The concept and types of habitat

anthropogenic pollution.

Human ecology studies the laws of the emergence and existence of anthropoecological systems, which are a community of people that are in a dynamic relationship with the environment and thereby satisfy their needs.

Environmental factors   - environmental properties that have any effect on the organism. Indifferent environmental elements, for example, inert gases, are not environmental factors.

Environmental factors are highly variable in time and space. For example, temperature varies greatly on land, but is almost constant at the bottom of the ocean or in the depths of the caves.

One and the same environmental factor has different meanings in the life of living organisms. For example, the salt regime of the soil plays a primary role in the mineral nutrition of plants, but is indifferent to most terrestrial animals. The intensity of illumination and the spectral composition of light are extremely important in the life of autotrophic organisms (most plants and photosynthetic bacteria), and in the life of heterotrophic organisms (fungi, animals, a significant part of microorganisms), light does not have a noticeable effect on vital activity.

Habitat   - this is the environment surrounding a person through a combination of factors (physical, biological, chemical and social), direct or indirect impact on human life, health, ability to work and offspring.

Under anthropogenic impact on the natural environment, we understand the direct or indirect impact of human society on nature, leading to point, local or global changes.

Anthropogenic impact is characterized by the concept of anthropogenic load   - the degree of direct or indirect anthropogenic impact on the environment as a whole or on its individual components. According to experts, the anthropogenic load on the environment as a whole doubles every 10-15 years.

Pollution aboutenvironment is called direct or indirect impact on it, caused by anthropogenic activity.

In principle, pollution can also occur due to natural sources as a result of natural processes. But most of the emissions associated with these causes, as a rule, do not cause much harm to the environment. Exceptions are natural disasters or natural hazards. However, the main pollution problems are related to human activities, i.e. are caused by artificially created sources that are divided into stationary(industry, agriculture, etc.) and   mobile(transport).

Thus, environmental pollution is the entry into it of completely new or known (solid, liquid, gaseous) substances, biological agents, various types of energy in quantities and concentrations that exceed the level that is natural for living organisms.

There are several approaches. to pollution classification   natural environment.

1. By origin   Distinguish between natural and man-made pollution.

2. By objects of pollution   distinguish: pollution of water, atmosphere, soil, landscape.

3. By duration and extent of distribution   distinguish between temporary and permanent pollution; local, regional, cross-border and global.

4. By sources and types of pollutants   The following types of pollution are distinguished: physical, chemical, biological, biotic, mechanical.

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Any properties or components of the environment that affect organisms are called environmental factors. Light, heat, salt concentration in water or soil, wind, hail, enemies and pathogens are environmental factors, the list of which can be very long.

Among them are distinguished abioticrelated to inanimate nature, and bioticrelated to the influence of organisms on each other.

Environmental factors are extremely diverse, and each species, experiencing their influence, responds to it differently. Nevertheless, there are some general laws to which organisms respond to any environmental factor.

The main one is law of optimum. It reflects how living organisms transfer the different strengths of environmental factors. The strength of each of them is constantly changing. We live in a world with variable conditions, and only in certain places on the planet are the values \u200b\u200bof certain factors more or less constant (in the depths of caves, at the bottom of the oceans).

The law of optimum is expressed in the fact that any environmental factor has certain limits of a positive effect on living organisms.

If you deviate from these limits, the sign of the impact changes to the opposite. For example, animals and plants do not tolerate extreme heat and severe frosts; optimal are average temperatures. Likewise, drought and constant heavy rains are equally unfavorable for the crop. The law of optimum indicates the measure of each factor for the viability of organisms. On the graph, it is expressed by a symmetric curve showing how the life activity of the species changes with a gradual increase in the influence of the factor (Fig. 1).

ecological habitat air soil

Figure 1. Scheme of the action of environmental factors on living organisms: 1, 2 - critical points

In the center under the curve - optimum zone. At optimal values \u200b\u200bof the factor, organisms actively grow, eat, and multiply. The more the value of the factor deviates to the right or left, that is, in the direction of decreasing or increasing the strength of the action, the less favorable it is for organisms. The curve reflecting the vital activity abruptly goes down on both sides of the optimum. There are two pessimum zones. When the curve intersects with the horizontal axis, there are two critical points. These are the values \u200b\u200bof the factor that organisms can no longer withstand, death occurs beyond them. The distance between critical points shows the degree of endurance of organisms to a change in factor. Conditions close to critical points are particularly difficult to survive. Such conditions are called extreme.

