The ecological factor is ... Ecology and people. Types of environmental factors. Classification of environmental factors

Absolutely all organisms on the planet Earth are subject to the influence of environmental factors. It can be direct or indirect, but still has a significant effect on human life, the state of plants and animals. An environmental factor is an element of the environment that causes living organisms to adapt to certain conditions of life. Influence can be provided through the climatic features of the terrain (temperature, humidity, radiation background, relief, illumination), human activity or vital activity of various living beings (parasitism, predation, competition).

Definition of the environmental factor

The environment is a kind of complex of conditions surrounding the living organism that affect its life activity. It can be a combination of phenomena, material bodies, energies. The ecological factor is the factor of the environment, to which the organisms have to adapt. This may be a decrease or increase in temperature, humidity or drought, radiation background, human activities, competition among animals, etc. The term "habitat" in its essence means part of the nature in which organisms live, among the things that they exert on them Direct or indirect influence. These are the factors, because they somehow affect the subject. The environment is constantly changing, its components are diverse, so animals, plants and even people have to constantly adapt, adapt to new conditions in order to somehow survive and multiply.

Classification of environmental factors

On living organisms can be produced both natural and artificial impact. There are several types of classifications, but the most common are environmental factors such as abiotic, biotic and anthropogenic. All the living organisms are affected in one way or another by phenomena and components of inanimate nature. This is the abiotic factors that affect the vital activity of humans, plants, animals. They, in turn, are divided into edaphic, climatic, chemical, hydrographic, pyrogenic, orographic.

Light regime, humidity, temperature, atmospheric pressure and precipitation, solar radiation, wind can be attributed to climatic factors. Edaphic affect living organisms through the thermal, air and water regime of the soil, its chemical composition and mechanical structure, the level of groundwater, acidity. Chemical factors are the salt composition of water, the gas composition of the atmosphere. Pyrogenic - the effect of fire on the environment. Living organisms are forced to adapt to the terrain, the height difference, as well as to the features of water, the content of organic and mineral substances in it.

The biotic ecological factor is the relationship of living organisms, as well as the impact of their relations on the environment. Influence can be either direct or indirect. For example, some organisms are able to influence the microclimate, change the composition of the soil , etc. Biotic factors are divided into four types: phytogenic (plants affect the environment and each other), zoogenic (animals affect habitat and each other), Mycogenic (caused by fungi) and microbiogenic (in the center of events are microorganisms).

Anthropogenic environmental factor is a change in living conditions of organisms in connection with human activity. Actions can be either conscious or unconscious. Nevertheless, they lead to irreversible changes in nature. Man destroys the soil layer, pollutes the atmosphere and water with harmful substances, violates natural landscapes. Anthropogenic factors can be divided into four main subgroups: biological, chemical, social and physical. All of them to some extent affect animals, plants, microorganisms, contribute to the emergence of new species and erase old ones from the face of the earth.

The chemical effect of environmental factors on organisms is mainly negatively affecting the environment. To achieve good yields, people use mineral fertilizers, kill pests with poisons, thereby polluting the soil and water. This should also include waste transport and industry. Physical factors suggest moving in airplanes, trains, on cars, the use of atomic energy, the impact on the organism of vibration and noise. Do not forget about the relationship between people, life in society. Biological factors include organisms for which a person is a source of nutrition or habitat, here it is necessary to include food.

Environmental conditions

Depending on their characteristics and forces, different organisms react differently to abiotic factors. Ecological conditions change over time and, of course, they change the rules for the survival, development and reproduction of microbes, animals, and fungi. For example, the life of green plants on the bottom of the reservoir is limited to the amount of light that can penetrate the water column. The number of animals is limited to an abundance of oxygen. Huge influence on living organisms has a temperature, because its decrease or increase affects development and reproduction. During the glacial period not only mammoths and dinosaurs, but also many other animals, birds and plants have died out, thus changing the environment. Humidity, temperature and light are the main factors that determine the conditions for the existence of organisms.

