Land-air environment: features of the environment and its characteristics

All living beings inhabiting our planet live under certain conditions, which correspond to the level of development, the features of organization and life activity of organisms. Who inhabited the land-air environment? Features of the environment, which is the most populated, and much more will be discussed in our article.

What is the habitat

The habitat of organisms is called everything that surrounds them. And this is not only natural objects, but also what is created by man.

Ecologists distinguish several habitats. This is land-air, water, soil. Living organisms can also be a habitat. For example, in the intestinal ducts of mammalian animals some types of flat and roundworms parasitize.

The totality of all habitats is the biosphere. This is the shell of the Earth, in which life is possible. But man has so transformed his activity that scientists allocate one more education. It is called the noosphere. It is the shell of the planet created by human activity.

Main groups of environmental factors

All environmental conditions that to some extent affect organisms are called environmental factors. They are quite diverse. But the nature of their impact is divided into several groups.

• The first unites all the factors of inanimate nature. They are called abiotic. This is the amount of sunlight, air temperature, the level of humidity and radiation, the direction of the wind and the nature of the relief. For the inhabitants of the aquatic environment, this is salinity and the type of currents.
• Biotic factors unite all kinds of influence of living organisms and their interrelations among themselves. They can be mutually beneficial, neutral predatory, etc.
• Human activities that change the habitat are a group of anthropogenic factors.

Habitats of living organisms

Each habitat has its own unique characteristics and characteristics. For example, water is better than all other substances to retain thermal energy, so the temperature fluctuations in it are negligible. And in the soil, the action of both light and heat is generally reduced to a minimum. Some organisms lead a parasitic way of life, which lives in other bodies. The effect and significance of all environmental factors in this environment are also minimized.

Features of the terrestrial-air habitat consist in the fact that it is the most diverse and complex. This fact has a logical explanation.

Features of the terrestrial-air environment of life

The complexity of the structure and conditions of this environment is explained by the fact that it is located at the junction of several geographical envelopes - hydro, litho - and atmosphere. Therefore, the organisms living in it, are influenced by the factors of each of them. Their structural features allow them to withstand sharp temperature changes, changes in the chemical composition of air and humidity.

Abiotic factors of the land-air environment

Features of the terrestrial-air habitat include several factors. Firstly, it is a low indicator of air density. The low density of air masses allows its inhabitants to easily move on the ground or fly.

The next feature is that the air is in constant motion. This "flow" provides automatic movement of many inhabitants and their products of vital activity. These are plant seeds, spores of fungi and bacteria, small insects and arachnids. At the same time, atmospheric pressure in this medium is characterized by a low index, which normally amounts to 760 mm Hg. The change in this value leads to a disruption of the physiological processes of the local inhabitants. Thus, when the pressure decreases with altitude, the oxygen capacity of the blood plasma decreases. As a result, it becomes less, breathing becomes faster, which leads to excessive loss of moisture.

Earth-air environment

One of the signs of all living things is the ability to adapt. The features of terrestrial air-environment animals, as well as of other organisms, consist in the fact that all of them, in the course of evolution, acquired adaptations to the sharp temperature drop, the climate and the change of seasons.

For example, many plants for experiencing drought and cold have a change in root and shoot. In a bulb of leeks and tulips, roots of carrots and beets, aloe leaves store water and necessary substances. Spores of bacteria and plants, cells of microscopic animals transfer complex conditions in a state of cyst. At the same time they are covered by a dense shell, and all metabolic processes are minimized. When the unfavorable period is over, the cells divide and pass to active existence.

Many terrestrial-air environment animals have a complex system of thermoregulation and heat exchange with the environment, thanks to which their body temperature remains constant regardless of the season.

The effect of the anthropogenic factor

The activity of man has been changed most of all precisely by the ground-air environment. Features of the environment, which were originally natural, remained so, perhaps, only in the arctic deserts. Low temperatures make this natural area unsuitable for life. Therefore, the peculiarities of terrestrial-air organisms are also in the fact that they experience a greater influence of the anthropogenic factor in comparison with the inhabitants of other ecological niches.

Man transforms natural landscapes and relief, changes the gas composition of the atmosphere, the chemical basis of soils, affects the purity of water bodies. Not all living organisms have time to adapt to the intensively changing conditions caused by the action of the anthropogenic factor. Unfortunately, the negative impact of a person on the state of the land-air environment at the moment prevails over all attempts to save life.

Global environmental problems of the terrestrial-air habitat

How did the ground-air environment suffer at the hands of man? Features of the environment, its main physical indicators in most natural areas, suitable for life, changed. This led to the emergence of global environmental problems in the world. The activity of industrial enterprises caused a change in the gas composition of the atmosphere. As a result, a large concentration of carbon dioxide is created in the air, in comparison with the norm, the oxides of sulfur and nitrogen, and freons accumulate. The result - global warming, the greenhouse effect, the destruction of the ozone layer of the earth, acid rains, smog over large cities.

As a result of irrational nature management, the total area of forests that are the "lungs" of our planet is reduced, providing all living with oxygen. With the passage of time, mineral resources are exhausted and the fertility of soils is reduced.

So, the most diverse is the ground-air environment. Features of the environment consist in its location at the junction of several natural geographical envelopes. Its main characteristics are low density, pressure and mobility of air masses, the constancy of the gas composition of the atmosphere, the inconstancy of the thermal regime, the change in climatic conditions and seasons. Particular importance for normal life in the land-air environment is the humidity and air temperature.