The influence of the biosphere on man and man on the biosphere

The term "biosphere" was first introduced by the Austrian paleontologist and geologist Eduard Eoss in 1875. In a literal translation, he denoted the sphere of life. However, long before this period, the biosphere was given different names. It was referred to as a "picture of nature", "space of life", "living shell", etc. The content of this concept was considered by many natural scientists.

History of the Biosphere

Initially, the terms "picture of nature" and the like implied only the totality of those living organisms that lived on the planet. However, the biologist JB Lamarck (1744-1829 gg.) Was put forward a revolutionary opinion. He pointed out that living organisms play a huge role in the formation of the earth's crust. Lamarck stressed that the substances that enter it were formed as a result of the activity of living organisms.

Over the years, the idea that there is a close relationship between living and inanimate nature, and that all organisms produce effects on the surrounding chemical, geological and physical factors, has become more and more dominant in the minds of scientists. This was influenced by the changes that took place in the general approach to the study of nature. Natural scientists became more and more convinced that the processes and phenomena occurring in the human environment are to be studied in the general aggregate.

About sixty years ago, academician VI Vernadsky developed the doctrine of the biosphere as a shell of the Earth, which is inhabited by living organisms. This somewhat changed the meaning of the term. Now the concept of "biosphere" spread not only to organisms, but also to their habitat.

Composition

It is believed that the composition of the biosphere includes:

• A biogenic substance that is the result of the process of vital activity of organisms (limestones, coal, atmosphere gases, etc.);
• Living matter, which is a combination of organisms;
• Bone substance, which appeared without the participation of any living organisms (volcanic lava, basic rocks, etc.);
• Biocone substance, which has become a joint result of abiogenic soil processes and life activity of organisms.

The development of human society and the biosphere

People from the moment of their appearance have a direct impact on their environment. This period lasts for about 30-40 thousand years. The human influence on the Earth's biosphere is anthropogenic factor.

The beginning of its manifestation was the Stone Age, which coincided with the period of glaciation. In order to survive, people had to hunt for such large animals as the northern and noble deer, woolly rhinoceros, mammoth, tour, etc. Confirmation of this fact - the bones of wild animals found by scientists in ancient sites. The influence of man on the evolution of the biosphere in the Stone Age was expressed in the mass extermination of large herbivores. The consequence of the hunting was a decrease in the number of individuals of many populations, as well as the disappearance of some species.

10-13 thousand years ago the glacial period was replaced by a sharp warming. Throughout Europe, forests have spread, and large animals have died out. During this period, the influence of the biosphere on humans was very significant. Change in natural conditions has changed the lives of people. At the same time, the already existing economic base of human society collapsed. People moved on to a different period of their development, leaving behind purely consumer attitudes to the environment.

There was a new stone age, when simultaneously with hunting, fishing, and also gathering of mushrooms and berries the importance of the process of food production increased. The influence of the biosphere on humans gradually decreased. The first attempts were made to breed plants and domesticate animals. In support of this, scientists discovered settlements of people of that period, on which wheat, barley and lentils were found. There were also bones of domestic animals - pigs and sheep.

With the development of human society, cattle-breeding and farming began to emerge. Later people began to develop mineral resources. There was a birth of metallurgy.

In the last two centuries, the influence of man on the biosphere has become particularly intense. This was promoted by qualitative leaps in the development of technology and science. Today, the influence of man on the state of the biosphere has assumed a planetary scale. In doing so, it has a direct and indirect effect on the further evolution of the environment.

Contradictions between man and the biosphere

The entire historical period of the joint existence of nature and society can be expressed in the unity of two different trends. First of all, the influence of human activity on the state of the biosphere is rapidly and constantly expanding due to its ever increasing dominance over nature. In addition, there is a constant deepening of disharmony between society and the environment.

Use of natural resources

The human influence on the biosphere is expressed primarily in the fact that it attracts a large part of the Earth's territories for the needs of society, extracting more and more mineral resources, which are divided into inexhaustible and exhaustible. The first of these includes wind, sea waves and solar radiation. These are climatic, water and space resources. Water and atmospheric air are also considered inexhaustible. However, human activity has made such a definition relative. So, as a result of pollution caused by economic needs, water in some areas of our planet has become deficit.

At present, only conditionally inexhaustible resources can be attributed to oxygen. Scientists believe that to restore the former status of water and the atmosphere should be a positive human influence on the biosphere. Its implementation is possible in the form of the development and further implementation of various large-scale environmental programs.

The influence of human economic activity on the biosphere is expressed in the use of exhaustible resources. These include: soil fertility, animal and plant life, as well as minerals. The man began to apply them for his needs even during the Neolithic period. At first people began to use nuggets of copper and gold. Later they began to extract and smelt various ores. Of these fossils, tin, lead, silver and copper were obtained. Today, in its industrial production, a person uses most of the known mineral ores, as well as oil, coal and gas. The development of scientific and technological progress opens up new spheres of application of non-ferrous and ferrous metals, as well as various non-metallic raw materials to the society. At the same time, the development and extraction of poor ores are expanding, and the volume of oil produced from wells located on the seabed is growing.

In economic circulation of mankind there are huge territories of our planet. However, despite this, their area increases from year to year. The use of game animals, fish resources and timber is also increasing.

