UNIT 1: ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES- INTRODUCTION-SCOPE

–IMPORTANCE , MEASURING AND DEFINING ENVIRONMENTAL

DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS

INTRODUCTION
● The word ‘environment’ is derived from the old French word ‘environer’ – which means to
‘surround, enclose, and encircle’.
● Environment refers to an aggregate of conditions or surroundings in which living beings such as
humans, animals, and plants live or survive and non-living things exist.
● All living beings including man and their environment are mutually reactive, affecting each other
in a number of ways. It is generally equated with nature wherein physical components of the
planet earth such as earth, air, water, etc. support and affect life in the biosphere.
● Environment represents the physical components of the earth, wherein man is an important
factor affecting the environment.
● Environment comprises interacting systems of physical, biological, and cultural elements, which
are interlinked individually as well as collectively in various ways.

Constituents of Environment

● Physical elements constitute space, landforms, water-bodies, climate, soils, rocks, and minerals.
These elements determine the variable character of human habitat, and also its opportunities
and limitations.
● Biological elements include plants, animals, micro-organisms, and man.
● Cultural elements include economic, social and political conditions which are largely man-made
features.

Types of Environment

Since environment is a combination of physical and biological factors, it contains both living or biotic and
non-living or abiotic components. On the basis of this basic structure, environment can be divided into
physical or abiotic and living or biotic environment.

● Physical or Abiotic Environment

Physical environment is made up of the following states - solid, liquid, and gas. These three elements
signify lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere respectively. On the basis of spatial distribution,
smaller units are termed as coastal environment, plateau environment, mountain environment, lake
environment, river environment, maritime environment, etc.
 ● Living or Biotic Environment
Biotic environment consists of plants (flora) and animals (fauna) including human beings as a
significant factor. Thus, biotic environment can be of two types such as floral environment and
faunal environment.

Apart from the above, there are social, cultural, and psychological environment.

● Social and Cultural Environment

This type of environment includes the varied aspects of socio-cultural interactions along with its
outcomes such as beliefs, attitudes, stereotypes etc. The tangible and intangible aspects of environment
are included in it.

● Psychological Environment

Psychological environment deals with the perception and experiences related to any environmental
setting. Some environment may be stimulating and exciting for us, while others may be dull and boring.
Psychological environment is more often used in the organizational context.

● Importance
● Earth’s living components establish equilibrium with their environment.
● Environmental science helps to understand the scientific basis to establish different standards
which help to keep the equilibrium in the ecosystem.
● Majority of environmental scientists are of the view that if environmental pollution i.e. air, water
and soil continued at the present rate the change will be irreversible and may cause damage to
ecological cycles and balances in the ecosystem which is may harm the life of living organisms on
the earth.
● To maintain the ecological balance in the ecosystems, drastic changes have to be inculcated in
the human behaviour .There is well known fact that universe does not have infinite resources to
support the future generation. Earth’s limited resources must be conserved and reused where
ever possible. Policy makers at global level must devise new strategies to protect natural
ecosystem, keeping balance with economic growth. Future growth of developing nations
depends upon the development of sustainable conservation methods that protect the
environment, while also meeting the basic needs of citizens.
● An environmental study is the subject in which we examine important issues relating to
environment as they affect our lives. It is an exploratory description of issues. Each issue can be
probed more deeply.
● Many a time development and economic growth cannot go hand on hand. Development
activities are inversely related to environment because development leads to industrialisation for
employment which leads to depletion of natural resources and affect the standard of living of
the citizens. Developing nations are compromised with environment for fast growth in different
 sectors to produce goods for domestic use and export which in turn pollute the environment at
the expense of development.
● It is hard fact that consumption levels of the consumer life-style of humans is directly related to
environmental problems. Therefore, living habits attitude and ethical standards are the areas of
concern to keep the ecological balance intact.
● The government and their agencies, the non-governmental organizations, the judiciary and now
the corporate sector also express a great concern on matters relating natural environment and
ecosystem. Many environmental problems such as depletion of ozone layer, global warming,
destruction and extinction of species, decreasing water table, contamination and depletion of
ground water and problem of increasing population can be solved by educating the future
generations about the impact of development activities on environment.

