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Topic outline

 

  • Time: 12 hours
    Level: Introductory

 
 

Introduction

  • Introduction Resource
  • To be able to understand the importance of the environment for our health, we need to know a little about the interdependence between environment and humankind. This unit will look at interactions between...
 

1 Legacies and inheritance

  • 1 Legacies and inheritance Resource
  • There is no doubt that each one of us affects the lives of those who surround us. Many of our interactions with others are very obvious to us and could be described in terms of personal, professional and...
 

2 Altering the environment

 

3 Ecology: some background information

  • Habitat Resource
  • The environment in which any organism lives is known as its habitat. It will share its habitat with other organisms, that are themselves part of the habitat. A habitat has distinctive physical and chemical...
  • Food webs Resource
  • The Eucalyptus provides food for other species too, so a more realistic way of expressing the complicated interrelationships of plants and animals, is in a food web as shown in Figure 2 for the common...
 

4 Changes in relative abundance of species

  • Human predation and extinctions Resource
  • There are a number of ways in which humans have altered ecosystems, that have led to the decline of particular species. We will leave to one side any major interference such as felling forests to provide...
  • 'Biological control' Resource
  • We are also guilty of importing exotic species, some of which, like the rhododendron (imported from Asia to Europe), have run riot in the absence of natural predators or primary consumers, and so have...
  • Dutch elm disease Resource
  • Not all change is a direct result of human intervention. Sometimes changes can occur over which we have little control. One such example is the case of Dutch elm disease (so-called because most of the...
  • Genetic diversity and mass extinctions Resource
  • It is for this reason that there are now international agreements on the need to work together to retain genetic diversity in all species and, more generally, biological diversity (species and habitat...
  • The Kew Gardens Millennium Seed Bank Appeal Resource
  • We're collecting for the sake of every species.
  • Plants as medicines Resource
  • Plants are already a major source of medicines. In 1990, sales in the USA of prescriptions where material of plant origin was the active ingredient totalled US$141500 million. For many centuries, people...
  • Summary of section 4 Resource
  • Human activity has been responsible for some extinctions and othe deleterious changes to habitats. These changes have not always been the result of thoughtless or selfish behaviour; often intentions were...
 

5 Pollution

  • Pollution and loss of biodiversity Resource
  • Unfortunately, halting the disappearance of species cannot be achieved simply by measures such as putting fences around special habitats and asking people not to pick the flowers or disturb the breeding...
  • Air pollution Resource
  • There are many popular beliefs about air quality and health. As a child you might have been exhorted to, ‘go out and play in the nice fresh air’. Mountain air is often regarded as being particularly beneficial,...
  • Global warming Resource
  • Media attention has been such that it would be hard to have missed the fact that global warming is considered to be a ‘bad thing’. Why should this be so? What is so wrong with being a bit warmer? Anyway,...
  • The ozone hole Resource
  • Another group of greenhouse gases, the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), are double villains because they are also implicated in the destruction of the ozone in the upper atmosphere. CFCs are synthetic gases...
  • Indoor pollutants Resource
  • Before leaving air pollution you might reflect that many of us spend most of our time indoors where the air quality can differ from that outside the building.
  • Land and water pollution Resource
  • In this section we will just take a couple of examples that show how easy it is to expose ourselves to long-term damage inadvertently. Pesticides, developed to control insects and other vermin, can increase...
 

6 Population growth

  • 6 Population growth Resource
  • Earlier it was stated that three factors check population growth. These are predation, disease and insufficient food supply. For much of our history, our ancestors’ numbers were indeed limited by wars,...
 

7 Some philosophical issues

  • 7 Some philosophical issues Resource
  • In this unit we have considered global issues that have implications for our health and the health of future generations. This places our own lives in a different context and also indicates the uncertainties...
 

Summary

  • Summary Resource
  • We are biologically predisposed to provide for our offspring and may try to ensure that this provision continues after our death. However, our interactions with other members of society are wide-ranging...
 

Unit questions

  • Unit questions Resource
  • Foxes eat rabbits and rabbits eat dandelions. Predict what will happen if rabbit numbers are severely reduced (e.g. by disease). How confident are you about your predictions?
 

References

  • References Resource
  • Colburn, T., Dumanoski, D. and Myers, J. P. (1996) Our Stolen Future, Little, Brown and Co.
 

References and Acknowledgements

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