From our article you will learn what the environment is. This concept is widely used both in ecology and in everyday life. Each environment has its own conditions and types of organisms. How are they interconnected? Let's figure it out together.
What is an environment: definition of a concept
This word has many meanings. It can mean a day of the week, a plot of land, a social setting or a solution with homogeneous conditions. The word environment is found in different languages, but literally translates as "middle". What is the environment in terms of ecology? This is a set of conditions in which living organisms and their communities live.
Classification
The habitat is also called the ecological niche of organisms. For each of them, this is the basis for the production of various substances, which consists of many components.
In relation to the species itself, it can be external and internal. What is their difference? The internal is a collection of all body fluids that are contained in special tanks. For the first time, the term “internal environment” was introduced into science by the French physician and physiologist Claude Bernard. She never comes into contact with the outside. Due to this feature, there is a continuous maintenance of homeostasis, or constancy of conditions.
And what is the external environment? These are all the conditions in which this or that species lives. According to the conditions of existence there are four types of medium. The most diverse in terms of conditions and densely populated is ground-air. The water and soil environment are significantly different from it. Another environment in which life is possible are organisms of other species.
Environmental factors
Each environment is unique in its own way. This feature is determined by the unique conditions, or environmental factors. They directly or indirectly exert a continuous influence on everything living in each habitat. What is temperature, humidity, light, pressure? These are the components of inanimate nature. They belong to the group of abiotic factors.
Organisms constantly interact with each other. The various forms of their relationship are biotic factors. Such interactions can be of a different nature and manifest themselves in the form of competition, parasitism, neutralism or symbiosis. Anthropogenic factors include all types of human economic activity.
Ground air
The leading factors of inanimate nature here is the amount of solar energy, indicators of air temperature, humidity and gas composition of the air. The ground-air environment has rightfully earned the title of the most diverse in terms of conditions.
What is the habitat for representatives of the plant world? This is a place that will provide the conditions for the flow of photosynthesis. Therefore, the limiting factor for plants is the presence of light. In its spectrum, areas are distinguished that act differently on organisms. Ultraviolet radiation is detrimental to the living, so it is almost completely absorbed by the ozone layer of the Earth. Half of the spectrum is visible rays. They are used by plants for the synthesis of organics, and animals for visual perception. Infrared rays are a source of thermal energy; therefore, they are used by many species to increase body temperature.
The temperature regime significantly affects the rate of metabolic reactions. Its optimal indicator ranges from 10 to 30 degrees with a + sign. Living organisms have a number of adaptations for transferring adverse conditions. They can fall into a state of cysts or suspended animation, are capable of thermoregulation.
Water properties
What is the environment for fish and crustaceans? These are fresh and salty water bodies. The inhabitants of the water column are ecological groups of plankton and nekton. The first include bacteria, blue-green algae, jellyfish, radiolarians. Some of them actively swim independently, but even they are not able to withstand currents. Therefore, planktonic organisms have a number of devices for movement in the water column. These include small size and low specific gravity.
Those animals that move independently in the water column are called nekton. What is their habitat? It is also a diverse body of water. This ecological group includes cetaceans, cephalopods, fish. All of them have a streamlined body shape and well-developed organs of movement.
The limiting factors of the aquatic environment are temperature, light level, salinity and bottom conditions.
Life in the soil
What is a habitat in which there is practically no light, and movement is hindered by the high density of solid particles? This is the soil. For a huge number of organisms, such conditions are quite favorable. These are protozoa, worms, insects, gastropods, some vertebrates. The main adaptations to the living conditions in the soil are the absorption of oxygen through the integument, the presence of digging limbs, and the worm-shaped body shape.
Other organisms
In individuals of other species, many creatures live. Moreover, the nature of their relationship is quite diverse. Organisms can be used by other species as a shelter or source of nutrients. So, parasitic worms that live in the ducts of the internal organs of humans and animals absorb finished metabolic products. Another form of relationship is symbiosis - mutually beneficial cohabitation. Her example is the beneficial bacteria of the intestinal microflora.
So what is a habitat? This is the totality of all the conditions in which organisms live. Each of them is distinguished by the predominant effect of its environmental factors.