Objectives of Environment Education

The objectives of Environmental Education are classified as follows:

● Knowledge: to help social groups and individuals, gain a variety of experiences and acquire a
basic understanding of the environment and its associated problems.
● Awareness: to help social groups and individuals acquire an awareness of and sensitivity to the
total environment and its allied problems.
● Attitudes: to help social groups and individuals to acquire a set of values and promote a feeling
of concern for the environment and provide motivation for actively participating in
environmental improvement and protection.
● Participation: to provide social groups and individuals with an opportunity to be actively involved
at all levels, working towards the resolution of environmental problems.
● Skills : to help social groups and individual to acquires the skills for identifying and solving
environmental problems
● Evaluation Ability: to evaluate environmental measures and education programs in terms of
ecological, economic, social and aesthetic factors.
● The overall goal of environmental education can be expressed in another form as three principal
objectives (UNESCO, 1977a).
● To foster clear awareness and concern about economic, social, political and ecological
interdependence in urban and rural areas.
● To create new patterns of behaviors of individuals, groups and society as a whole towards the
environment.
● To provide every person with opportunities to acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes,
commitment and skills needed to protect and improve the environment
● Scope
● The wide spread use of chemicals in agriculture and industry has introduced new dimensions to
sustain eco balance in the system. This possesses potential threat to human health through the
spread of pollutants through water and soil, as well as through food chain.
● The need for use of environment science is drawing the intention of policy makers for pollution
control to sustain the life and nature. Study of environmental science helps us to understand the
various components of environment and disturbing factors and helps to find solution to
overcome the negative effect of these factors.
● The industrial waste which contains highly toxic elements like lead, mercury and arsenic is
discriminately discharged into the rivers.
● The water used for drinking, irrigation and other purposes from these contaminated sources is a
serious threat to the human health.
● Study of environment science has helped in manufacturing pollution control equipment, sewage
and effluent treatment plants, and biomedical waste treatment.
● The essence of environmental science is multidisciplinary in nature and helps to identify
environmental issues which are directly or indirectly concerned with environment.
● College and university students, corporate houses can prove leaders to protect the environment
and conservation of natural resources by understanding the multidisciplinary nature of
environment studies.
● Policy makers from various government organisations can play an important role to protect and
conserve environment by understanding the nature of environmental issues facing the country.
● Natural resources of any country are either renewable or non renewable. Most countries are
exploiting their resources at fast rate. Increased population is creating stress on these resources.
● India, being in the phase of development is exploiting its resources at a fast rate. Increasing
industrialisation, deforestation, soil erosion, increased mode of transformation and adoption of
high intensity agriculture has contributed to degradation of environment .
● Our ecosystem which is constituted of air, soil and water cannot survive for long, unless efforts
are made to protect the environment from pollutants. Without suitable habitat, living organisms
cannot survive. With increased level of living standards, rate of consumption and disposal of
waste has created problems due to enhanced activities for product manufacturing, marketing,
and management, etc. Changed environment doesn’t affect only the poor but also affects the
rich people.
● Environmental studies has lot of scope in the areas like control of environment pollution,
conservation and management of natural resources, balance disturbance in ecology and
biodiversity ,control and education of human population and systematic development with
keeping eye on environment pollution .
● Environmental science is problem oriented and seeks knowledge about the natural environment
and its impact on living organisms. So there is a need of best idea and information to deals
success fully with environmental problems
Need for Awareness

Environmental science knowledge should be used to educate the masses about the problems being
faced by present generation as well as the problems to be faced by future generation. Government of
India, particularly ministry of agriculture in cooperation with ministry of environment and forest can
launch campaigns, so that people can be educated about the importance of environment healthy
plantation. State governments should activate the machinery to generate awareness about the impact of
forest in maintaining ecological balance. At global level world environment day celebrated on 5th June
every year which can be undertaken as plantation day.

Multimedia can play leading role for dissemination of information by using different tools like
advertisements, group discussion, feature films, video conferencing, and website and internet services.

Printing media can initiate the campaigns regarding impact of degraded environment on living organisms
by publishing articles through newspapers, magazines, newsletters.

Awareness campaign can be launched through displaying several holdings, posters at prominent places
and organising exhibitions, face to face interaction, online e-mail service, SMS service throughout the
country.

Individual actions can inspire large number of people. Therefore individual efforts can significantly
influence the environment. Individuals can involve themselves in different activities for improving
environment.

Social and political movement, environmentalism (code of conduct for achieving better environmental
management) can have significant effect to save the ecosystem for future generations.