If we plot the optimum curves of a factor, for example, temperature, for different species, then they will not coincide. Often, what is optimal for one species represents a pessimum for another, or even lies outside critical points. Camels and jerboas could not live in the tundra, and reindeers and lemmings in the hot southern deserts.

The ecological diversity of species is also manifested in the position of critical points: in some they are close, in others they are widely spaced. This means that a number of species can live only in very stable conditions, with a slight change in environmental factors, while others withstand their wide fluctuations. For example, a touchy plant withers if the air is not saturated with water vapor, and the feather well tolerates moisture changes and does not die even in drought.

Thus, the law of optimum shows us that for each species there is a measure of the influence of each factor. Both a decrease and an increase in exposure beyond this measure leads to the death of organisms.

For understanding the relationship of species with the environment is equally important limiting law.

In nature, organisms are simultaneously affected by a whole range of environmental factors in different combinations and with different strengths. It is not easy to isolate the role of each of them. Which one means more than the others? What we know about the law of optimum allows us to understand that there are no completely positive or negative, important or secondary factors, and everything depends on the strength of each.

The law of the limiting factor states that the most significant factor is that which deviates most from the optimal values \u200b\u200bfor the body.

It is from him that the survival of individuals depends in this particular period. At other times, other factors may become limiting, and throughout life, organisms encounter a variety of limitations of their life.

The laws of optimum and limiting factor are constantly confronted with agricultural practices. For example, the growth and development of wheat, and therefore the harvesting, is constantly limited either by critical temperatures, by a lack or excess of moisture, or by a lack of mineral fertilizers, and sometimes by such catastrophic influences as hail and storms. It takes a lot of effort and money to maintain optimal conditions for crops, and in the first place to compensate or mitigate the effect of precisely the limiting factors.

The living conditions of various species are surprisingly diverse. Some of them, for example, some small mites or insects, spend their whole lives inside the leaf of a plant, which for them is a whole world, while others master vast and diverse spaces, such as reindeer, whales in the ocean, migratory birds.

Depending on where representatives of different species live, different sets of environmental factors act on them. On our planet, there are several main life environmentsvery different in terms of existence: water, land-air, soil. The living organisms themselves are also the organisms in which others live.

The aquatic environment of life.   All aquatic inhabitants, despite differences in lifestyle, must be adapted to the main features of their environment. These features are determined primarily by the physical properties of water: its density, thermal conductivity, and ability to dissolve salts and gases.

Density   water determines its significant buoyancy. This means that the weight of organisms is facilitated in water and it becomes possible to lead a permanent life in the water column without sinking to the bottom. Many species, mainly small ones, incapable of rapid active swimming, as if soar in water, being in it in suspension. The totality of such shallow aquatic inhabitants is called plankton. The composition of plankton includes microscopic algae, small crustaceans, caviar and larvae of fish, jellyfish and many other species. Planktonic organisms are carried by currents not able to resist them. The presence of plankton in the water makes it possible to filter the type of food, i.e. filtering, using various devices suspended in the water of small organisms and food particles. It is developed in both floating and sedentary bottom animals, such as sea lilies, mussels, oysters, and others. A sedentary lifestyle would be impossible for aquatic inhabitants if there were no plankton, and it, in turn, is possible only in an environment with sufficient density.

The density of water makes it difficult to actively move in it, so fast-swimming animals, such as fish, dolphins, squids, must have strong muscles and a streamlined body shape. Due to the high density of water, pressure increases greatly with depth. Deep-sea inhabitants can tolerate pressure that is thousands of times higher than on land.

Light penetrates into the water only to a shallow depth; therefore, plant organisms can exist only in the upper horizons of the water column. Even in the cleanest seas, photosynthesis is possible only to depths of 100-200 m. There are no plants at great depths, and deep-sea animals live in complete darkness.

