CE24A: Sustainable Built Environment

Instructor: Purnendu Bose

Timing: MWF, 17:10 18:00

Venue: L18

Compulsory for all Y14 and Y15 CE B. Tech Students

Compulsory for earlier batch CE students

who have NOT cleared CE321A
Earth, Environment and Ecosystem

The physical constituents of the Earth are the Lithosphere, Hydrosphere and the
Atmosphere.

The Biosphere is the life-zone of the Earth and includes all living organisms, including
man, and parts of the lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere in contact with living beings.

Environment is defined as the totality of circumstances surrounding an organism or group

of organisms, including the external physical conditions that affect and influence the
growth, development, and survival.

The biosphere is divided into ecosystems. An Ecosystem is a community of organisms

together with its environment, functioning as a unit. Ecosystems function as a largely self-
sufficient unit, with resource consumption and recycling within the ecosystem far exceeding
interactions with the outside. The science of the relationships between organisms and their
environment, i.e., study of Ecosystems is known as Ecology.
Ecosystem Components..Natural Resources, Energy

Natural Resources required for sustenance of living organisms in ecosystems, and hence the
biosphere as a whole, is derived from the lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere.

Since these resources are finite, they must be recycled for sustenance of ecosystems.
Sustenance of ecosystems requires that this recycling system is comprehensive and robust.

It is thought that this need for efficient and continuous recycling of natural resources to
sustain the biosphere results in the large diversity of microbial, plant and animal species.

The Energy required for recycling the natural resources is obtained in the relatively low
entropy form (mostly visible radiation) from the sun.

After use for natural resource recycling (which involves sustenance of life), energy is released
to the space in a relatively high entropy form (as heat).

Energy is thus constantly degraded, and cannot be recycled, but must be supplied from and
external source.
Ecosystem Components..Continued
The Living Component of ecosystems consist of large number of species, arranged in a
complex interconnected pyramidal structure, also known as the food web, with the species
at the top gaining sustenance from those at the bottom.
Ecosystem Components..Continued

In addition all species gain sustenance from the non-living components (i.e., natural
resources) of the ecosystem.

This arrangement involving resource consumption and recycling ensures that the net
utilization of natural resources in the ecosystem is zero, which results in its perpetuation.

Of course, energy is required for this process, which, as mentioned before, is received from
the sun.

Changes in Ecosystem

Due to various earth processes, the physical conditions in ecosystems are always undergoing
slow change.

This results in the change of the Environment of living species inhabiting the ecosystem.

To counter this change in physical circumstances, species have developed mechanisms of

Adaptation and Evolution, such that the species in ecosystems also undergo slow
transformation in keeping with changes in the physical environment, thus sustaining the
system.

Hence ecosystems of millions of years ago are very different from ecosystems of today.
Changes in Ecosystem..Vulnerabilities

Ecosystems are generally very vulnerable to the following three types of changes, which
tend to threaten their sustainability,

When net resource utilization is greater than zero, i.e., resources are being consumed
faster than they are recycled. This leads to resource scarcity and accumulation of non-
recycled wastes, i.e., pollutants. Accumulation of pollutants threatens the survival of
ecosystems.

Ecosystems are vulnerable to rapid changes in physical conditions, as species have no

mechanism to adapt to rapid changes in environment. Rapid accumulation of pollutants
in ecosystems, as discussed above is one such example of rapid change

Rapid change, e.g., rapid accumulation of pollutants results in extinction of species that
are unable to survive in the changed environment. This results in the reduction of
biodiversity, and creation of a changed and less robust ecosystem, less able to withstand
further change.