropping system. They hear from farmers who are iteratively improving their practices to benefit the environment and improve their efficiency.
Human activities to grow food require alterations in land resources, which ultimately has positive and negative consequences for other living things and the people who depend on the resources before the land was altered and after. Students consider different stakeholders in the palm oil problem to help make decisions about how land can be used to maximize financial and ecosystem benefits. They use their understanding of population dynamics, biodiversity, and ecosystem services as part of their design solutions, but they also consider what makes sense to support communities that depend on agriculture for their financial security.

Unit Placement Information

What is the anchoring phenomenon and why was it chosen?

The anchoring phenomenon, or problem, for the unit is the decline of orangutan populations in Indonesia that is linked to the use of palm oil in food and household products we use everyday. Students encounter this problem through videos, short readings, and headlines. Over the course of 3 class periods they develop an initial understanding that the ingredient palm oil is produced on oil palm plantations in Indonesia, where tropical rainforests are cleared to make space for the plantations. The palm oil problem is a global one, but also connects well to individual consumer choices. The root of this problem is not the palm oil itself, but rather the tension that occurs between large-scale industrial agriculture and the biodiversity that humans want to maintain and protect in ecosystems. This problem provides a rich context in which to investigate population dynamics, biodiversity, resilience, and human impacts in the context of natural and designed systems. The problem also represents a real-world system that farmers, scientists, community members, governments, and consumers are part of, and a context for thinking about how people can design better systems that work for humans and other living things.

The palm oil problem was chosen for this unit after reviewing interest survey results from middle school students, consulting with several external advisory panels, and piloting in middle school classrooms. It was chosen for the following reasons:

The palm oil problem provides a rich context for students to engage with all the Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) that are bundled with the Performance Expectations of the unit, and to do so in compelling ways.
Agricultural practices and biodiversity are not always at odds with each other, but there is a real tension between the monocrop farming methods today and maintaining biodiverse systems. This tension sets students up for authentic problem-solving and design tasks, keeping in mind different perspectives on the issue and different possible solutions.
Protecting the rainforest and the orangutan is a natural inclination for young people. Beginning with a charismatic system and species opens the door for students to notice examples in their own communities in which humans have altered the land in ways that work for people and not other living things. The underlying mechanisms to explain the palm oil problem are broadly applicable to many contexts, including our own backyards and schoolyards.
The palm oil problem sets the stage for designing and evaluating solutions from different perspectives, including farmers who want to maximize profits and protect important ecosystem services they rely upon, and the orangutans who need to meet their needs for growth and reproduction to maintain their population.

How is the unit structured?

The unit is organized into four lesson sets.

Lesson set 1 consists of Lessons 1-5. The focus of this lesson set is to investigate a good portion of our initial questions that are rooted in “simple” fixes to the problem (e.g., Can we use something else? Can we grow it somewhere else?). We end this lesson set with a realization that the problem is more complicated than it initially appears.
Lesson set 2 consists of Lessons 6-10. The focus of this lesson set is to define the problem and criteria and constraints for solutions, one of which is to maintain orangutan populations. This motivates a series of lessons to explore the connection between resource availability and population size.
Lesson set 3 consists of Lessons 11-13. This short lesson set picks up with resource availability but in the context of systems, namely the rainforest system and oil palm system. Students consider how disruptions to key resources in these systems (i.e., fruit trees, oil palm) impact other populations in the system and develop ideas about biodiversity, disruptions, and monocrop agriculture.
Lesson set 4 consists of Lessons 14-20. In this lesson set students investigate better ways to grow food that support both farmers and other living things. They apply these ideas to design and evaluate palm oil farm designs. Lessons 19-20 are two pathways to extend the unit to communicate about the problem to one’s community (Lessons 19) or to apply ideas to a local problem (Lesson 20).

Where does this unit fall within the OpenSciEd Scope and Sequence?

This unit is designed to be taught after OpenSciEd Unit 7.4: Where does food come from, and where does it go next? (Maple Syrup Unit) in the OpenSciEd Scope and Sequence. As such, it can leverage ideas about food webs, producers, consumers, and interactions between these organisms in an ecosystem. Other prior engineering design focused units, such as OpenSciEd Unit 6.2: How can containers keep stuff from warming up or cooling down? (Cup Design Unit) , OpenSciEd Unit 6.5: Where do natural hazards happen and how do we prepare for them?(Tsunami Unit) , and OpenSciEd Unit 7.2: How can we use chemical reactions to design a solution to a problem? (Homemade Heater Unit) , will allow students to leverage what they know about criteria, constraints, iterative design cycles, stakeholders, and optimizing designs.

This unit is designed to be taught prior to OpenSciEd Unit 7.6: How do changes in Earth’s system impact our communities and what can we do about it? (Droughts and Floods Unit) , which focuses on natural water resources, changing precipitation and climate, and human impacts. The two units together share Performance Expectation MS-ESS3-3 and its corresponding DCIs (ESS3.C Human Impacts on Earth Systems). There are no modifications to make to this unit but an awareness that the Palm Oil Unit and Droughts and Floods Unit are closely connected is important.