Temperature mode   in ponds softer than on land. Due to the high heat capacity of the water, temperature fluctuations in it are smoothed out, and water inhabitants do not face the need to adapt to severe frosts or forty-degree heat. Only in hot springs can the water temperature approach the boiling point.

One of the challenges of living aquatic life is limited oxygen. Its solubility is not very large and, moreover, greatly decreases when water is contaminated or heated. Therefore, sometimes there are freezing   - Mass death of inhabitants due to lack of oxygen, which occurs for various reasons.

Salt composition   The environment is also very important for aquatic organisms. Marine species cannot live in fresh waters, and freshwater species cannot live in the seas due to cell malfunction.

Ground-air environment of life.   This environment has a different set of features. It is generally more complex and diverse than water. It has a lot of oxygen, a lot of light, more dramatic changes in temperature over time and in space, much weaker pressure drops and often there is a moisture deficit. Although many species can fly, and small insects, spiders, microorganisms, seeds and spores of plants are carried by air currents, organisms feed and reproduce on the surface of the earth or plants. In such a low-density medium as air, organisms need support. Therefore, in terrestrial plants, mechanical tissues are developed, and in terrestrial animals, internal or external skeleton is more pronounced than in aquatic animals. Low air density facilitates movement in it.

M.S. Gilyarov (1912-1985), about two-thirds of the land inhabitants mastered a passive flight as a major zoologist, ecologist, academician, and the founder of extensive studies of the world of soil animals. Most of them are insects and birds.

Air is a poor conductor of heat. This makes it easier to retain the heat generated within organisms and maintain a constant temperature in warm-blooded animals. The development of warm-bloodedness has become possible in the terrestrial environment. The ancestors of modern aquatic mammals - whales, dolphins, walruses, seals - once lived on land.

The land inhabitants have very diverse adaptations related to providing themselves with water, especially in arid conditions. In plants, this is a powerful root system, a waterproof layer on the surface of leaves and stems, and the ability to regulate the evaporation of water through stomata. In animals, these are also various structural features of the body and integument, but, in addition, the corresponding behavior contributes to maintaining the water balance. They can, for example, migrate to watering holes or actively avoid particularly drying conditions. Some animals can live their whole lives on dry food, such as jerboas or the well-known clothes moth. In this case, the water needed by the body arises from the oxidation of the constituent parts of the food.

In the life of terrestrial organisms, many other environmental factors play an important role, for example, the composition of air, winds, and the relief of the earth's surface. Of particular importance are the weather and climate. Inhabitants of the surface-air environment must be adapted to the climate of that part of the Earth where they live, and withstand the variability of weather conditions.

Soil as a medium of life.   The soil is a thin layer of land surface, processed by the activity of living creatures. Solid particles are penetrated in the soil by pores and cavities, partially filled with water, and partially with air, so small aquatic organisms can also inhabit the soil. The volume of small cavities in the soil is a very important characteristic of it. In loose soils, it can be up to 70%, and in dense - about 20%. A huge number of microscopic creatures live in these pores and cavities or on the surface of solid particles: bacteria, fungi, protozoa, roundworms, arthropods. Larger animals make their own moves in the soil. All soil is permeated with plant roots. The depth of the soil is determined by the depth of penetration of the roots and the activity of burrowing animals. It is not more than 1.5-2 m.

The air in the soil cavities is always saturated with water vapor, and its composition is enriched in carbon dioxide and depleted in oxygen. In this way, the living conditions in the soil resemble an aquatic environment. On the other hand, the ratio of water to air in soils is constantly changing depending on weather conditions. Temperature fluctuations are very sharp near the surface, but quickly smooth out with depth.

The main feature of the soil environment is the constant supply of organic matter mainly due to dying plant roots and falling leaves. It is a valuable source of energy for bacteria, fungi and many animals, so the soil the most saturated environment. Her hidden world is very rich and diverse.

The appearance of different species of animals and plants can be understood not only in what environment they live, but also what kind of life they lead in it.

