Basic of Environmental Science Free Download Ebook

BASIC OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

DASAR ILMU LINGKUNGAN

Contents

1 Introduction 

1. What is environmental science?
2. Environmental interactions, cycles, and systems
3. Ecology and environmentalism
4. History of environmental science
5. Changing attitudes to the natural world

2 Earth Sciences 

6. Formation and structure of the Earth
7. The formation of rocks, minerals, and geologic structures
8. Weathering
9. The evolution of landforms
10. Coasts, estuaries, sea levels
11. Energy from the Sun
12. Albedo and heat capacity
13. The greenhouse effect
14. The evolution, composition, and structure of the atmosphere
15. General circulation of the atmosphere
16. Oceans, gyres, currents
17. Weather and climate
18. Glacials, interglacials, and interstadials
19. Dating methods
20. Climate change
21. Climatic regions and floristic regions

3 Physical Resources

22. Fresh water and the hydrologic cycle
23. Eutrophication and the life cycle of lakes
24. Salt water, brackish water, and desalination
25. Irrigation, waterlogging, and salinization
26. Soil formation, ageing, and taxonomy
27. Transport by water and wind
28. Soil, climate, and land use
29. Soil erosion and its control
30. Mining and processing of fuels
31. Mining and processing of minerals

4 Biosphere

32. Biosphere, biomes, biogeography
33. Major biomes
34. Nutrient cycles
35. Respiration and photosynthesis
36. Trophic relationships
37. Energy, numbers, biomass
38. Ecosystems
39. Succession and climax
40. Arrested successions
41. Colonization
42. Stability, instability, and reproductive strategies
43. Simplicity and diversity
44. Homoeostasis, feedback, regulation
45. Limits of tolerance

5 Biological Resources

46. Evoluti
47. Evolutionary strategies and game theory
48. Adaptation
49. Dispersal mechanisms
50. Wildlife species and habitats
51. Biodiversity
52. Fisheries
53. Forests
54. Farming for food and fibre
55. Human populations and demographic change
56. Genetic engineering

6 Environmental Management

57. Wildlife conservation
58. Zoos, nature reserves, wilderness
59. Pest control
60. Restoration ecology
61. World conservation strategies
62. Pollution control
63 Hazardous waste
64. Transnational pollution

End of chapter summary

Without water we would die and so we may think of fresh water as the most fundamental of all the resources on which we depend. Water moves between the ocean and land, but we can manipulate the hydrologic cycle where the amount of fresh water is insufficient for our needs.

We also need soil. It is important to understand how soil forms and that it goes through a life cycle, much like a living organism. There are young, mature, old, and even senile soils. The age of a soil is directly relevant to the use that can be made of it. Fears over tropical deforestation, for example, arise partly from the realization that many tropical soils are very ancient and that this makes them inherently infertile, so alternative forms of land use may fail in the long term. Soil can be lost through erosion. The mechanisms involved in this process are well known, as are the management techniques by which they can be avoided.

Water and soil to grow food and fibre are resources essential for all animals. In addition to these, humans need industrial resources. These comprise so-called fossil fuels, rocks for building, and minerals from which metals and a range of chemical compounds are obtained. Obtaining these materials from the ground and their subsequent processing create environmental problems that must be addressed. It is usually better to prevent them by advance planning than to remedy them later.

Further reading

Biology of Freshwater Pollution, 2nd edn. C.F.Mason. 1991. Longman Scientific and Technical, Harlow, Essex. A detailed, somewhat technical explanation of the effects of discharges into rivers and lakes.

Elements: Earth. Michael Allaby. 1993. Facts on File, New York, 1993. A broad, general account of rocks and soils and the uses we make of them.

Fundamentals of Soil Science. H.D.Foth and L.M.Turk. 1972. John Wiley & Sons, New York. A fairly simple textbook on soil science.

The Human Impact on the Natural Environment. Andrew Goudie. 1986. Basil Blackwell, Oxford. Provides a clear overview of the environmental effects of industrial activity.

Only One World. Gerard Piel. 1992. W.H.Freeman, New York. A general account of the human effect on the environment, lucidly written by the former publisher of Scientific American.

Soil Conservation. Norman Hudson. 1971. B.T.Batsford, London. A detailed account of the mechanisms of soil erosion and techniques for preventing it.

Soils: An Introduction to Soils and Plant Growth. Roy L.Donahue, Raymond W.Miller, and John C.Shickluna.
1958. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Simply and clearly written, mainly for students of agriculture.

Waste and Pollution: The Problem for Britain. Kenneth Mellanby. 1992. Harper Collins, London, 1992. An  assessment of the environmental effects of industrial and domestic waste disposal by possibly the leading British authority on environmental pollution