What modifications will I need to make if this unit is taught out of sequence?

This is the fifth unit in 7th grade in the OpenSciEd Scope and Sequence. Given this placement, several modifications would need to be made if teaching this unit earlier or later in the middle-school curriculum. These include:

If taught before the OpenSciEd Unit 7.1: How can we make something new that was not there before? (Bath Bombs Unit) or at the start of the school year, supplemental teaching of classroom norms, setting up the Driving Question Board, and asking open-ended and testable questions would need to be added. (These supports are built into the Bath Bombs Unit )
If taught before the Maple Syrup Unit , supplemental teaching of matter cycling between organisms and food webs would be required. In particular, students having experienced the Maple Syrup Unit will want to immediately investigate the ingredients in candy during the anchor lesson because students traced many ingredients back to plants in that unit. This may not be the case for students who have not experienced the Maple Syrup Unit , so the motivation to look at candy ingredients on day 1 of Lesson 1 may need additional support from you. The unit also relies on students having a recent learning experience around producers and consumers and the interconnection between the two in a food chain. This is particularly important for Lessons 11-13. Food webs are taught in 5th grade and students can work from this level of understanding, if needed. Lastly, Lesson 3 expects that students can readily identify the conditions that plants need to grow. The lesson has students briefly articulate these conditions so that students use most of the instructional time to identify growing conditions for oil palm plants. Additional time may need to be spent in this lesson if students have not learned about plant growth (MS-LS1-6).
This unit is highly dependent on 6th-grade math concepts. If this unit is taught in 6th grade, it is suggested to work very closely with a 6th grade math teacher to understand when students will learn the mathematical concepts and process (listed below) so that this unit can reinforce those concepts in a real-world problem context but not come before students have developed these ideas in their math classes (or working in conjunction with math and science simultaneously).

What mathematics is required to fully access the unit’s learning experiences?

During Lesson Set 2, students will engage in population thinking, rate and ratio reasoning, and encounter many graphical representations of data (e.g., line graphs, histograms) that they will need to interpret. They will calculate ratios in Lesson 7, create histograms together in Lesson 8, and interpret single data points in a distribution during both Lessons 8 and 9. Students will also work with the concept of “trend” in Lessons 9 and 10. Prerequisite math concepts that may be helpful include:

CCSS.Math.Content.6.RP.A.1 Understand the concept of a ratio and use ratio language to describe a ratio relationship between two quantities.
CCSS.Math.Content.6.RP.A.2 Understand the concept of a unit rate a/b associated with a ratio a:b with b ≠ 0, and use rate language in the context of a ratio relationship.
CCSS.Math.Content.6.RP.A.3 Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems.
CCSS.Math.Content.6.RP.A.3.c Find a percent of a quantity as a rate per 100.
CCSS.Math.Content.6.RP.A.3.d Use ratio reasoning to convert measurement units; manipulate and transform units appropriately when multiplying or dividing quantities.
CCSS.Math.Content.6.NS.B.2 Fluently divide multi-digit numbers using the standard algorithm.
CCSS.Math.Content.6.NS.B.3 Fluently add, subtract, multiply, and divide multi-digit decimals using the standard algorithm for each operation.
CCSS.Math.Content.6.NS.C.5 Understand that positive and negative numbers are used together to describe quantities having opposite directions or values.
CCSS.Math.Content.6.SP.A.1 Recognize a statistical question as one that anticipates variability in the data related to the question and accounts for it in the answers.
CCSS.Math.Content.6.SP.A.2 Understand that a set of data collected to answer a statistical question has a distribution, which can be described by its center, spread, and overall shape.
CCSS.Math.Content.6.SP.B.5.c Giving quantitative measures of center (median and/or mean) and variability (interquartile range and/or mean absolute deviation), as well as describing any overall pattern and any striking deviations from the overall pattern, with reference to the context in which the data were gathered.

What additional strategies are available to support equitable science learning in this unit?

OpenSciEd units are designed to promote equitable access to high-quality science learning experiences for all students. Each unit includes strategies which are integrated throughout the OpenSciEd routines and are intended to increase relevance and provide access to science learning for all students. OpenSciEd units support these equity goals through several specific strategies such as: 1) integrating Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Principles during the unit design process to reduce potential barriers and provide more accessible ways in which students can engage in learning experiences; 2) developing and supporting classroom norms that provide a safe learning culture, 3) supporting classroom discourse to promote students in developing, sharing, and revising their ideas, and 4) specific strategies to supporting emerging multilingual students in science classrooms.

Many of these strategies are discussed in the teacher guides in sidebar callout boxes titled “Attending to Equity” and subheadings such as “Supporting Emerging Multilingual Learners” or “Supporting Universal Design for Learning.” Other callout boxes with strategies are found as “Additional Guidance”, “Alternate Activity,” and “Key Ideas” and various discussion callouts. Finally, each unit includes the development of a Word Wall as part of students’ routines to “earning” or “encountering” scientific language.