If we have a four-legged animal with highly developed muscles of the thighs on the hind limbs and much weaker - on the forelimbs, which are also shortened, with a relatively short neck and long tail, then we can confidently say that this is a land jumper, capable of to fast and maneuverable movements, an inhabitant of open spaces. Famous Australian kangaroos, desert Asian jerboas, African jumpers, and many other jumping mammals - representatives of various orders living on different continents look like this. They live in the steppes, prairies, savannas - where fast movement on the earth is the main means of escape from predators. The long tail serves as a balance during fast turns, otherwise the animals would lose their balance.

The hips are highly developed on the hind limbs and in jumping insects - locusts, grasshoppers, fleas, leaf-beetle bugs.

A compact body with a short tail and short limbs, of which the front ones are very powerful and look like a shovel or rake, blind eyes, a short neck and a short, as if trimmed, fur tell us that we have an underground animal digging holes and galleries . This can be a forest mole, and a steppe mole rat, and an Australian marsupial mole, and many other mammals that lead a similar lifestyle.

Burrowing insects - Bears also have a compact, stocky body and powerful forelimbs, similar to a reduced bulldozer bucket. In appearance, they resemble a small mole.

All flying species have developed wide planes - wings in birds, bats, insects or expanding folds of skin on the sides of the body, as in planning flying squirrels or lizards.

Organisms settled by passive flight, with air currents, are characterized by small size and a very diverse form. However, all have one thing in common - a strong surface development compared to body weight. This is achieved in different ways: due to long hairs, bristles, various outgrowths of the body, its elongation or flattening, and relief of specific gravity. This is how small insects and fruit-flying plants look.

The external similarity that arises among representatives of different unrelated groups and species as a result of a similar lifestyle is called convergence.

It affects mainly those organs that directly interact with the external environment, and is much weaker in the structure of the internal systems - digestive, excretory, nervous.

The shape of the plant determines the characteristics of its relationship with the external environment, for example, the method of transferring the cold season. Trees and tall bushes have the highest branches.

The shape of the vine - with a weak trunk wrapping around other plants, can be in both woody and herbaceous species. These include grapes, hops, meadow grass, tropical vines. Encircling trunks and stems of erect species, creeper plants carry their leaves and flowers to the light.

In similar climatic conditions on different continents, a similar appearance of vegetation arises, which consists of various, often completely unrelated species.

The external form, reflecting the way of interacting with the environment, is called the life form of the species. Different species may have similar life forms. if they lead a close lifestyle.

Life form is developed during the centuries-old evolution of species. Those species that develop with metamorphosis naturally change their life form during the life cycle. Compare, for example, a caterpillar and an adult butterfly or a frog and its tadpole. Some plants can take a different life form depending on the growing conditions. For example, linden or bird cherry can be either an upright tree or a bush.

Communities of plants and animals are more stable and more complete if they include representatives of different life forms. This means that such a community makes fuller use of environmental resources and has more diverse internal connections.

The composition of the life forms of organisms in communities serves as an indicator of the characteristics of their environment and the changes occurring in it.

Engineers constructing aircraft carefully study the different life forms of flying insects. Models of machines with flapping flight were created, according to the principle of the movement of two-winged and hymenoptera in the air. In modern technology, walking machines are designed, as well as robots with a lever and hydraulic way of movement, as in animals of different life forms. Such cars are able to move on steep slopes and off-road.

Life on Earth developed under the conditions of a regular change of day and night and the alternation of seasons due to the rotation of the planet around its axis and around the Sun. The rhythm of the external environment creates periodicity, i.e., the repeatability of conditions in the life of most species. Both critical, difficult to survive periods and favorable ones are regularly repeated.

Adaptation to periodic changes in the external environment is expressed in living beings not only by a direct reaction to changing factors, but also in hereditarily fixed internal rhythms.

Daily rhythms.   Daily rhythms adapt organisms to the change of day and night. In plants, intensive growth, blooming of flowers are confined to a certain time of day. Animals during the day greatly change their activity. On this basis, day and night species are distinguished.

