ENGG 413: Environmental

Science and Engineering

Keyza Jean M. Rivera
Chemical Engineer, BatStateU
MS Environmental Engineering, UP Diliman

LECTURE 1
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

• Field of science that studies the interactions of the physical,

chemical, and biological components of the environment and
also the relationship and effects of these components with the
organisms in the environment

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

• Brings together the fields of ecology, biology, zoology,

oceanography, atmospheric science, soil science, geology,
chemistry and more in an interdisciplinary study of how natural
and man-made processes interact with one another and
ultimately affect the various biomes of Earth

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

MAIN GOALS

• To learn how the natural world works

• To understand how we as humans interact with the

environment

• To determine how we affect the environment and finding ways

to deal with these effects on the environment

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS

• Understanding earth processes

• Evaluating alternative energy systems, pollution control and

mitigation, natural resource management, and the effects of
global climate change

• Bringing a system approach to the analysis of environmental

problems

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

ECOLOGY

• Study of the relationships among organisms and their

environment

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

LEVELS OF ORGANIZATION
• Biome: major regional or
global community of organisms
characterized by the climate
conditions and plant
communities that thrive there
• Ecosystem: all of the
organisms
• Community: group of different
species that live together in
one area
• Population: group of the same
species that live in one area
• Organism/individual ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering
BIOME

• Biological community that is formed in response to shared

physical climate

• Terrestrial VS Aquatic

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

TERRESTRIAL AQUATIC
• Desert • Ocean
• Grassland
• Estuary
• Savanna
• Rainforest • Freshwater

• Deciduous forest
• Taiga
• Tundra

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

INCIDENT VS POPULATION

• Plague of Justinian (First Pandemic)

• Black Death (Second Pandemic)

• Third Pandemic

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

ECOSYSTEM

• Includes both living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) factors

• Biotic: plants, animals, fungi, bacteria

• Abiotic: moisture, temperature, wind, sunlight, soil, rocks. The

balance of these factors determines what can live in a
particular environment.

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

KEYSTONE SPECIES

• Have an unusually large

effect on its ecosystem

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

KEYSTONE SPECIES

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES
BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES

• Most common elements associated with organic molecules:

carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, sulfur

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES

• Water (Hydrological) Cycle

• Carbon Cycle

• Nitrogen Cycle

• Phosphorus Cycle

• Sulfur Cycle

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering
WATER CYCLE

• Water from the land and oceans enters the atmosphere by

evaporation or sublimation, where it condenses into clouds
and falls as rain or snow.

• Precipitated water may enter freshwater bodies or infiltrate

the soil. The cycle is complete when surface or groundwater
reenters the ocean.

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering
CARBON CYCLE
• Carbon dioxide gas exists in the atmosphere and is dissolved in
water. Photosynthesis converts carbon dioxide gas to organic
carbon, and respiration cycles the organic carbon back into carbon
dioxide gas.
• Long-term storage of organic carbon occurs when matter from
living organisms is buried deep underground and becomes
fossilized. Volcanic activity and, more recently, human emissions
bring this stored carbon back into the carbon cycle.
ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering
ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering
NITROGEN CYCLE

• Nitrogen enters the living world through free-living and

symbiotic bacteria, which incorporate nitrogen into their
organic molecules through specialized biochemical processes.
Certain species of bacteria are able to perform nitrogen
fixation, the process of converting nitrogen gas into ammonia
(NH3), which spontaneously becomes ammonium (NH4+).

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

NITROGEN CYCLE

• Ammonium is converted by bacteria into nitrites (NO2−) and

then nitrates (NO3−). At this point, the nitrogen-containing
molecules are used by plants and other producers to make
organic molecules such as DNA and proteins. This nitrogen is
now available to consumers.

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

NITROGEN CYCLE

• Human activity can alter the nitrogen cycle by two primary

means: the combustion of fossil fuels, which releases different
nitrogen oxides, and by the use of artificial fertilizers (which
contain nitrogen and phosphorus compounds) in agriculture,
which are then washed into lakes, streams, and rivers by
surface runoff.

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

NITROGEN CYCLE

• Atmospheric nitrogen (other than N2) is associated with several

effects on Earth’s ecosystems including the production of acid rain
(as nitric acid, HNO3) and greenhouse gas effects (as nitrous oxide,
N2O), potentially causing climate change. A major effect from
fertilizer runoff is saltwater and freshwater eutrophication, a
process whereby nutrient runoff causes the overgrowth of algae,
the depletion of oxygen, and death of aquatic fauna.

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering
PHOSPHORUS CYCLE

• Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for living processes. It is a

major component of nucleic acids and phospholipids, and, as
calcium phosphate, it makes up the supportive components of
our bones.

• Phosphorus is also reciprocally exchanged between phosphate

dissolved in the ocean and marine organisms.

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

PHOSPHORUS CYCLE

• In nature, phosphorus exists as the phosphate ion (PO43-).

Weathering of rocks and volcanic activity releases phosphate into
the soil, water, and air, where it becomes available to terrestrial
food webs. Phosphate enters the oceans in surface runoff,
groundwater flow, and river flow. Phosphate dissolved in ocean
water cycles into marine food webs. Some phosphate from the
marine food webs falls to the ocean floor, where it forms sediment.

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering
SULFUR CYCLE
• Sulfur is an essential element for the molecules of living
things. As part of the amino acid cysteine, it is involved in the
formation of proteins. Atmospheric sulfur is found in the form
of sulfur dioxide (SO2), which enters the atmosphere in three
ways: first, from the decomposition of organic molecules;
second, from volcanic activity and geothermal vents; and,
third, from the burning of fossil fuels by humans.
ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering
SULFUR CYCLE

• Sulfur dioxide from the atmosphere becomes available to

terrestrial and marine ecosystems when it is dissolved in
precipitation as weak sulfuric acid or when it falls directly to
Earth as fallout. Weathering of rocks also makes sulfates
available to terrestrial ecosystems. Decomposition of living
organisms returns sulfates to the ocean, soil, and atmosphere.

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

SULFUR CYCLE

• Human activities have played a major role in altering the balance of

the global sulfur cycle. The burning of large quantities of fossil
fuels, especially from coal, releases larger amounts of hydrogen
sulfide gas into the atmosphere. As rain falls through this gas, it
creates the phenomenon known as acid rain, which damages the
natural environment by lowering the pH of lakes, thus killing many
of the resident plants and animals.

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

SULFUR CYCLE

• Acid rain is corrosive rain caused by rainwater falling to the

ground through sulfur dioxide gas, turning it into weak sulfuric
acid, which causes damage to aquatic ecosystems. Acid rain
also affects the man-made environment through the chemical
degradation of buildings.

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering

SULFUR CYCLE

• For example, many marble monuments, such as the Lincoln

Memorial in Washington, DC, have suffered significant
damage from acid rain over the years. These examples show
the wide-ranging effects of human activities on our
environment and the challenges that remain for our future.

ENGG 413: Environmental Science and Engineering