Habitat conditions. Definition and classification

Each organism, population, species has a habitat - that part of nature that surrounds all living things and has any effect on it, direct or indirect. It is from it that organisms take everything they need to exist, and in it they separate the products of their vital activity. The habitat conditions of different organisms are not the same. As they say, one is good to one, then to another - death. It consists of a variety of organic and inorganic elements that affect a particular species.

Classification

There are natural and artificial conditions of the environment. The first - natural, existing initially. The latter are created by man. The natural environment is divided into land, air, soil, water. There is a habitat inside the organisms used by the parasites.

Habitat and conditions of existence

Conditions of existence are those factors of the environment that are vital for a certain type of organisms. The minimum without which existence is impossible. These include, for example, air, moisture, soil, as well as light and heat. These are prime conditions. Unlike them, there are other factors that are not so vital. For example, wind or atmospheric pressure. Thus, the habitat and conditions for the existence of organisms are different concepts. The first is more general, the second means only those conditions without which a living organism or plant can not exist.

Environmental factors

These are all those elements of the environment that are capable of influencing - direct or indirect - on living organisms. These factors cause adaptation of organisms (or adaptive reactions). Abiotic - is the influence of inorganic elements of inanimate nature (soil composition, chemical properties, light, temperature, humidity). Biotic factors are the forms of the impact of living organisms on each other. Some species are food for others, serve for pollination and resettlement, have other effects. Anthropogenic - human activities, affecting the wildlife. The allocation of this group is associated with the fact that in our days the fate of the entire biosphere of the Earth is practically in the hands of man.

Most of the above factors are environmental conditions. Some are in the process of modification, others are permanent. Their change depends on the time of day, for example, from cooling and warming. Many factors (the same environmental conditions) play a primary role in the life of some organisms, while in others they play a secondary role. For example, soil salt regime is of great importance in nutrition of plant minerals, and in animals it is not so important for the same area.

Ecology

This is the name of science that studies the conditions of the environment of organisms and their interconnection with it. The term was first defined by the German biologist Haeckel in 1866. However, science began to develop only by the 30s of the last century.

Biosphere and noosphere

The totality of all living organisms on Earth is called the biosphere. It includes a person. And it does not only enter, but also exerts an active influence on the biosphere itself, especially in recent years. This is how the transition to the noosphere takes place (in Vernadsky's terminology). The noosphere involves not only the rude use of natural resources and science, but also universal cooperation aimed at protecting our common house - the planet Earth.

Habitat conditions

Water is considered the cradle of life. Many of the animals on earth had ancestors who lived in this environment. With the formation of land, some species left the water and became first amphibians, and then evolved into land. The water covers most of our planet. Many organisms living in it are hydrophiles, that is, they do not need any adaptation to their habitat.

First of all, one of the most important conditions is the chemical composition of the aquatic environment. In different water bodies it is different. For example, the salt regime of small lakes is 0.001% of salts. In fresh large reservoirs - up to 0.05%. Marine - 3,5%. In saline continental lakes, the salt level reaches more than 30%. As the salinity rises, the fauna becomes poorer. There are known reservoirs where there are no living organisms.

An important role in the environment is played by a factor such as the content of hydrogen sulphide. For example, in the depths of the Black Sea (below 200 meters) in general no one lives, except for hydrogen sulfide bacteria. And all because of the abundance of the content of this gas in the environment.

The physical properties of water are also important: transparency, pressure, flow velocity. Some animals live only in clear water, others are suitable and cloudy. Some plants live in stagnant water, while others prefer to travel with the flow.

For deep-sea inhabitants, the absence of light and the presence of pressure are the most important conditions for existence.

Plants

The conditions of the plant habitat are also determined by many factors: the composition of the soil, the presence of illumination, and temperature fluctuations. If the plant is aquatic - the conditions of the aquatic environment. Of the vital - the presence in the soil of nutrients, natural watering and irrigation (for cultivated plants). Many of the plants are tied to certain climatic zones. In other localities, they are not capable of surviving, much less multiplying and giving offspring. Decorative plants, accustomed to "greenhouse" conditions, require an artificially created habitat. In street conditions, they can no longer survive.

On the ground

For many plants and animals, the soil environment is relevant. Environment conditions depend on several factors. These include climatic zones, a change in the temperature regime, and the chemical and physical composition of the soil. On earth, as on water, one is good for some, another for another. But in general, the soil habitat provides shelter for many species of plants and animals that live on the planet.