How often do we use the word "nature", sometimes not fully understanding what it means? We talk about the fact that nature surrounds us, that we are going to go to nature, that its power is great, but not unlimited.
Sometimes we even forget that there is animate and inanimate nature.
So what is nature? How do living organisms differ from inanimate objects or natural phenomena? Living and inanimate nature is a single whole, to which the entire material world of the Universe belongs. Nature is the main and only subject that all natural disciplines study, everything that has appeared and lives independently of humanity.
Everything that surrounds us is animate and inanimate nature. The examples are endless: nature is man and plant, viruses and flowers, stones and air, water and mushrooms.
Living and inanimate nature are different from each other. The main characteristic of all living things is, to put itscientific language, the ability to genetic change, development, mutation and replication.
To put it simply, all living things are constantly growing, developing, breathing and multiplying. All organisms have common features: they need energy metabolism, they are able to absorb and synthesize chemicals, they have their own genetic code. Living and non-living nature also differ in the ability of the first to transfer genetic information to all subsequent generations and mutate under the influence of the environment.
Inanimate nature does not have a genetic code, and, therefore, is not capable of transmitting genetic information. Objects of inanimate nature, which include stones, mountains, chemical elements, space bodies,
molecules, etc., can exist for centuries, and change only under the influence of the elements. For example, chemical elements are able to enter into reactions and create new, but also inanimate substances. Rocks can weather, oceans can dry up. However, none of these objects is capable of reproducing, dying, evolving, or mutating. This is the main thing that distinguishes living and inanimate nature from each other.
However, all of the above does not mean that there is an abyss between the concepts of "living" and "non-living". Not at all. Our world is arranged in such a way that the living is inextricably linked with the inanimate. The destruction of inanimate nature entails the death of all living things. There are many examples of this in the history of the Earth. Unfortunately, one of the main factors in the destruction of nature is humanactivity.
Our grandiose projects to change the course of rivers have repeatedly led to the death of hundreds of animal species. The transformation of the Aral Sea into a s alty desert has led to the destruction of more than twenty species of fish, several dozen species of animals, hundreds of species of different plants. Today, not only he alth is under threat, but also the gene pool of the local population.
There is also an opposite example. The destruction of sparrows in China has led to the reproduction of pests and the death of crops and, as a result, to desertification of the land.
Beautiful and huge world in which we appeared and live, nature, living and non-living, are in a state of very fragile balance. This must be remembered when shooting animals on the hunt, collecting primroses, breaking a small twig of urban shrubs. Once this fragile balance is disturbed, only chaos can remain from the beautiful world, unable to give rise to either the living or the dead.
