Environmental science: a global concern, 14th ed.

Abstract

Environmental science focuses on understanding challenges that affect our lives, and on finding solutions to those challenges. Your decision to study environmental science will help you develop the tools to find answers to some of the most important problems facing us today. Coral reefs (shown on the cover, and the focus of the opening case study for chapter 11, Biodiversity: Preserving Species) are one of many fascinating systems explored in environmental science. These ecosystems are built on complex, intricately evolved symbiotic and competitive relationships. Energy and nutrients that flow through these systems support countless varieties of organisms— fish, shrimp, crabs, colorful snails and worms, and many others. Species that spend at least part of their life cycle in reefs provide nourishment for hundreds of millions of people. Thus, humans are also part of the reef system.