The natural environment: the main factors and general characteristics

The natural environment is a natural environment that surrounds living organisms, contributing or hindering their development. Habitat can directly or indirectly affect them, from it they get everything necessary to sustain life. In the environment, organisms produce metabolic products, which then, in turn, participate in natural processes. It consists of various elements of animate and inanimate nature, as well as those that are created by man in the process of his activity. These elements have different effects on organisms, can harm or have a neutral effect, some they need. Depending on this, there are many classifications of environmental factors, and in this article we will consider the most common of them.

Determination of the natural environment

Since the natural environment is, in fact, the surrounding natural elements, then, based on this, distinguish between two categories: the natural and the one that is created by man. Also, the understanding of the natural environment differs depending on the global scope of this concept, because we can mean all the cosmic 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 the interaction of different elements of the surrounding world under the habitat, since the perception of elements in the static state does not fully correspond to reality.

So, we can deduce several components of the natural environment:

1. It consists of interacting elements.
2. The natural environment can be understood in different aspects and scales, but its main feature is that it is a set of living conditions for a living being.
3. It affects the life of organisms differently: favorably, unfavorably and neutrally.
4. Natural environmental factors and those that are artificially created by man are divided.

Next, we will consider the environmental factors that shape the environment.

The natural environment and abiotic factors

This is a number of conditions that apply to the inorganic environment. They, in turn, are divided into chemical and physical. In the first category, inorganic nature is considered in terms of its chemical composition. For example, there is a big difference between fresh and salt water, each of them can be inhabited by one organism, and others can not exist. Also, the chemical composition of the atmosphere, soil and other elements of the medium is considered here. The physical include the temperature of air, soil, water, pressure level, direction and strength of the wind, radiation parameters. Surface relief and climatic data are also considered here. Currently, environmentalists pay special attention to the climate, which has an unfavorable trend of change due to the anthropogenic factor.

The natural environment and biotic factors

Here, the interconnection of living organisms on the planet is manifested. 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 thereby promote their reproduction. In this category, an amazing balance of the existence of plants and animals: the first give off oxygen, necessary for animals, and they, in turn, give off carbon dioxide, which is necessary for plants.

The natural environment and anthropogenic factors

These are the factors that arise due to human activities. They can be both positive and negative. Man is able to change the environment, adapting it to the satisfaction of his needs. For example, plant operation in the coal industry without the use of filters can very pollute the atmosphere due to heavy emissions. Waste can be disposed of in rivers and buried in the soil, which forces animals to leave the habitual environment, 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 influence the environmental conditions, and in the middle of the 20th century, during the active growth of industry, scientists singled out such a notion as the "noosphere", by which is meant the shell of the Earth, which is changed by man.