Environmental Chemistry

Is the study of the sources, reactions, transport, effects and fates of chemical species in the water, soil, air and organism in the environment

What is environmental chemistry?

"What is environmental chemistry? This question is a little difficult to answer because environmental Chemistry encompasses many different topics. It may involve a study of Freon reactions in the stratosphere or an analysis of toxic deposits in ocean sediments. It also covers the chemistry and biochemistry of volatile and soluble organometallic compounds biosynthesized by anaerobic bacteria. Environmental chemistry is the study of

the sources, reactions, transport, effects, and fates of chemical species in water, soil, and air environments."
Stanley E. Manahan. 1991. Environmental Chemistry, Fifth edition.

What does an environmental chemist do?

Prevent Environmental deterioration Environmental Clean-up

Environmental Chemist

Environmental Measurement & Monitoring

Environmental Research

Environmental Regulation

Ecology
 A study of interactions of organisms with each other and with physical environment (both biotic and abiotic).

   

Examples of interactions competitions among plants for light tree and animal disperser growth of a crop and soil fertility forests as a sink for atmospheric carbon

Ecosystem:  a spatially explicit unit of the Earth that includes all of the organisms, along with all the components of the abiotic environment within its boundaries. Gene Likens

Ecosystem: (trophic-dynamic) the system composed of physical-chemicalbiological processes active within a space-time unit of any magnitude Ray Lindeman 1941

Cedar Ck. Bog, MN

Ecosystem
the environment within which interactions take place, subject to influences both internal and external, with inputs and outputs OF ABIOTIC

Study of ecosystem includes living community plus physical environment. a. Living (biotic) components : habitats and niches. b. Nonliving (abiotic) components: soil, water, light, inorganic nutrients, and weather

Habitat = organism's place of residence, where it can be found, such as under a log. Niche = profession or role of that organism in the community, factors limiting its life, and how it acquires food

Producers = autotrophic photosynthetic organisms. a. In terrestrial ecosystems, producers are predominantly green plants. b. In freshwater and marine ecosystems, dominant producers are algae.

Consumers are heterotrophic organisms that eat preformed food.

a. Herbivores feed directly on green plants; are primary consumers. b. Carnivores feed on other animals and are secondary or tertiary consumers.

c. Omnivores feed on both plants and animals; for example, humans eat both

d. Decomposers are organisms of decay. i. Mostly are bacteria and fungi. ii. Break down detritus, nonliving organic matter, into inorganic matter. iii. Small soil organisms are critical in helping bacteria and fungi shred leaf litter and form rich soil.

Energy Flow and Chemical Cycling

 Energy flow in ecosystems based on two laws of thermodynamics: (a) First law states energy cannot be created or destroyed. (b) Second law asserts that when energy is transformed from one form to another, some usable energy is lost as heat.

The Food Chain

Figure : A Pond Ecosystem. Each of the roles of producer, consumer, and decomposer is filled by a number of different organisms in a pond ecosystem.

A Food Pyramid in the Temperate Rain Forest Biome

Segments of Pyramid Show Relative Biomass at Each Trophic Level

marine environment: environment: open ocean low primary productivity, often limiting N, P, Fe resulting in low heterotrophic activity inshore nutrient rich resulting in greater productivity deep sea habitats: habitats: about 75% of ocean water is at depths of greater than 1000 m mostly dark, cold (2-3C), high hydrostatic pressure, very low nutrient input (marine snow) low microbial activity; inhabitants are psychrotolerant or psychrophilic, barotolerant or barophilic sort of a cold, wet desert

..... and then we have hydrothermal vents, analogous to oases in deserts

hydrothermal vent communities: communities driven by geothermal energy microbe-animal symbioses free-living microorganisms include S-oxidizing chemolithotrophs (Thiothrix, Beggiatoa, Thiobacillus), may also be H2-, Fe2+-, Mn2+oxidizers, methanotrophs, nitrifiers

