Chapter 1 - The Scope of Environmental Physics

Abstract

This chapter defines our interpretation of the scope of Environmental Physics and explains the framework for the further chapters. Environmental Physics, as we choose to define it, is the measurement and analysis of interactions between organisms and their environments. The physical environment has five components critical for the survival of plants and animals: radiant energy; water, minerals, and trace elements; temperature; stimuli in space and time; and transport mechanisms for pathogens and parasites. To understand the interactions between organisms and their environment, biologists and ecologists must seek links between the biological and physical sciences. Environmental Physics is one of these links, recognizing that the existence of an organism modifies the environment, just as the environment imposes change on the organism. In this book we explore these inter-relationships, focusing in chapters that follow on the exchange of heat, mass, and momentum between organisms and their environment. The chapter also introduces the use of simple electrical analogs to describe rates of transfer of heat, mass, etc. and the resistances that control those rates.