Lot of people talk about degradation of environment and preach for clean environment, but only
selective people have clear vision about this scope and need of safe guarding the interest to keep
balance between development and degradation of environment. There is a need to use the experience
of experts to implement the developmental projects. Many times environment awareness campaign
have been exploited for political propaganda rather than educational programmes to educate the people
about actual impacts of the project, for example the issue of Enron Power Project (Dabhol Power
Project) now called Ratnagiri Power Project in Konkan area of Maharashtra, was much politicized and the
environmental issues were put forth as political propaganda.

Awareness regarding the state of environment is must for every human being living on this planet.
Already world is surrounded by several environmental problems, the effect of which is directly felt by its
inhabitants. Nobody can escape the wrath if fallen, may it be the people of developing countries or those
from the developed ones.
Looking at the present pathetic state of environment and the knowledge people have about it, it has
become evident for every country to educate their masses, so that they could start understanding the
problems that they are facing at present and would have to face in future. In fact, almost all nations of
world have geared up in creating awareness in their people.

The media is playing a leading role in this process. Several means are being employed to educate the
masses. Various advertisements, documentaries, feature films etc. are being made to be telecasted on
the video media. Newspapers and other magazines are publishing out lot of articles on this subject.

Government with its separate ministry - Ministry of Environment and Forest has also launched many
campaigns like displaying several hoardings, posters etc. throughout the country. The state ministries are
also playing important roles in generating awareness in masses.

Plantation of several trees on various occasions, especially on World Environment Day which falls on 5th
June is undertaken on large scale.

The complex link between human activities and the loss of biodiversity is rapidly coming to light.

Loss of habitats and poaching of wildlife is more obvious now a day. But more complex and unsuspected
links are being thrown up as scientists go deeper into the subject. For example, the recent study suggest
that rapid decline of species of vultures in South Asia could be result of a veterinary drug given to cattle
which is eventually passed on to vultures when they feed one of the carcasses of these animals. This
particular observation and many much more complex observations are based on deep study that is being
done in field of Environment Sciences.

Similarly, while atmospheric science and chemistry may seem distantly related subjects, it was the study
of CFCs (chloro fluoro carbon) and their impact on ozone that finally led to an understanding of the
ozone ‘hole’ and the Montreal Protocol (a commitment by governments to phase out the use of CFCs),
which has been one of the success stories of a global response to a global problem.

ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS : It communicate information about the environment—and about human

activities that affect it in ways that highlight emerging problems and draw attention to the effectiveness
of current policies. Indicators must tell us, in short, whether things are getting better or worse. An
indicator must reflect changes over a period of time keyed to the problem, it must be reliable and
reproducible, and, whenever possible, it should be calibrated in the same terms as the policy goals or
targets linked to it.
DEFINITION OF INDICATOR: A characteristic of the environment when measured quantifies the
magnitude of stress, habitat characteristics, degree of exposure to the stressors or the degree of
ecological responses to the exposure. The terms ecological indicator and environmental indicator are
often used interchangeably.
Characteristic of indicators

● Valid: accurate measure of a behaviour, practice, task that is the expected output or outcome of
the intervention
● Reliable: consistently measurable over time, in the same way by different observers
● Precise: operationally defined in clear terms
● Measurable: quantifiable using available tools and methods
● Timely: provides a measurement at time intervals relevant and appropriate in terms of
programme goals and activities
● Ecologically relevant
● Politically/socially relevant
● Measurable
● Statistically Sound
● Interpretable
● Cost-effective
● Nondestructive
● Historical data available
● Anticipatory
● Appropriate scale

Physico-chemical indicators

Physico-chemical indicators are the traditional 'water quality' indicators that most people are familiar
with. They include dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, salinity and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus).
They also include measures of toxicants such as insecticides, herbicides and metals. Physico-chemical
indicators provide information on what is impacting on the system. For example, is it an organic waste
that affects dissolved oxygen, or is it some type of toxicant? Although physico-chemical indicators can
identify the cause of the problem, they only provide limited information on the extent that pollutants are
actually impacting on fauna and flora. To assess this, we need to assess the biological indicators.

