Definition

Environment is defined as the living organisms, climate, soil, water, land, fauna, flora and other physical features surrounding the human being and the biodiversity components.

Air pollution, water pollution, solid wastes are the negative impacts of the economic and public activities. Thus these pollutants need to be prevented and reduced to protect the environment from hazards and damages.

So, the study in this part includes the following two major topics:

1.      Environmental Management System.

2.      Environmental Impact Assessment.

Environmental Management System comprises a management environmental policy, environmental monitoring and assessment, and environmental reporting. The task of an environmental impact assessment aims at identifying the environmental impact and mitigation measures of these impacts.

1.1 Some Definitions 

Ecology is the study of organisms in relation to the surroundings in which they live.  These surroundings are called environment of the organism.

This environment is made up of many different components, including other living organisms and effects, and purely physical features such as the climate and soil type.  That is why we cannot separate ecology from environment and thus ecology and environment are interrelated.  Ecology and environment can be considered as one science: Science of life.  Both search and discuss items and points about organisms, populations, communities, ecosystems and their relations with the organisms.

Ecology may be subdivided to:

a-     Autoecology:  علم البيئة الفردية is the study of the ecology of a single species.

b-     Synecology:  علم البيئة الجماعي is the study of the ecology of whole communities of organisms.

Ecology may also be subdivided into Terrestrial Ecology  ،علم البيئة البرية Aquatic Ecology  ، علم البيئة المائيةMarine Ecology علم البيئة البحرية.  Ecology is now related to many studies:  Animal ecology  علم البيئة الحيوانية ، Plant ecology، علم البيئة النباتية   Wildlife management علم إدارة البيئة ، Forestry  علم الغابات Paleoecology  علم بيئة المتحجرات  Oceanography   علم المحيطـات   Biogeography  علم الجغرافية الحياتية  Pollution ecology   علم تلوث البيئة Ecological Technology  تكنولوجيا البيئة Physiological ecology علم البيئة الفسيولوجي  and others, like chemistry, engineering, medicine, agriculture, physics, computer science.  The environment is of supreme importance to an organism and its ability to exist in the environment where it lives will determine its success or failure as an individual.

An ecologist could start any study by asking the question: why does this organism live or grow here and not there?  For example, an ecologist may ask:

·        How does the organism obtain its food?

·        Is a particular nutrient limiting its growth or number?

·        Is some thing else limiting its growth or number?

·        Does it reproduce in this site and if so how?

·        Is it absent from parts of the site because of some factors?

·        How and when do the young disperse?

·        What courses the death of the organisms?

In addition, there are many possible questions that demonstrate the complexity of ecology related topics.

On earth, the abiotic environment of an organism is composed of physical variables such as temperature, rain and snow fall, nutrient and toxic content of the soil, the power of wave action and wind speed.  An organism also experiences the influence of other organisms through competition, perdition, herbivore, pollination and seed dispersal.  The effect of such organisms forms the biotic art of the environment.  Although the abiotic (physical) and biotic components of the environment can be treated separately, the relationships between

1.2 The Complexity of The Environment

The effects of changes in the environment always exert an influence directly on the organisms in a community.  Day, night, rain, drought, cold, and pollution affect the individual and, because of this, they will also affect its interactions with other organisms, and therefore may alter the distribution or abundance of a particular species and its predators and so on throughout the biologic web.  All communities, including human beings, will be affected by complex interactions of many factors in the environment.

Example of Interactions: Effects of environmental pollution from an oil spill

1.3 Pollution

Pollution occurs when substances are released into the environment in harmful amounts as a direct result of human activity.  Most pollution is due to the presence of excessively high concentrations of substances.  Pollution is the result of human activities.  Natural pollution is rare.  Though, thermal pollution involves the release, not of a harmful chemical, but of excessive amounts of heated water.  These are discharged by many industries into rivers and seas.  The main problem is that warm water holds less Oxygen than cold water, so that the release of large quantities of warm water may kill fish and aquatic invertebrates through oxygen starvation, see Figure 1.1.

Figure1.1: Pollution effects

1.3.1       Classification and Forms of Pollution

Pollutants can be classified into three types:

1- Substances that occur in nature, but because of human activity, are found in unusually large concentrations.  An example is CO₂.

2- Toxic substances produced as a result of human activity and not found in nature.  An example is the use of pesticides.  Such unnatural substances often remain intact in the environment for considerable lengths of time being broken down or dispersed.

3- Substances, which are not themselves toxic are released into the environment as a result of human activity, but which then go on to have unfortunate consequences.  An example is the effect of certain substances on the zone layer.  With this classification in mind, we will now consider some particular examples of pollution.

Forms of pollution are numerous:

1.  Eutrophication is the name given to the release of large amounts of phosphate and nitrate or organic matter into water resulting in a lowering of oxygen levels and change in the fauna of the water.  In their natural state most waters, whether freshwater or marine, contain only low levels of nitrate and phosphates.  If s