The daily rhythm of organisms is not only a reflection of a change in external conditions. If you place a person, or animals, or plants in a constant, stable environment without changing the day or night, then the rhythm of vital processes, close to the daily, is maintained. The body, as it were, lives according to its internal clock, counting the time.

Daily rhythm can capture many processes in the body. A person has about 100 physiological characteristics that are subject to the daily cycle: heart rate, respiratory rate, hormones, digestive secretions, blood pressure, body temperature, and many others. Therefore, when a person is awake instead of sleep, the body is still tuned to a night state and sleepless nights have a bad effect on health.

However, diurnal rhythms are not manifested in all species, but only in those in whose life the change of day and night plays an important ecological role. Inhabitants of caves or deep waters, where there is no such shift, live at different rhythms. Yes, and among terrestrial residents, the daily frequency is not detected in everyone.

In experiments under strictly constant conditions, fruit flies-Drosophila maintain a circadian rhythm for tens of generations. This periodicity is inherited in them, as in many other species. So deeply adaptive reactions associated with the daily cycle of the external environment.

Violations of the circadian rhythm of the body in the conditions of night work, space flights, scuba diving, etc. represent a serious medical problem.

Annual rhythms. Annual rhythms adapt organisms to seasonal changes in conditions. In the life of species, periods of growth, reproduction, broods, migrations, and deep dormancy naturally alternate and are repeated in such a way that organisms meet the critical time of the year in the most stable state. The most vulnerable process - the reproduction and rearing of young animals - falls on the most favorable season. This periodicity of the change in the physiological state during the year is largely innate, i.e., manifests itself as an internal annual rhythm. If, for example, Australian ostriches or a wild dingo dog are placed in the zoo of the Northern Hemisphere, they will have a breeding season in the fall, when Australia is spring. The restructuring of internal annual rhythms occurs with great difficulty, through a series of generations.

Preparing for breeding or overwintering is a long process that begins in organisms long before the onset of critical periods.

Sudden short-term weather changes (summer frosts, winter thaws) usually do not violate the annual rhythms of plants and animals. The main environmental factor that organisms respond to in their annual cycles is not random weather changes, but photoperiod   - changes in the ratio of day and night.

The length of daylight varies naturally throughout the year, and it is these changes that serve as an accurate signal of the approach of spring, summer, autumn or winter.

The ability of organisms to respond to changes in day length is called photoperiodism .

If the day is shortened, the species begin to prepare for winter; if it lengthens, it begins to actively grow and reproduce. In this case, not the factor of changing the length of the day or night is important for the life of organisms, but signal valueindicating the upcoming deep changes in nature.

As you know, the length of the day is highly dependent on geographic latitude. In the northern hemisphere, the summer day is much shorter in the south than in the north. Therefore, the southern and northern species react differently to the same magnitude of the change in the day: the southern ones begin to reproduce at a shorter day than the northern ones.

