The natural environment is naturalconditions that surround living organisms, contributing to or hindering their development. The habitat can directly or indirectly influence them, and from it they get everything they need to sustain life. In the environment, organisms release metabolic products, which then, in turn, take part in natural processes. It consists of various elements of animate and inanimate nature, as well as those created by man in the process of his activity. These elements have different effects on organisms, can harm or have a neutral effect, some of them are needed. Depending on this, there are many classifications of environmental factors, and in this article we will look at the most common ones.
Determination of the natural environment
Since the natural environment is, in fact,surrounding natural elements, then, based on this, there are two categories: natural and those created by man. The understanding of the natural environment also differs depending on the globality of the scope of this concept, because you can mean by it all the outer space that surrounds our planet, and in a narrower sense - refer to this biosphere and the outer shell of the Earth. It is more correct to understand under the habitat the interaction of different elements of the surrounding world, since the perception of elements in a static state does not fully correspond to reality.
So, we can derive several components of the natural environment:
- It consists of interacting elements.
- The natural environment can be understood in different aspects and scales, but its main feature is that it is a set of living conditions of a living being.
- It has a different effect on the life of organisms: favorable, unfavorable and neutral.
- Share the natural factors of the environment and those that are artificially created by man.
Next, we consider the environmental factors that form the environment.
Natural environment and abiotic factors
This is a series of conditions that apply toinorganic environment. They, in turn, are divided into chemical and physical. In the first category, the inorganic nature is considered from the point of view of its chemical composition. For example, there is a big difference between fresh and salt water, some organisms can live in each of them, while others cannot exist. Also here consider the chemical composition of the atmosphere, soil and other elements of the environment. The physical include the temperature of air, soil, water, pressure level, direction and force of the wind, radiation parameters. It also discusses the surface reliefs and climate data. Currently, environmentalists are paying special attention to climate, which has an unfavorable trend of change due to anthropogenic factors.
Natural environment and biotic factors
Here the interconnection of living organisms onthe planet. So, animals eat other living organisms, controlling their population. Those, in turn, become the habitat of others, for example, parasites. Some living organisms pollinate others and thus contribute to their reproduction. In this category there is an amazing balance between the existence of plants and animals: the first emit the oxygen needed by animals, and they, in turn, emit carbon dioxide, which is necessary for plants.
Natural environment and anthropogenic factors
These are the factors that arise fromhuman activities. They can be both positive and negative. A person is able to change the environment, adapting it to meet their needs. For example, the operation of a plant in the coal industry without the use of filters can greatly pollute the atmosphere due to heavy emissions. Waste can be disposed of into rivers and buried in the soil, forcing the animals to leave their habitual environment, and they may even die. On the other hand, there are organizations that are trying to restore the number of individuals of endangered species, and this also applies to anthropogenic factors. Since human activity is very diverse, it can indirectly or directly affect environmental conditions, and in the middle of the 20th century, during the active growth of industry, scientists identified such a thing as "noosphere", which is understood to mean the shell of the Earth, which is changed by man.