Shine

The sun gives life to many plants, it is not so important to animals as to representatives of the flora, but still they can not do without it. Natural lighting is a natural source of energy. Many plants are divided into light-loving and shadow-tolerant. Different kinds of animals show a negative or positive reaction to light. But the most important effect of the sun has on the change of day and night, because different representatives of the fauna conduct exclusively night or day life. The effect of environmental factors on organisms is difficult to overestimate, but if we talk about animals, the lighting does not directly affect them, it only signals the need to rebuild the processes taking place in the body, so that living beings respond to changing external conditions.

Humidity

Dependence on water in all living beings is very large, because it is necessary for their normal functioning. Most organisms are unable to live in dry air, sooner or later they die. The amount of precipitation falling within a specific period characterizes the humidity of the terrain. Lichens catch water vapor from the air, plants feed on roots, animals drink water, insects, amphibians are able to suck it through the covers of the body. There are creatures that receive liquid together with food or through the oxidation of fats. Both plants and animals have a variety of adaptations that allow them to spend more slowly water, save it.

Temperature

Each organism has its own temperature range. If it goes beyond, rising or falling, then it can simply perish. The influence of environmental factors on plants, animals and humans can be both positive and negative. Within the temperature interval, the body normally develops, but as soon as the temperature approaches the lower or upper limits, life processes slow down, and then completely stop, which leads to the death of the creature. Someone needs a cold, someone - the heat, and someone can live under different environmental conditions. For example, bacteria, lichens withstand a wide range of temperatures, the tigers feel good in the tropics and in Siberia. But most organisms survive only in narrow temperature ranges. For example, corals grow in water at 21 ° C. Lowering the temperature or overheating for them are deadly.

In tropical regions, weather fluctuations are almost invisible, which can not be said about the temperate zone. Organisms are forced to adapt to the change of seasons, many with the onset of winter make long migrations, and plants completely die. Under unfavorable temperature conditions, some creatures go into hibernation to wait out an unsuitable period for them. These are only basic environmental factors, organisms are also affected by atmospheric pressure, wind, altitude above sea level.

The impact of environmental factors on living organisms

The living environment has a significant influence on the development and reproduction of living things. All groups of environmental factors usually act in a complex manner, rather than one at a time. The power of one's influence depends on others. For example, lighting can not be replaced with carbon dioxide, but changing the temperature, it is possible to stop photosynthesis of plants. All the factors affect the organisms to some extent unequally. Leading role can vary depending on the time of year. For example, in spring, for many plants, the temperature is important, during the flowering period, the moisture of the soil, while ripening, the humidity of the air and nutrients. There are also limiting factors, the excess or lack of which is close to the endurance limits of the organism. Their action is manifested even when living beings are in a favorable environment.

The influence of environmental factors on plants

For each representative of the flora, the habitat is the surrounding nature. It is she who creates all the necessary environmental factors. The habitat provides the plant with the necessary humidity of soil and air, lighting, temperature, wind, the optimal amount of nutrients in the ground. The normal level of environmental factors allows organisms to grow, develop and reproduce normally. Some conditions can adversely affect plants. For example, if you plant a crop on a depleted field, in the soil of which there is not enough nutrients, it will grow very weak or not grow at all. Such a factor can be called limiting. But still most plants adapt to habitat conditions.

Representatives of the flora, growing in the desert, adapt to the conditions with the help of a special form. They usually have very long and powerful roots that can go deeper into the earth for 30 m. A surface root system is also possible that allows moisture to be collected during short rains. Water trees and bushes are stored in trunks (often deformed), leaves, branches. Some inhabitants of deserts are able to wait for several months for life-giving moisture, but others please the eye only a few days. For example, ephemerals scatter seeds that germinate only after rain, then the desert blooms early in the morning, and at noon the flowers fade.

The influence of environmental factors on plants affects also in cold conditions. In the tundra is a very harsh climate, summer is short, it can not be called warm, but frosts last from 8 to 10 months. The snow cover is insignificant, and the wind also completely bares the plants. Representatives of the flora usually have a superficial root system, a thick peel of leaves with a wax coating. The necessary reserve of nutrients of the plant accumulate in the period when the polar day lasts . Tundra trees produce seeds that germinate only once in 100 years during the most favorable conditions. But lichens and mosses have adapted to reproduce vegetatively.