SA9a

tube worms: can be 2 m+ long lack mouth, gut, anus possess trophosome, spongy tissue packed with S granules and S-oxidizing bacteria bacteria grow on H2S, thiosulfate and CO2 tube worm traps O2, H2S in blood and delivers to bacteria dead bacteria, products of bacterial metabolism support tube worm

black smoker

bacteria (green) & archaea (red) from black smoker chimney material

SA9b

snowblower: tufts of bacterial biomass blown out

of a vent into overlying water

SA9d

the habitats were used to: light energy CO2 carbon plant (phototrophic & autotrophic) cow carbon & energy

the hydrothermal vent habitat: H2S energy S-oxidizing bacterium (chemolithotrophic & autotrophic) CO2 carbon

carbon & energy

animal (organotrophic & heterotrophic)

tube worm (organotrophic & heterotrophic)

driven by sunlight

driven by geothermal energy

Food Chains Become Food Webs

 Food chain = simply "who eats what".  Food web = weaves together many food chains to form a complicated network of feeding relationships.  Many animals eat more than one thing, and each link in each chain is important and integral to the entire system.

Populations Form a Pyramid

 Trophic structure of an ecosystem forms an ecological pyramid.  Base of pyramid represents producer trophic level, apex is highest level consumer or the top predator.  Pyramid of numbers is based on number of organisms at each trophic level.  Pyramid of biomass is calculated by multiplying the average weight for organisms times the number of organisms at each trophic level.  Pyramid of energy calculates amounts of energy available at each successive trophic level.

 The food energy pyramid always shows a decrease moving up trophic levels because:
 i. Only a certain amount of food is captured and eaten by organisms on the next trophic level.  ii. Some of food that is eaten cannot be digested and exits digestive tract as undigested waste.  iii. Only a portion of digested food becomes part of the organism's body; rest is used as source of energy.  iv. Substantial portion of food energy goes to build up temporary ATP in mitochondria; ATP energy is then used to synthesize proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, and fuel contraction of muscles, nerve conduction, etc.

 Only about 10% of energy available at a particular trophic level is incorporated into tissues at the next level. Example: a larger population can be sustained by eating grain than by eating grain-fed animals since 100 kg of grain would result in 10 human kgs but if fed to cattle, the result is 1 human kg.

Biological Magnification
 Biomagnification, also known as bioamplification, or biological magnification is the increase in concentration of a substance, such as the pesticide DDT, that occurs in a food chain as a consequence of:  Food chain energetics  Low (or nonexistent) rate of excretion/degradation of the substance.

 Although sometimes used interchangeably with 'bioaccumulation,' an important distinction is drawn between the two.  Bioaccumulation occurs within a trophic level, and is the increase in concentration of a substance in an individuals' tissues due to uptake from food and sediments in an aquatic milieu.  Bioconcentration is defined as occurring when uptake from the water is greater than excretion.

Barry Commoner
One of Commoner's lasting legacies is his four laws of ecology, as written in The Closing Circle in 1971. The four laws are: 1. Everything is Connected to Everything Else.  There is one ecosphere for all living organisms and what affects one, affects all. 2. Everything Must Go Somewhere.  There is no "waste" in nature and there is no away to which things can be thrown. 3. Nature Knows Best.  Humankind has fashioned technology to improve upon nature, but such change in a natural system is, says Commoner, likely to be detrimental to that system. 4. There Is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch.  In nature, both sides of the equation must balance, for every gain there is a cost, and all debts are eventually paid. 

Tragedy of the Commons

 "The Tragedy of the Commons," Garrett Hardin, Science, 162(1968):1243-1248.
More general examples (some alluded to by Hardin) of potential and actual tragedies include: Planet Earth Uncontrolled human population growth leading to overpopulation. Water - Water pollution, Water crisis of over-extraction of groundwater Forests - Frontier logging of old growth forest and slash Energy resources and climate - Burning of fossil fuels, consequential global warming Animals - Habitat destruction and poaching leading to the Holocene mass extinction Oceans Over fishing Public spaces and lands Radio frequencies - Unlicensed frequencies used for wireless communications especially 802.11 a/b/g, detailed under Part 15 (FCC rules) are vulnerable to the overuse of high power transmitters