Environments inhabited by living organisms on our planet

Let's make a virtual journey through our diverse living planet Earth, populated by a multitude of different creatures, whose species alone number more than two million. And how many are not yet discovered by science? Today we will talk with you about where living organisms live on our planet, what is called the space and conditions, where they can exist. But first let's say a few words about the very terms used by us.

Living Environment of Living Organisms

What is meant by the habitat? This is the space in which, actually, the life of organisms proceeds. And if its origin is not connected with the vital activity of beings, then, then, we are dealing with an inanimate environment (abiotic).

Types of media

In science, there are four types of media suitable for life: soil, water, land-air. Scientists recognize living organisms themselves as the fourth environment, giving shelter to parasitic creatures, which use for their vital activity the bodies of other animals or plants.

The role of habitat

1. Organisms get food from the environment. A certain environment, in turn, can limit the dispersal of individual creatures throughout the space inhabited by living organisms on our planet. For example, because of severe frosts, only certain species of animals can live in the Arctic Circle. In the desert of the Sahara, where the highest temperatures survive, others, and for many such habitats of living organisms is a kind of barrier, an obstacle that can not be overcome.
2. The environment, where living organisms live on our planet, provides not only existence and adaptation. It affects these organisms, forcing them to evolve, changing them. And as a result, the strongest and most stable species survives.
3. The life and activity of the creatures, in turn, also have a fairly strong influence on a certain environment, sometimes even performs the environment-forming functions. So, for example, plants tend to release oxygen into the atmosphere, which maintains its desired balance. And many plants with waste of their activity create a soil structure, a special microclimate that promotes the development of other organisms, for example, fungi or bacteria. So the environment where living organisms live on the planet, in fact, is largely formed by these organisms themselves.

Water

This is the most ancient of known environments. According to scientific data, life on Earth originated in the waters of the World Ocean, covering in those ancient times the entire planet. And only then it spread to soil structures. But not all water spaces are suitable for existence. So, for example, at great depths of the Black Sea (below 200 meters) there is a large content of hydrogen sulfide, so life there is almost impossible. And in many coastal waters of the seas and oceans, on the contrary, its diversity amazes imagination. Water, where living organisms live on our planet, - the environment is very favorable. A lot of fish, shellfish, seaweed prefer to live there. Among the inhabitants of the aquatic environment there are those who, in order to breathe in the air, have to periodically spring out of the sea abysses: whales and dolphins, for example.

Ground-to-air

Most mammals live here (including humans), birds, higher plants. And for many insects, the combination of media is characteristic: the emergence into soil and the continuation of existence in terrestrial-air. So do the amphibians, in the very name of which the given combination is viewed.

The soil

In the soil there is moisture and nutrients. Therefore, many organisms prefer it as a favorable habitat. These include many species of bacteria and fungi, insects (whose life cycle also begins in the soil environment), some mammals, arachnids, and worms. Thus, in one square centimeter of chernozem, millions of living beings can simultaneously be present - bacteria invisible to the naked eye.

The fourth environment - living organisms

Some organisms become a favorable habitat for microorganisms (the same bacteria, for example). So, in the stomach of a cow about a third of the weight is occupied by biomass, consisting of microorganisms that help digestion. But among such creatures there are also parasites that create a pathogenic microflora, at a certain concentration of which the "master" can get sick and even die.

The information presented in the article can be used to conduct a lesson on the topic "Where do living organisms live on our planet?" (Grade 5).