Environmental factors of plants allow them to develop in a variety of conditions. Representatives of the flora are dependent on humidity, temperature, but most of all they need sunlight. It changes their internal structure, appearance. For example, a sufficient amount of light allows trees to grow a luxurious crown, but shrubs, flowers grown in the shade, seem oppressed and weak.

Ecology and people very often go on different roads. Human activities have a disastrous effect on the environment. The work of industrial enterprises, forest fires, transport, pollution of the atmosphere by emissions from power plants, plants, water and soil with oil residues - all this negatively affects the growth, development and reproduction of plants. In recent years, many species of flora have been included in the Red Book, many have died out altogether.

The impact of environmental factors on humans

Still some two centuries ago people were much healthier and physically stronger than today. Labor activity constantly complicates the relationship between man and nature, but up to a certain point they managed to get along. This was due to the synchronous way of life of people with natural regimes. Each season had its own working mood. For example, in the spring the peasants plowed the land, sowed grains and other crops. In the summer they took care of crops, grazed cattle, in the fall they harvested crops, in the winter they did household chores and rested. The culture of health was an important element of the general human culture, the consciousness of the individual changed under the influence of natural conditions.

Everything changed dramatically in the twentieth century, at a time of tremendous leap in the development of technology and science. Of course, even before that, human activity had significantly harmed nature, but all records of the negative impact on the environment were beaten. Classification of environmental factors can determine what people are influencing more, and what is less. Mankind lives in a production cycle mode, and this can not but affect the state of health. There is no periodicity, people perform the same work throughout the year, have little rest, constantly hurry somewhere. Of course, the working and living conditions have changed for the better, but the consequences of such comfort are very unfavorable.

Today, water, soil, air are polluted, acid rains fall , destroying plants and animals, damaging structures and structures. Thinning the ozone layer also can not but frighten consequences. All this leads to genetic changes, mutations, people's health deteriorates year by year, the number of patients with incurable diseases is inexorably growing. A person is largely influenced by environmental factors, biology is studying this impact. Previously, people could die from the cold, heat, hunger, thirst, in our time, mankind "digs to itself a grave." Earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, fires - all these natural phenomena take the lives of people, but even more people harm themselves. Our planet is like a ship that goes to rocks at high speed. It is necessary to stop, before it's too late, to correct the situation, to try to pollute the atmosphere less, to get closer to nature.

Human exposure to the environment

People complain about a sharp change in the environment, deterioration of health and general well-being, but rarely realize that they themselves are to blame for this. Various types of environmental factors have changed over the centuries, there have been periods of warming, cooling, the seas have dried up, and the islands have run under the water. Of course, nature forced the person to adapt to the conditions, but it did not set people rigidly, did not act spontaneously and quickly. With the development of technology and science, everything has changed significantly. For one century, mankind has so polluted the planet that scientists cling to their heads, not knowing how to change the situation.

We still remember the mammoths and dinosaurs that died out during the ice age due to a sharp cold snap, and how many species of animals and plants were wiped off the face of the earth in the last 100 years, how much more is on the verge of extinction? Large cities are stuffed with plants and factories, pesticides polluting the soil and water are actively used in the villages, transport saturation is everywhere. On the planet there are almost no places that can boast of clean air, unpolluted land and water. Deforestation, endless fires, which can be caused not only by anomalous heat, but also by human activities, pollution of reservoirs with oil products, harmful exhausts in the atmosphere - all this negatively affects the development and reproduction of living organisms and does not improve the health of people in any way.

"Or a person will reduce the amount of smoke in the air, or smoke will reduce the number of people on Earth," - are the words of L. Batonne. Indeed, the picture of the future looks depressing. The best minds of mankind struggle over how to reduce the scale of pollution, create programs, invent various cleaning filters, find alternatives to those objects that are the most polluting nature.

Ways to solve environmental problems

Ecology and man today can not come to a consensus. All governmental and non-governmental organizations should work together to resolve the existing problems. It is necessary to do everything for the transfer of production to non-waste, closed cycles, on the way to this, energy and material-saving technologies can be used. The use of natural resources should be rational and taking into account the peculiarities of the regions. The increase in species of creatures on the verge of extinction requires an immediate expansion of the protected areas. Well, most importantly, it is necessary to educate the population, except to give general ecological education.