Table 1. Environmental factors

GROUPS OF FACTORS		EFFECT ON ORGANISMS AND ADAPTATIONS OF ORGANISMS TO FACTORS
Abiotic factors - a combination of inorganic conditions: light, temperature, humidity, salinity of the soil and water, topography, pressure, atmospheric gases, etc.	Light - the intensity and quality of solar energy (infrared, visible and ultraviolet rays).	Used by plants for photosynthesis, and animals - for orientation in space in search of food, partners, etc. Photoperiodism is the reaction of plants and animals to the ratio of light and dark periods of the day, controls the budding, flowering, leaf fall in plants. In animals - the mating season, migration, hibernation, etc. On the basis of photoperiodism, biorhythms are produced (annual or seasonal, daily).
	Humidity is the water content in air, soil and living organisms. All living organisms are 80% water.	In relation to moisture, plants are distinguished: hydrophytes (water) - duckweed, calamus; mesophytes (developing under normal conditions) - lily of the valley; xerophytes (living in arid conditions) - cacti; animals: primary-water (fish), secondary-aquatic (whales), semi-aquatic and semi-terrestrial (frogs, crocodiles), ground-air (hares, wolves); animals experience a lack of water in a state of suspended animation (summer sleep in marmots), or store fatty tissue (humps in camels); plants adapt to a lack of water, reducing transpiration by leaves (spines in cacti) and absorbing water from great depths (saxaul root).
	Temperature - average monthly summer and winter values \u200b\u200bof fluctuations in the temperature of air, water, etc.	Affects the speed of biochemical processes in living organisms; organisms exist in the temperature range on average from -50 ° C to + 50 ° C; plants have biochemical adaptations that underlie acclimatization - changes in the limits of endurance to temperature; animals have physiological adaptations (homoyothermal - warm-blooded animals and birds, poikilothermal - cold-blooded fish, amphibians and reptiles), behavioral adaptations (wintering colonies of penguins) and morphological adaptations (larger body sizes, thick fur or feather cover, deposition of subcutaneous fat and etc.).
Biotic factors are the totality of the interaction of various groups of living organisms with each other and with the environment.	The interaction of plants with each other and with the environment.	Competition between plants of the same species, leading to self-thinning of plants in populations; competition of weeds with cultivated plants for light, moisture, etc .; plants support the gas composition of the atmosphere (O2 is the result of photosynthesis).
	The interaction of animals and plants	Herbivores, feeding on plants, slow their growth (caterpillars of butterflies, etc.), bees, bumblebees, wasps pollinate plants and feed on nectar; some plants distribute their fruits and seeds with the help of animals (rowan fruits - thrushes, nuts - proteins); insectivorous plants feed on animals (sundew, Venus flytrap).
	Interaction of animals with each other and with the environment	See table "Biocenotic relationships between organisms"
	The interaction of fungi, bacteria, viruses with plants, animals and the environment
Anthropogenic factors - the totality of human impacts and its economic activities on the environment and living organisms	Positive impact	Reasonable environmental transformation: planting forests, parks and gardens; creation (selection) of new plant varieties and breeds of domestic animals; organization of protected natural areas (wildlife sanctuaries, nature reserves, national parks, etc.); conservation of unique natural sites
	Negative effects	Deforestation, drainage of swamps, construction of industrial facilities, release of industrial and household waste into the environment; extraction of non-renewable natural earth resources (oil, gas, coal, etc.); the destruction of species of game animals as a result of hunting, trampling of plants as a result of tourism, the collection of medicinal raw materials, mushrooms, etc.

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN

Karaganda State University named after Academician E.A. Buketov

Faculty of Biology and Geography Department of Botany

Specialty (direction) ecology

COURSE WORK

On the topic:

  “Environment, living conditions, concept of factors”

Completed by student

5 course gr. ZEKN-52

Ostretsova K. S.

Karaganda 2010

ENVIRONMENT

the habitat and production activities of mankind. As a rule, the term “Environment” refers to the environment; in this sense it is used in international agreements, including between the CMEA member countries. Often in the concept of "Environment." include elements that make up the artificial environment (residential buildings, industrial enterprises and other engineering structures). The natural area of \u200b\u200bhuman distribution as a biological species is determined by natural conditions, however, with the development of social production and technology, the scope of human activity has expanded significantly and almost encompassed the entire geographical envelope. Human society has significantly changed the environment in the process of its economic development.

The human impact on the "Environment". becoming more tangible, and especially sharply it intensified in the conditions of the modern scientific and technological revolution. All natural components of the environment have undergone a change in varying degrees. People domesticated many species of animals and created cultivated plants, but at the same time they destroyed many wild animals (including dozens of species of mammals and birds) and destroyed entire biocenoses. The forest area on Earth has decreased by about 2 times since the Neolithic, cultivated lands appeared on the site of natural vegetation, secondary forests and savannahs, bushes, wastelands, meadows appeared. The appearance of the earth's surface is also significantly changed by engineering structures aimed at transforming river systems, creating canals, reservoirs, etc. During construction work and mining, huge masses of rocks move annually.

