Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Concepts we discuss:
Renewable Resource
Nonrenewable Resource
Environment
Ecology
Ecosystem
Biome
Preservation vs. Conservation
Carrying Capacity
Food Chains
Renewable Resource:
Resources that can be replaced by human efforts
Can be Renewable forever depending on the management of the resource
Example: Forests and Forest Products
Non-Renewable Resources:
Limited resources that cannot be replaced once they are gone
Careful use and extend the length of their availability
Example: Petroleum and Petroleum products
Environment: All of the physical surroundings of a species
Ecology: Study of the complex relationships among living things and their environment
Ecosystem:
Any partially self-contained environmental and living thing
Example: A lake, a large valley, or a forest
Biome:
A major land area characterized by dominant plant life forms
Established by altitude and rainfall
Preservation Conservation
Carrying Capacity: The ability of an ecosystem to provide food and shelter for a given population
Food Web:
A group of plants and/ or animals
related to each other by the fact that one feeds or
depends for food on the next
Pyramidal in shape
Many producers
Fewer Consumers
Fewer still predators
producers consumers
Also known as autotrophs Also known as hetertrophs
Food Chains:
Carnivores
First-order Carnivores: Carnivores that feed on herbivores
Second-order Carnivores: Carnivores that feed on first order carnivores
Omnivores
“All eaters”
These critters are both herbivores and carnivores
Predators
Carnivores that feed on live animals
Examples: Owls
Prey
Animals that are eaten by predators
Examples: Mice
Scavengers
Critters that feed on dead organisms
Both plants and animals
Examples: snails, crayfish, crow
Saprophytes
Fungi that feed on dead organisms
Examples: Fungi, bacteria
Decomposer
Break down and feed on non-living organic matter
Examples: Yeasts, molds
Development and Environment Linkages 1
The linkages between development and environment are numerous. The state of the environment can
contribute significantly to or worsen poverty and human well-being.