Habitat conditions. Definition and classification

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

Every organism, population, species has a habitat - that part of nature that surrounds all living things and has some effect on it, direct or indirect. It is from it that organisms take everything necessary to exist, and they secrete the products of their vital activity into it. The environmental conditions of different organisms are not the same. As they say, what is good for one is death for another. It consists of many organic and inorganic elements that affect a particular species.

Classification

Distinguish between natural and artificial habitat conditions. The first are natural, existing from the very beginning. The second is man-made. The natural environment is divided into ground, air, soil, water. There is also a habitat within organisms that is used by parasites.

Habitat and conditions of existence

Conditions of existence - those environmental factors that are vital for a certain type of organisms. That minimumwithout which existence is impossible. These include, for example, air, moisture, soil, as well as light and heat. These are the first conditions. In contrast, 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 - more general, the second - denotes only those conditions without which a living organism or plant cannot exist.

Environmental factors

These are all those elements of the environment that can have an impact - direct or indirect - on living organisms. These factors cause organisms to adapt (or adaptive reactions). Abiotic - this is the influence of inorganic elements of inanimate nature (composition of the soil, its chemical properties, light, temperature, humidity). Biotic factors are forms of influence of living organisms on each other. Some species are food for others, serve for pollination and settling, and have other effects. Anthropogenic - human activities that affect wildlife. The allocation of this group is associated with the fact that today 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 someorganisms, while in others they perform a secondary function. For example, the soil s alt regime is of great importance in the nutrition of plants with minerals, but in animals it is not so important for the same area.

Ecology

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

Biosphere and noosphere

The totality of all living organisms on Earth is called the biosphere. It also includes a person. And not only enters, but also has an active influence on the biosphere itself, especially in recent years. This is how the transition to the noosphere is carried out (according to Vernadsky's terminology). The noosphere implies not only the rough use of natural resources and science, but also universal cooperation aimed at protecting our common home - planet Earth.

Aquatic habitat conditions

Water is considered the cradle of life. Many of the animals that exist on earth had ancestors who lived in this environment. With the formation of land, some species emerged from the water and became amphibians at first, and then evolved into terrestrial ones. Most of our planet is covered with water. Many organisms living in it are hydrophiles, that is, they do not need any adaptation to their environment.

First of all, one of the most important conditions is the chemical composition of the aquatic environment. It is different in different reservoirs. For example, the s alt regime of small lakes is 0.001% s alt. In fresh largereservoirs - up to 0.05%. Marine - 3.5%. In saline continental lakes, the s alt level reaches more than 30%. As salinity increases, the fauna becomes poorer. Water bodies are known where there are no living organisms.

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

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

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

Plants

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

On the ground

ForMany plants and animals have a soil habitat. Environmental conditions depend on several factors. These include climatic zones, temperature changes, chemical and physical composition of the soil. On land, as well as on water, one thing is good for some, another is good for others. But in general, the soil habitat provides shelter for many plant and animal species that live on the planet.