The natural productivity of many landscapes as a result of human exposure has increased dramatically; in territories improved by drainage, artificial irrigation, protective forest belts, and in some places reclaimed from the sea (for example, polders in the Netherlands), cultural landscapes arose. However, human intervention in the regulation of natural processes does not always bring the desired positive results, because it is difficult to correctly assess the long-term effects of such exposure. Violation of at least one of the natural components leads, due to the interconnections between them, to the restructuring of the existing structure of natural-territorial complexes. Thus, deforestation, plowing of the soil, and overloading of pastures are causes of disturbance of the soil cover, changes in water balance, development of erosion, the formation of dust storms, grafting of sand, waterlogging, etc.

A particularly serious threat to the environment. represent changes if they are implemented without taking into account the conditions for its preservation — the intensive development of a number of leading energy and manufacturing industries (oil refining, nuclear energy, the chemical industry, non-ferrous metallurgy, etc.), the chemicalization of agriculture, the growth of automobile, water and air transport . The immediate consequence of this is the pollution of the land surface, hydrosphere and atmosphere. The pollution of the World Ocean, especially oil products, whose annual inflow into the waters of the oceans is estimated at 10 million tons, has increased. By forming a film on the surface of the water that impedes gas and water exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere, oil products sharply worsen the conditions for the development of marine organisms. Annually, industrial enterprises and transport emit about 1 billion tons of aerosols and gases (including carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides) into the atmosphere, about the same amount of soot; Over 500 billion tons of industrial wastewater enter the water bodies. In large industrial centers of capitalist countries, the content of toxic impurities in the air exceeds the maximum permissible concentrations, which often leads to dangerous diseases of the population. Poisonous impurities from air and water bodies are involved in planetary water circulation, are carried by air currents over long distances, enter soil solutions, and are concentrated in plants, from where they enter the organisms of animals and humans.

An important side effect of the environmental impact of production is the energy effect. With the annual combustion of 7 billion tons of standard fuel, more than 12.5 1016 kJ (3 1016 kcal) of heat is released. In addition, during the combustion of fuel, more than 20 billion tons of carbon dioxide are annually released to the atmosphere, the increasing concentration of which increases the risk of overheating of air and the earth's surface due to the greenhouse effect.

Environmental pollution, worsening its environmental qualities, contributes to the emergence of an environmental crisis, which is especially acute in a number of cities and industrial areas of the USA, Japan, Germany and some other capitalist countries. Many capitalist countries are forced to take measures to protect O. s., But their effectiveness is constrained by private ownership of land and means of production and resistance from monopolies. In the USSR and other socialist countries, measures for the protection of nature and the rational use of natural resources are planned.

Optimization of the interaction of the environment and human society provides not only for the protection of nature and the rational use of resources, but also for its active transformation on the basis of new technology for the use of raw materials (non-waste production) and energy production. A practical solution to this problem requires a comprehensive study of technogenic changes in the natural environment at all levels (from local to planetary), a study of the degree of stability of natural landscapes in relation to human impact, an assessment of their ability to self-regulate and restore, and to predict their future behavior.

Urbanization has a particular impact on human health. Along with a significant improvement in the sanitary condition of many territories and a reduction in infectious diseases, new pathogenic factors have arisen. In modern conditions, sanitary measures to protect the air basin, natural waters and other environmental elements carried out within the framework of one country are already insufficient. The appeal "To the peoples of the world", adopted at a joint solemn meeting of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the Supreme Council of the RSFSR on December 22, 1972 in connection with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the USSR, emphasizes the need to unite and intensify the efforts of all the peoples of the globe to preserve and restore the human environment.

"Environment" - a generalized concept that characterizes the natural conditions in a particular place and the ecological condition of the area. As a rule, the use of the term refers to the description of natural conditions on the surface of the Earth, the state of its local and global ecosystems, including inanimate nature, and their interaction with humans.

A favorable environment is an environment whose quality ensures the sustainable functioning of natural ecological systems, natural and natural-anthropogenic objects.

Habitat

From the concept of “environment” should distinguish the concept of “conditions of existence” - a set of vital environmental factors, without which living organisms cannot exist (light, heat, moisture, air, soil). In contrast to them, other environmental factors, although they have a significant effect on organisms, are not vital for them (for example, wind, natural and artificial ionizing radiation, atmospheric electricity, etc.).

V.I. Vernadsky about the biosphere and “living matter”.

