Anthropogenic factors: examples. What is the anthropogenic factor?

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:54

The scale of human activity in the last few hundred years has increased immeasurably, which means that new anthropogenic factors have appeared. Examples of the impact, place and role of humanity in changing the environment - all this later in the article.

What is the living environment?

The part of the nature of the Earth in which organisms live is their habitat. The resulting relationships, lifestyle, productivity, number of creatures are studied by ecology. Allocate the main components of nature: soil, water and air. There are organisms that are adapted to living in one or three environments, such as coastal plants.

Individual elements interacting with living beings and with each other - environmental factors. Each of them is irreplaceable. But in recent decades, anthropogenic factors have acquired planetary significance. Although half a century ago, the influence of society on nature was not given enough attention, and 150 years ago, the science of ecology itself was in its infancy.

What are environmental factors?

The conditions of the natural environment can be very diverse: space, information, energy, chemical, climatic. Any natural components of physical, chemical or biological origin are environmental factors. They directly or indirectly affect a separate biological individual, population, the entire biocenosis. There are no less phenomena associated with human activity, for example, the anxiety factor. Many anthropogenic factors influence the vital activity of organisms, the state of biocenoses and the geographical envelope. Examples:

• increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere leads to climate change;
• monoculture in agriculture causes outbreaks of individual pests;
• fires lead to a change in the plant community;
• deforestation and construction of hydroelectric power plants change the regime of rivers.

What are environmental factors?

Conditions affecting living organisms and their habitat can be classified into one of three groups by their properties:

• inorganic or abiotic factors (solar radiation, air, temperature, water, wind, salinity);
• biotic conditions that are associated with the cohabitation of microorganisms, animals, plants that affect each other, inanimate nature;
• anthropogenic environmental factors - the cumulative impact of the Earth's population on nature.

Allthe listed groups are important. Every environmental factor is irreplaceable. For example, an abundance of water does not make up for the amount of mineral elements and light necessary for plant nutrition.

What is the anthropogenic factor?

The main sciences that study the environment are global ecology, human ecology and nature conservation. They are based on the data of theoretical ecology, widely use the concept of "anthropogenic factors". Anthropos in Greek means "man", genos is translated as "origin". The word "factor" comes from the Latin factor ("doing, producing"). This is the name given to the conditions that affect the processes, their driving force.

Any human impact on living organisms, the entire environment are anthropogenic factors. There are both positive and negative examples. There are cases of favorable changes in nature in connection with conservation activities. But more often society has a negative, sometimes destructive effect on the biosphere.

The place and role of the anthropogenic factor in changing the face of the Earth

Any type of economic activity of the population affects the relationship between living organisms and natural habitat, often leads to their violation. In place of natural complexes and landscapes, anthropogenic ones arise:

• fields, orchards and orchards;
• reservoirs, ponds, canals;
• parks, forest belts;
• cultural pastures.

On man-madeThe similarity of natural complexes is further influenced by anthropogenic, biotic and abiotic environmental factors. Examples: the formation of deserts - on agricultural plantations; overgrowing of ponds.

How does man affect nature?

Humanity - part of the Earth's biosphere - for a long period completely dependent on the surrounding natural conditions. With the development of the nervous system, in particular the brain, thanks to the improvement of the tools of labor, man himself became a factor in evolutionary and other processes on Earth. First of all, we must mention the mastery of mechanical, electrical and atomic energy. As a result, the upper part of the earth's crust has changed significantly, and the biogenic migration of atoms has increased.

All the diversity of society's impact on the environment - these are anthropogenic factors. Examples of negative influence:

• depletion of mineral reserves;
• deforestation;
• soil pollution;
• hunting and fishing;
• extinction of wild species.

The positive impact of man on the biosphere is associated with environmental protection measures. Reforestation and afforestation, landscaping and improvement of settlements, acclimatization of animals (mammals, birds, fish) are underway.

What is being done to improve the relationship between man and the biosphere?

The above examples of anthropogenic environmental factors, human intervention in nature indicate thatthat the impact can be positive or negative. These characteristics are conditional, because a positive influence under changed conditions often becomes its opposite, i.e., acquires a negative connotation. The activities of the population often do harm to nature than good. This fact is explained by the violation of natural laws that have been in force for millions of years.

Back in 1971, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) approved the International Biological Program called "Man and the Biosphere". Its main task was to study and prevent adverse changes in the environment. In recent years, adult and children's environmental organizations, scientific institutions are very concerned about the conservation of biological diversity.

How to improve environmental he alth?

We found out what the anthropogenic factor is in ecology, biology, geography and other sciences. It should be noted that the well-being of human society, the life of present and future generations of people depend on the quality and degree of influence of economic activity on the environment. It is necessary to reduce the environmental risk associated with the ever-increasing negative role of anthropogenic factors.

Even biodiversity conservation is not enough to ensure a he althy environment, researchers say. It can be unfavorable for human life with its former biodiversity, but strong radiation, chemical and other types.pollution.

There is an obvious connection between the he alth of nature, man and the degree of influence of anthropogenic factors. To reduce their negative impact, it is necessary to form a new attitude towards the environment, responsibility for the prosperous existence of wildlife and the conservation of biodiversity.