Air pollution

Every year the population density on our planet increases. At the same time, the level of people's influence on the surrounding nature also increases. As a rule, the biosphere takes the first negative consequences of all this activity. The human influence on the environment can change the age-old course of long-established biogenic processes.

One of the results of industrial development is air pollution. This is especially noticeable in the city, as well as within the factory and factory districts. Here in the atmosphere the degree of concentration of harmful gases sharply increases. And as a consequence of this, the biosphere has a reverse effect on man. First of all, it is expressed in the danger that polluted air bears our health. In addition, harmful gases are combined in the atmosphere with moisture and fall to the ground in the form of acid rain. Such precipitation worsens the quality of the soil, reducing crop yields.

The main sources of atmospheric pollution are metallurgical production, as well as objects burning natural fuels. Harmful substances get into the air from the furnaces, exhaust pipes of machines and furnaces. Particularly dangerous element is sulfurous anhydrite. It is a toxic gas that dissolves easily in water. The ingress of this and other contaminants into the respiratory organs of people and the food they eat causes the biosphere to have an adverse effect on the human body.

The presence of a high concentration of sulfur dioxide is observed near copper smelters. This substance causes underdevelopment of cereal crops, destroys chlorophyll and promotes the drying and falling of leaves and needles. Part of this gas is subsequently oxidized. As a result of this reaction, sulfuric anhydrite is obtained, which not only harms all living things, but also destroys buildings. In addition, getting into the soil, this element removes humus from it, from which the plants receive all the nutrients they need.

Due to the constant burning of a large amount of fuel, the biosphere is also contaminated. The impact of pollution on a person is very negative. The fact is that many poisonous compounds enter the atmosphere. These are oxides of carbon and nitrogen, lead compounds and various carbohydrates, such as ethylene and acetylene. These harmful components, connecting in the air with droplets of water, become a poisonous fog - smog. It destroys the vegetable world of cities. In addition, the negative impact of the biosphere on human health is also manifested. Poisonous fog contributes to the manifestation of a variety of diseases, including cancer.

Contamination of fresh water

The growing consumption of this important natural resource is associated with an increase in the number of inhabitants of the planet, improving their sanitary and hygienic conditions, as well as the development of irrigated agriculture and industry. All this can lead to the probability of occurrence of "water hunger". And here the positive influence of man on the biosphere should be rendered. One of the measures to eliminate this problem is the development of issues related to the rational use of water resources. In addition, measures should be taken to eliminate discharges of industrial waste into rivers. After all, poisonous substances wilt ponds.

Pollution of the seas

Together with river effluents, oil products, pathogenic waste, poisonous types of organic compounds, salts of many heavy metals enter the waters of the World Ocean.

As a result, pollution reaches such a scale that caught shellfish and fish are unfit for consumption.

Changes in the soil layer

Every year a person gathers crops in the fields. Together with it, a large amount of potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen, that is, substances necessary for plant nutrition, is removed from the fertile soil layers. To replenish such important components, organic, as well as mineral fertilizers, are annually applied to the fields. Their volume should be sufficient for obtaining a large yield and eliminating depletion of the fertile layer. An important part of preserving the quality of fields is the application of proper crop rotation.

If land is not properly cultivated by man, erosion occurs in the soil. This is the destruction of the upper layer, provoked by wind or water flows. With excessive grazing in semi-deserts and steppes, wind erosion may occur.

As a result, the economic activity of man threatens to seize significant areas from the agrarian turnover. This is also possible with an open method of mining. Dumps of soil and deep quarries destroy large areas of adjoining territories. At the same time there is a violation of the hydrological regime of the terrain, pollution of water, atmosphere and soils. At the same time, crop yields are declining.

Influence on flora and fauna

As a result of direct human impact on nature, an indirect change in the environment occurs. One form of such influence is continuous deforestation. In this case, the plants of the remaining lower tier are under the adverse influence of direct sun rays. In the shade-loving representatives of the flora, chlorophyll is destroyed and growth is inhibited. As a result, certain species disappear. The world of animals also undergoes changes. Those species whose existence is associated with the stand, migrate to other places or disappear.

Negative impact on the vegetation cover is visited by forests of tourists and holidaymakers. They trample and compact the soil, and also pollute nature.
Negative impact on the animal world is fished by those representatives of the fauna that are of nutritional value for humans or are capable of bringing material benefits. This fact brings some species of animals to the brink of extinction. And this, in turn, causes a decrease in the stability of biocenoses.

Nuclear pollution

In 1945, our planet was faced with a huge problem. It happened after the Americans dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Humanity has learned about the nuclear pollution of the biosphere. A more global scale, this issue was taken after nuclear weapons tests conducted before 1963.

Exploding, atomic bombs cause the strongest ionizing radiation. At the same time, radioactive particles spread over long distances, infecting living organisms, water bodies and soil. And here begins to be a negative impact of the biosphere on humans. Radioactive isotopes, getting into the body, have a harmful effect on cells of tissues and organs. In this case, a person remains unprotected from a variety of diseases, including deaths.

Tests of nuclear weapons also carry one more danger. During the bomb explosion, a huge amount of fine dust is generated. Its particles stay in the atmosphere for a long time and do not let a significant amount of solar radiation pass to Earth. This can entail the onset of a "nuclear cold snap", which will lead to the death of all living organisms.