Nature has created a living world so that each type of organism differs from the other in the way of nutrition, as well as in the territory of residence. If you take birds, for example, you can see that there are visible differences between the tit, the nut, the blue tit, in the choice of insects to provide themselves with food, as well as in the processes of obtaining food. Someone is looking for food in the bark of a tree, and someone in the leaves of plants. Moreover, they all belong to the genus of tits.
Of course, the environmental criterion is not multifunctional in nature, because science has proved that some animals of different species can have identical properties by this criterion. For example, all baleen whales eat small crustaceans, and their lifestyle also coincides, although they live in different seas.
What is a view?
Let us examine in detail what the term “species” itself means . In the scientific world, he suggests a combination of living creatures and plants that have the ability to interbreed, and also have offspring.
A species falls under the definition of a taxonomic group, because today it is precisely a group of related organic formations that have the same root cause, but at the moment they are endowed with certain signs of a morphological, physiological and biochemical nature, separated by natural or artificial selection from other species groups and adapted to a specific habitat.
The formation of new species
How are species created? Macroevolution and microevolution are the main engines of the formation of new types. In the first case, the emergence of qualitatively new family groups and groups, which appeared as a result of prolonged microevolutionary changes, is implied. In the second, a complex process of mutations takes place, which gradually separate entire families and orders, forming new species. And in this case, they become a separate complex of organisms.
That is, thanks to microevolution, which is also defined as "supraspecific", species are even more disconnected in their qualities, transforming into groups with the same set of characters. This can be understood by the example of the ecological criterion of the species: there is soft and hard wheat , which means that in the general sense it is a genus of wheat, but there are grains of rye, wheat and barley, and they are all representatives of the cereal family. From this we can conclude that all samples of any families came from a common ancestor, thanks to microevolutionary processes that occurred in the very population of this ancestor.
What the ecological criterion of a species consists of
The definition of an environmental criterion is the integrated effect of environmental features on a species in its range. These signs are divided into groups: biotic factors (when living organisms influence each other, for example, by pollination of plants with bees), abiotic factors (the influence of temperature, humidity, light, topography, soil, salinity of water, wind and so on on the development of living organisms ) and anthropogenic factors (human impact on the surrounding flora and fauna).
In all species of the animal and plant world, constructive signs of adaptation to the environment during evolution are formed, and the nature of the habitat is the same for the whole species. What examples of the ecological criterion of a species can be given if we consider it from this point of view? The unity of the species is associated with the free crossing of individuals. Plus, historical development shows that over time, a species may have a completely new adaptation, for example, the supply of certain signals to each other when a situation arises, or the appearance of a group defense from enemies.
An example of an ecological criterion for a species may be isolation. That is, when environmental conditions are different for the same species, differences in their behavior and morphological structure will be significant. A good illustration is the urban and rural swifts. If they are put in one cage, then there will be no offspring, because during their lifetime in different environmental conditions, individuals of this species developed various morphological, physiological and other characters. But they continue to remain under the “roof” of the same species, and this is an example of the ecological criterion for animal species.
Plant world in environmental criteria
Examples of the ecological criterion of a species in plants are those that can form several ecotypes, some of which will live on the plains, and others in the mountains. These include, for example, St. John's wort, certain species of which, thanks to microevolution, quickly adapted to new growing conditions.
The influence of the environment on the evolution of the species
The famous researcher Lamarck believed that the inorganic environment has the greatest impact on a living organism, that is, its physical and chemical compositions (temperature, climatic conditions, water resources, soil composition, and so on). Everything that came under their influence could change the types of living organisms, giving them the characteristics inherent in this ecological niche. Due to the forced adaptation, the animal (plant) began to change, thereby forming a new species or subspecies. This can be called an example of an ecological criterion for a species.
Temperature conditions within the framework of the environmental criterion
An example of a species according to ecological criteria can be a living organism adapted to different temperature conditions. During adaptation, a biochemical change in the internal organs and tissues occurs. Due to the fact that animals can live in low, high or fluctuating temperatures, they are divided into groups: cold-blooded, warm-blooded and heterothermal.
Considering that both external and internal factors are sources of heat, then, considering the first group using the example of lizards, you can notice that they prefer to bask in the sun rather than hide in the shade. So their internal thermoregulation ability is very low. Being under a heat stream, they increase body temperature quite quickly. However, by evaporating the accumulated moisture, a lizard can reduce it to a comfortable level. Such species are inferior organisms. But despite this, they cannot exist at low temperatures without external heat.
From examples of biology: the ecological criterion for the species of the warm-blooded group includes almost all mammals and birds. Thermoregulation in their bodies occurs on the physical (respiration, evaporation, etc.) and chemical (intensity in metabolism) plan. In addition, warm-blooded organisms can tremble, thereby increasing the temperature of their body, in animals with feathers and undercoat thermal insulation occurs when they are raised. Such organisms have to look for an alternative to the cold wind or the hot sun: a shadow of coolness or a good shelter from frostbite.
The third group is an intermediate step between the first two. These usually include species of primitive animals and birds, as well as those living organisms that have their own hibernation period, that is, they themselves can control body temperature, lower or raise it. As an example, you can take a marmot, which in winter, falling into hibernation, lowers body temperature to six degrees, and in the active period of life raises to human.
The influence of soil on the development of the species
In addition to climatic conditions, the soil environment of the range is very important for the species. In this case, representatives of underground inhabitants can be taken as an example of an ecological criterion for a species. Small "diggers" have only one function for survival - it is to dig their own home as best and deeper as possible so that not a single predator gets them.
They use their limbs, which are adapted for a certain type of soil, that is, with a change of place of residence in the form of soil, limbs from time to time should be adjusted. All living organisms, like the mole, have a similar structure of paws, and living underground adapted the animal to a lack of oxygen and suffocation, and this is an inevitable situation.
The value of precipitation on the example of the ecological criterion of the species
Particular differences in the structure of the body are creatures that have adapted to snow cover, frequent rainfall, degrees, high humidity and so on. In biology, the ecological criterion of the species will be the change in the animal cover to the color of snow. This happens in birds, rabbits, for example, a white partridge turns really into white, changing feather plumage.
Winter "clothes" are much warmer, and constant exposure to snow increases heat transfer. How? It turns out that under the thickness of the snow, the air temperature is much higher than outside. Therefore, the hibernating bears tolerate winter well, spending the night in snow lairs. For movement on snow, organisms develop special devices on the limbs, whether it be sharp claws, for walking on ice or webbed feet for movement in tropical flooded forests.
Since the ecology on the planet is constantly changing, the processes of microevolution, during which living things adapt to new living conditions, continue.