For more information about each of these different strategies with example artifacts, please see the OpenSciEd Teacher Handbook.

How do I shorten or condense the unit if needed? How can I extend the unit if needed?

The following are example options to shorten or condense parts of the unit without eliminating important sensemaking for students:

Lesson 5: If your students live in communities in which it is safe to make observations outdoors, you can shift some of the in-class observations to a home learning activity.
Lesson 19 and 20: End the unit at Lesson 18. This will satisfy most students’ understanding of the palm oil problem and close out the Driving Question Board. This decision will eliminate 5 class periods. Lessons 19 and 20 are intended to offer meaningful, community-based application of learning for students.

The following are example options to extend parts of the unit to deepen students’ understanding of science ideas in the context of complex socioscientific issues:

Lesson 1: An extension opportunity is offered to support your students in better understanding plantation systems over time compared to farms, with a particular look at labor practices and the enslavement of people.
Lesson 3: An extension opportunity is offered to explore the financial costs of design and building greenhouses to grow oil palm. This extension allows you to engage your students in understanding limitations of designs, as well as using mathematics and computational thinking to solve problems.
Lesson 10: The case studies provided in this moment allow you to step outside of orangutans to apply science ideas to a new context. Use this opportunity to extend science ideas to a local case.
Lesson 12 : An extension opportunity is suggested to support students in exploring local cases of seed dispersal.
Lesson 13 : An home learning assignment can be turned into a community photo-documentation activity for students to document examples of biodiverse plant communities and monocrop plant communities in their everyday lives.
Lessons 19 and 20 : These lessons offer two pathways to extend student learning through rich and substantial projects. Lesson 19 supports a communication project focused on communicating about palm oil to local community members. Lesson 20 offers an option to move away from palm oil into a local case where a population is struggling and/or land is being used in unproductive ways to support living things.

Unit Acknowledgements

Unit Development Team

Lindsey Mohan, Unit Lead, BSCS Science Learning
Renee Affolter, Writer, Reviewer, & PD Design, Boston College
Kate Cook Whitt, Writer, Maine Math and Science Alliance
Candice Guy-Gaytán, Writer, BSCS Science Learning
Emily Harris, Writer, BSCS Science Learning
Ty Scaletta, Writer, Pilot teacher, Chicago Public Schools
Guy Ollison, Writer, BSCS Science Learning
Barbara Taylor, Writer, Charles A. Center at UT-Austin
Michael Novak, Conceptual design, Northwestern University
Heather Young, Sim Developer, Oregon Public Broadcasting
Cathie Stimac, Sim Design, Oregon Public Broadcasting
Charles Hickey, Pilot teacher, Weymouth Public Schools
Jennifer Loud, Pilot teacher, Weymouth Public Schools
Julie Callanan, Pilot teacher, Advisor, Framingham Public Schools
Katie Van Horne, Assessment Specialist
Cindy Passmore, Unit Advisory Chair, UC-Davis
Steve Babcock, Advisor, Louisiana State University
Karla White, Teacher Advisor, Bethany Public Schools

Consultants

Dr. Cheryl Knott, Natalie Robinson, and Dr. Andrea Blackburn from Boston University and the Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program
Dr. Rodolfo Dirzo, Stanford University

Production Team

BSCS Science Learning

Rachel Paul, Copyeditor, Independent Contractor
Natalie Giarratano, Copyeditor (field test), Independent Contractor
Kate Herman, Copyeditor, Independent Contractor
Stacey Luce, Editorial Production Lead Valerie Maltese, Communications and Advancement Manager
Renee DeVaul, Project Manager
Chris Moraine, Multimedia Graphic Designer
Kate Chambers, Multimedia Graphic Designer

Unit External Evaluation

EdReports awarded OpenSciEd an all-green rating for our Middle School Science Curriculum in February 2023. The materials received a green rating on all three qualifying gateways: Designed for the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), Coherence and Scope, and Usability. To learn more and read the report, visit the EdReports site .

NextGenScience’s Science Peer Review Panel

An integral component of OpenSciEd’s development process is external validation of alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards by NextGenScience’s Science Peer Review Panel using the EQuIP Rubric for Science . We are proud that this unit has earned the highest score available and has been awarded the NGSS Design Badge . You can find additional information about the EQuIP rubric and the peer review process at the nextgenscience.org website.

Unit standards

This unit builds toward the following NGSS Performance Expectations (PEs) as described in the OpenSciEd Scope & Sequence:

Reference to kit materials

The OpenSciEd units are designed for hands-on learning and therefore materials are necessary to teach the unit. These materials can be purchased as science kits or assembled using the kit material list.

NGSS Design Badge Awarded: Sep 15, 2021 Awarded To: OpenSciEd Unit 7.5: How Does Changing an Ecosystem Affect What Lives There? VERIFY

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