Biological indicators

Biological indicators are direct measures of the health of the fauna and flora in the waterway. Commonly
used biological indicators in freshwater include various measures of macroinvertebrate or fish diversity,
benthic algal growth and benthic oxygen demand. For estuaries, biological indicators are less developed.
The only commonly used biological indicator in estuaries is chlorophyll-a, which is a measure of
phytoplankton population density. In coastal embayments, indicators such as seagrass condition or
condition of fringing coral reefs are sometimes used.
A bioindicator is an organism or biological response that reveals the presence of pollutants by the
occurrence of typical symptoms or measurable responses and is, therefore, more qualitative. These
organisms (or communities of organisms) can be used to deliver information on alterations in the
environment or the quantity of environmental pollutants by changing in one of the following ways:
physiologically, chemically or behaviourally. The information can be deduced through the study of:

their content of certain elements or compounds their morphological or cellular structure metabolic
biochemical processes behavior population structure(s).

The importance and relevance of biomonitors, rather than man-made equipment, are justified by the
observation that the best indicator of the status of a species or system is itself. Bioindicators can reveal
indirect biotic effects of pollutants when many physical or chemical measurements cannot. Through
bioindicators, scientists need to observe only the single indicating species to check on the environment
rather than monitor the whole community.

The use of a biomonitor is described as biological monitoring and is the use of the properties of an
organism to obtain information on certain aspects of the biosphere. Biomonitoring of air pollutants can
be passive or active. Experts use passive methods to observe plants growing naturally within the area of
interest. Active methods are used to detect the presence of air pollutants by placing test plants of known
response and genotype into the study area.

Bioaccumulative indicators are frequently regarded as biomonitors. Depending on the organism selected
and their use, there are several types of bioindicators.

Plant indicators

The lichen Lobaria pulmonaria is sensitive to air pollution.

The presence or absence of certain plant or other vegetative life in an ecosystem can provide important
clues about the health of the environment: environmental preservation. There are several types of plant
biomonitors, including mosses, lichens, tree bark, bark pockets, tree rings, and leaves. Fungi too may be
useful as indicators.

Lichens are organisms comprising both fungi and algae. They are found on rocks and tree trunks, and
they respond to environmental changes in forests, including changes in forest structure – conservation
biology, air quality, and climate. The disappearance of lichens in a forest may indicate environmental
stresses, such as high levels of sulfur dioxide, sulfur-based pollutants, and nitrogen oxides. The
composition and total biomass of algal species in aquatic systems serve as an important metric for
organic water pollution and nutrient loading such as nitrogen and phosphorus. There are genetically
engineered organisms that can respond to toxicity levels in the environment; e.g., a type of genetically
engineered grass that grows a different colour if there are toxins in the soil.

Animal indicators and toxins

Changes in animal populations, whether increases or decreases, can indicate pollution. For example, if
pollution causes depletion of a plant, animal species that depend on that plant will experience
population decline. Conversely, overpopulation may be opportunistic growth of a species in response to
loss of other species in an ecosystem. On the other hand, stress-induced sub-lethal effects can be
manifested in animal physiology, morphology, and behaviour of individuals long before responses are
expressed and observed at the population level. Such sub-lethal responses can be very useful as "early
warning signals" to predict how populations will further respond.

Pollution and other stress agents can be monitored by measuring any of several variables in animals: the
concentration of toxins in animal tissues; the rate at which deformities arise in animal populations;
behaviour in the field or in the laboratory]; and by assessing changes in individual physiology.

Frogs and toads

Amphibians, particularly anurans (frogs and toads), are increasingly used as bioindicators of contaminant
accumulation in pollution studies.Anurans absorb toxic chemicals through their skin and larval gill
membranes and are sensitive to alterations in their environment.[15] They have a poor ability to detoxify
pesticides that are absorbed, inhaled, or ingested by eating contaminated food. This allows residues,
especially of organochlorine pesticides, to accumulate in their systems. They also have permeable skin
that can easily absorb toxic chemicals, making them a model organism for assessing the effects of
environmental factors that may cause the declines of the amphibian population. These factors allow
them to be used as bioindicator organisms to follow changes in their habitats and in ecotoxicological
studies due to humans increasing demands on the environment.

Knowledge and control of environmental agents is essential for sustaining the health of
ecosystems.[citation needed] Anurans are increasingly utilized as bioindicator organisms in pollution
studies, such as studying the effects of agricultural pesticides on the environment.[citation needed]
Environmental assessment to study the environment in which they live is performed by analyzing their
abundance in the area as well as assessing their locomotive ability and any abnormal morphological
changes, which are deformities and abnormalities in development.[citation needed] Decline of anurans
and malformations could also suggest increased exposure to ultra-violet light and parasites.
Pond-breeding anurans are especially sensitive to pollution because of their complex life cycles, which
could consist of terrestrial and aquatic living. During their embryonic development, morphological and
behavioral alterations are the effects most frequently cited in connection with chemical exposures.
Effects of exposure may result in shorter body length, lower body mass and malformations of limbs or
other organs.The slow development, late morphological change, and small metamorph size result in
increased risk of mortality and exposure to predation.

