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The Role of Biology in Understanding and Addressing Environmental Challenges: A Comprehensive Guide

1. Introduction to Biology and its Relevance in Environmental Science

Local ecosystems and the biosphere as a whole help to stabilize the climate and produce other life-supporting benefits. The physical, chemical, and biological foundations of the ecosystems that provide these benefits are considered in ecology. As an interdisciplinary science, ecology has strong ties to biology, chemistry, and earth science. Biology, with its emphasis on processes that occur within cells and at higher levels of organization, forms the foundation on which advances in the life sciences are built. The ability of biologists to measure and manipulate physical and chemical characteristics of the natural environment is continually increasing the sophistication of ecological studies. Rapidly expanding knowledge of cellular and molecular processes propels advances in medicine, biotechnology, and many other life sciences. Because advances in cell biology, biochemistry, genetics, and other life sciences have been redirected to benefit humanity in a variety of areas, some argue that biology does not require a broader focus. Nevertheless, maintaining comprehensive life science research and education for its own intrinsic value is critically important.

Biological systems (ecosystems) process and transform energy, matter, and information. Within any biological system, living organisms interact with one another and with the physical and chemical components of their environment in complex and constantly changing ways. Various physical processes operate within and among ecosystems to control local climates and to accumulate nutrients and other life-supporting molecules that circulate throughout the natural environment. Studying ecosystems helps humans to understand physical and biological processes that sustain life on Earth. Ecosystems are sometimes examined at local scales, and ecological studies often focus on understanding basic processes such as controlling animal populations, nutrient cycling, and energy flow. Results from ecosystem studies provide essential insights about processes that recirculate materials and support life on Earth.

2. Key Concepts in Ecology and Biodiversity

Given the central focus of this book, it is important to provide a basic understanding of the key ecological concepts that can enhance our understanding of the complex process of the changing global environment. There are many important basic concepts in ecology, and it is difficult to know just how much biology most readers know. Even readers with biological training may have had limited exposure to some of the key concepts related to the ways in which ecological processes are connected to the major environmental challenges. The purpose of this chapter is to provide these introductory concepts. Chapters 3 and 4 will introduce related biological principles. Therefore, for readers not familiar with key ecological concepts, this may be the most important chapter in the book. If much of this material is familiar to the reader, he or she may still benefit from the introduction of a common underlying ecological framework that can be applied to a wide range of global environmental challenges.

Efforts to address global environmental problems are closely linked to the rapidly evolving science of ecology. Ecology is the study of the distribution and abundance of plants, animals, and other organisms and how these features are related to interactions among them and with the chemical and physical factors making up their environment. People are an integral part of these ecosystems, and the ways a society functions can affect the physical, chemical, and biological elements and their interaction. Biodiversity is an integral part of the goods and services that natural ecosystems supply to human society, and maintaining the stability of the natural systems that produce these goods and services is a key to the continued well-being of societies around the world.

3. The Impact of Human Activities on Ecosystems

In considering the impacts of human activities on the world, we can examine these four broad categories and then examine in more detail their stations and their subtypes. But, while human activities are major engines of environmental change, the broader environmental changes relevant to the biosphere act as cutouts to humans. Moreover, the persistence and dispersal of human-related pollutants can spark complaints about accumulated damage long after further transgressions have ceased. The indirect impacts of human activities through secondary chemical cycles or direct modifications to the Earth’s biodiversity can lead to further deleterious impacts to the planet. Such pathways in the environmental system collectively referred to as environmental damages, are particularly important because they lead to intergenerational deleterious aspects, and they can potentially alter the long-term productive capacity of biota themselves.

Human activities have four major international effects on the world’s ecosystems: climate modification, chemical emissions, land cover change, and biological transfers. Of course, these four major categories interact with one another, for example, where land cover changes affect climate or the absorption of chemical emissions, or where climate change affects biological transfer. If one considers a specific region, one finds a series of impacts on that area: climate change through altered temperature, precipitation and CO2 levels, increased coastal flooding, more intense storms, and aquatic acidification; chemicals sprinkling dust out of the sky in the form of acid rain and ion deposition, or in the form of persistent organic pollutants such as pesticides and industrial chemicals; land use changes such as deforestation, desertification, urbanization, and habitat conversion; and the introduction of exotic species that displace indigenous life or distribute new pathogens. Collectively, all these changes produce a suite of complications to the Earth’s overall biogeochemical cycles, such as depleted stratospheric ozone and increased atmospheric nitrogen deposition.

Ecosystems, the communities of organisms interacting with their environment, and the physical and chemical processes that make those interactions possible, are varied and complex both in pattern and in process. Of all the varied ecosystems across the world, the most complex ecosystem is the biosphere of the Earth. Over its long history, the Earth’s ecosystems have changed gradually as a result of natural perturbations, and life has flourished and diversified during times of stability. Major anthropogenic changes to the Earth’s ecosystems began apace with industrial development, and have greatly accelerated during recent decades. The increases in human population, capital formation and environmental disruption pose serious consequences for the future of life on Earth. More and more people are encroaching on the few remaining wilderness areas, but even the most sacred wilderness at the heart of Antarctica is both a sink for global pollutants and an investigator’s laboratory.

4. Strategies and Technologies for Environmental Conservation and Sustainability

There is no shortage of books on environmental conservation or sustainability, but many of them fail to deliver true understanding and knowledge that will permit people to be more rational and effective in protecting the planet. The role of biology in understanding and addressing environmental challenges: A comprehensive guide provides methods and techniques that people can use to achieve this understanding, resulting in real solutions.

The role of biology in understanding and addressing environmental challenges: A comprehensive guide provides methods and techniques for our understanding of environmental issues. It explains the purpose of each function and elaborates on the models of future strategies. It also reaches out to the general public to deliver the underlying environmental message. The handbook is divided into a series of themed volumes devoted to the subsequent themes: Principles and Applications, Measurement Techniques and Systems, Methodologies, Classifications, and Results.

5. Case Studies and Examples of Successful Environmental Interventions

The Role of Biology is a companion to the earlier-published The Role of Earth and Space Sciences. In concert, these reports provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of the science and the potential for new frontiers. Their publication by the Subcommittee on Environmental Science of the Committee on Research in the National Science and Technology Council was coordinated by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Their intention is to outline community consensus on work that is needed across all relevant agencies. Design and development of research projects require more detailed information, which federal agency staff on these committees will address upon request. It is our hope that researchers, educators, and other professionals will find this report interesting and useful. We urge all, from elementary school students to senior researchers, to read and contemplate the big questions. The Role of Biology underscores the important contributions that the biological sciences make to the interventions needed to improve the status and function of the environment. Since life sciences are interconnected, biological scientists can develop sound, multifaceted approaches that stimulate environmental health and sustainable use. Innovation and creativity lead to interventions that protect and improve the environmental integrity of utilized areas. The world’s environmental challenges are serious, and the time is now to use the tools, techniques, appropriate regulations, and equitable policies that have evolved in our diverse scientific field for the international good.

Complex environmental problems may require complex solutions, but they often involve biological elements. This comprehensive approach is therefore essential to inform our understanding of these problems, develop the tools to address specific environmental challenges, and ensure the health and well-being of the systems upon which we all depend. By fostering and promoting environmental research and using these strategies and priorities to guide its investments, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is contributing to our vision for a healthy planet. Science, engineering, and education have always played critical roles in fostering new understanding and helping to develop new methods, tools, and technologies to address environmental challenges, protect human health, and ensure economic prosperity.