Transcript Environmental Science and Biotechnology

Environmental Science and
Biotechnology
Objective: Summarize the use of
biotechnology applications in the
field of environmental science.
Biotechnology Applications
• Bioremediation- Use of living organisms to
remove environmental contaminants from water
or soil.
– Photoremediation- specialized type of Bioremedation
utilizing plants to clean soil and water in contaminated
sites.
Biotechnology Applications
• Immunoassay tests- tests utilizing antibodies
produced in various animals to test for the
presence of antigens in an environment or
organism.
– Rabbits, Guinea Pigs and other small animals are
often used to produce antibodies.
– Can be used to indicate the presence of specific
pollutants, viruses, bacteria, and a variety of other
harmful compounds.
Biotechnology Applications
• Indicator species- Plant or animal used to
indicate increasing levels of contaminants or
antigens in an environment.
– Often used to prevent dangerous levels of exposure
to important plants and animals in a habitat or area.
– Biosensors have recently begun to replace indicator
species.
Biotechnology Applications
• Biological control- methods utilizing naturally
occurring organisms or compounds to control
plant and animal pests.
– Decreases the need of harmful chemical pesticides
and herbicides.
– Often uitilize genetically engineered organisms to kill
or resist harmful organisms.
• EX: Using ladybugs to control insect pests such as aphids.
• Geese to control weeds in a production orchard
Biotechnology Applications
• Biofuels- Alternatives to fossil fuels produced
from organic matter.
• Two common varieties:
– Ethanol- alcohol based fuel produced from the
fermentation of grains and other crops.
• Burns cleaner and lessons dependency on oil.
– Biodiesel- Fuel produced from the inclusion of certain
additives into recycled vegetable oil.
• Consists of almost pure vegetable oil, has almost no harmful
emissions, exhaust smells like French fries.
Environmental Science
and Biotechnology
Objective: Describe the impact of
biotechnology on sustainability.
Biotechnology in increasing
sustainability
• Sustainable Agriculture utilizes resources (plants
and animals) that may be quickly replaced with
little or no environmental impact.
– Increase use of insect resistant crops resulted in the
use of 46 million pounds of less pesticides.
• Biotechnology techniques can be used to
produce more versatile and effective organisms
with increased speed.
– Cloning is often used to produce a larger number of
organisms useful for sustainable production.
Examples of Sustainable
Resources
• Agriculture prodcution of bamboo as an
alternative to mature hardwoods in flooring
• Production of rapidly reproducing bacteria to
manufactor compounds usually extracted from
endangered plants and animals.
• Increased use of biofuels produced from organic
material.
Biotechnology techniques and
Environmental Preservation
• Cloning, Artificial insemination, in vitro
fertilization and other reproduction techniques
have been widely used to preserve and
repopulate decreasing plant and animal
populations.
• Cloning could eventually allow the researchers
to produce extinct organisms from preserved
genetic material.
Concerns over biodiversity
• The widespread use of conoing and controlled
breeding has raised fears over decreasing
genetic diversity.
– The creation of monoculture in which all organisms
are genetically identical can lead to devastation from
disease or insects.
• The use of genetically modified organisms with
resistance to certain insects, or other organisms
can increase surrounding genetic diversity.
Environmental Science
and Biotechnology
Objective Use scientific principles
to conduct a simple experiment in
contained bioremediation.
Experimental Principles in
bioremediation
• Organism Selection– A wide variety of organisms may be used in
bioremediation, though certain varieties or species
will be much more effective than others.
• Experimental Variables– Altering the temperature, moisture content, and pH of
soil or other host material can greatly compact the
effectiveness of organisms in bioremediation.
– Control group- used for comparison.
Experimental Principles in
bioremediation
• Monitoring Bioremediation success.
– Immunoassay tests can be used to monitor
the success f bioremediation efforts.
– Digital probes are more accurate, take less
time, and can provide real-time monitoring
capabilities.
– Some organisms, such as bacteria, produces
gasses as byproducts while functioning.