Crustaceans

Crayfish have also been hypothesized as being suitable bioindicators, under the appropriate conditions.

Microbial indicators

Chemical pollutants

Microorganisms can be used as indicators of aquatic or terrestrial ecosystem health. Found in large
quantities, microorganisms are easier to sample than other organisms. Some microorganisms will
produce new proteins, called stress proteins, when exposed to contaminants such as cadmium and
benzene. These stress proteins can be used as an early warning system to detect changes in levels of
pollution.

In oil and gas exploration

Microbial Prospecting for oil and gas (MPOG) is often used to identify prospective areas for oil and gas
occurrences. In many cases, oil and gas is known to seep toward the surface as a hydrocarbon reservoir
will usually leak or have leaked towards the surface through buoyancy forces overcoming sealing
pressures. These hydrocarbons can alter the chemical and microbial occurrences found in the
near-surface soils or can be picked up directly. Techniques used for MPOG include DNA analysis, simple
bug counts after culturing a soil sample in a hydrocarbon-based medium or by looking at the
consumption of hydrocarbon gases in a culture cell.

Microalgae in water quality

Microalgae have gained attention in recent years due to several reasons including their greater
sensitivity to pollutants than many other organisms. In addition, they occur abundantly in nature, they
are an essential component in very many food webs, they are easy to culture and to use in assays and
there are few if any ethical issues involved in their use.

Gravitactic mechanism of the microalgae Euglena gracilis (A) in the absence and (B) in the presence of
pollutants.
Euglena gracilis is a motile, freshwater, photosynthetic flagellate. Although Euglena is rather tolerant to
acidity, it responds rapidly and sensitively to environmental stresses such as heavy metals or inorganic
and organic compounds. Typical responses are the inhibition of movement and a change of orientation
parameters. Moreover, this organism is very easy to handle and grow, making it a very useful tool for
eco-toxicological assessments. One very useful particularity of this organism is gravitactic orientation,
which is very sensitive to pollutants. The gravireceptors are impaired by pollutants such as heavy metals
and organic or inorganic compounds. Therefore, the presence of such substances is associated with
random movement of the cells in the water column. For short-term tests, gravitactic orientation of E.
gracilis is very sensitive. Other species such as Paramecium biaurelia (see Paramecium aurelia) also use
gravitactic orientation.

Automatic bioassay is possible, using the flagellate Euglena gracilis in a device which measures their
motility at different dilutions of the possibly polluted water sample, to determine the EC50 (the
concentration of sample which affects 50 percent of organisms) and the G-value (lowest dilution factor
at which no-significant toxic effect can be measured).

Macroinvertebrates :Macroinvertebrates are useful and convenient indicators of the ecological health of
water bodies and terrestrial ecosystems.[ They are almost always present, and are easy to sample and
identify. The sensitivity of the range of macroinvertebrates found will enable an objective judgement of
the ecological condition to be made. Tolerance values are commonly used to assess water pollution and
environmental degradation, such as human activities (e.g. selective logging and wildfires) in tropical
forests

In many aquatic ecosystems, the key influences on aquatic ecosystem health can be factors other than
water quality, including habitat degradation and changes to natural flow patterns. Therefore, it is
important to include indicators of these factors in monitoring programs.

Habitat indicators -Habitat indicators include both fringing (riparian) habitat and instream habitats.
Indicators of riparian habitat include the width, continuity, extent of shading and species composition.
Indicators of instream habitat include measures of the extent of scouring and bank erosion and the
presence of woody debris (fallen trees, etc) that provide important habitat for many species.

Flow indicators

In freshwater, changes to flow are often the main cause of aquatic ecosystem health degradation; the
Murray-Darling system is an example of this. Assessing the changes is therefore important. Changes to
natural flow caused by humans are varied and include changes to peak flows, base flows, no flow periods
and seasonality of flows. To assess these different changes, a number of indicators are required.
Unfortunately, nearly all of these indicators rely on the existence of good flow data for both current and
pre-disturbance conditions. This type of data is often not available. In this situation, less precise
indicators of flow change can be sourced from assessments of the amount of flow captured in storages
or abstracted for agricultural or urban use.