Central to this concept is the concept of living matter,

which V.I. Vernadsky defines as a set of living organisms. In addition to plants and animals, V.I. Vernadsky includes here also humanity, whose influence on geochemical processes differs from that of other living beings, firstly, by its intensity, which increases with the course of geological time; secondly, by the effect of what activity people have on the rest of living matter.

This effect is primarily reflected in the creation of numerous new species of cultivated plants and domestic animals. Such species did not exist before, and without human help, they either die or turn into wild breeds. Therefore, Vernadsky considers the geochemical work of living matter in the inextricable connection of the animal, plant kingdom and cultural humanity as the work of a single whole.

According to V.I.Vernadsky, in the past they did not attach importance to two

important factors that characterize living bodies and their products

life activity:

pasteur's discovery of the predominance of optically active compounds associated with the asymmetry of the spatial structure of molecules as a distinctive feature of living bodies;

the contribution of living organisms to the energy of the biosphere and their effect on inanimate bodies were clearly underestimated. Indeed, the biosphere includes not only living matter, but also a variety of inanimate bodies, which V.I.Vernadsky calls oblique (atmosphere, rocks, minerals, etc.), as well as biocosal bodies formed from heterogeneous living and inert bodies (soil, surface water, etc.). Although living matter by volume and weight is an insignificant part of the biosphere, but it plays a major role in geological processes associated with a change in the appearance of our planet.

Since living matter is a determining component of the biosphere, it can be argued that it can exist and develop only within the framework of a holistic system of the biosphere. It is no coincidence that therefore V.I.Vernadsky believes that living organisms are a function of the biosphere and are closely connected materially and energetically with it, are a huge geological force that determines it.

The initial basis for the existence of the biosphere and what is happening in it

biogeochemical processes is the astronomical position of our planet and, first of all, its distance from the Sun and the inclination of the Earth’s axis to the ecliptic, or to the plane of the Earth’s orbit. This spatial arrangement of the Earth mainly determines the climate on the planet, and the latter, in turn, determines the life cycles of all organisms existing on it. The sun is the main source of energy of the biosphere and the regulator of all geological, chemical and biological processes on our planet. This role was figuratively expressed by one of the authors of the law of conservation and transformation of energy, Julius Mayer (1814 - 1878), who noted that life is the creation of a sunbeam.

The decisive difference between living matter and inert matter is as follows:

changes and processes in living matter occur much faster than in inert bodies. Therefore, to characterize changes in living matter, we use the concept of historical, and in inert bodies - geological time. For comparison, we note that the second of geological time corresponds to about one hundred thousand years of historical;

during geological time, the power of living matter and its

impact on the inert substance of the biosphere. This effect, indicates V.I. Vernadsky, is manifested primarily "in a continuous biogenic stream of atoms from living matter into the inert substance of the biosphere and vice versa";

only in living matter do qualitative changes in organisms occur during geological time. The process and mechanisms of these changes were first explained in the theory of the origin of species by the natural selection of C. Darwin (1859);

living organisms change depending on changes in the environment, adapt to it, and, according to Darwin's theory, it is the gradual accumulation of such changes that serves as a source of evolution.

V.I. Vernadsky suggests that living matter,

perhaps it also has its own evolutionary process, which manifests itself in a change with the course of geological time, regardless of the change in the environment.

To confirm his thoughts, he refers to continuous growth.

the central nervous system of animals and its importance in the biosphere, as well as the special organization of the biosphere itself. According to him, in a simplified model, this organization can be expressed so that not one of the points of the biosphere “falls into the same place, the same point of the biosphere that it has ever been before.” In modern terms, this phenomenon can be described as irreversibility of changes that are inherent in any process of evolution and development.

The continuous process of evolution, accompanied by the emergence of new species of organisms, has an effect on the entire biosphere as a whole, including natural biocosal bodies, for example, soils, ground and underground waters, etc. This is confirmed by the fact that the soils and rivers of the Devonian are completely different than those of the Tertiary and especially of our era. Thus, the evolution of species is gradually spreading and passes to the entire biosphere.

Since the evolution and emergence of new species suggest

the existence of its beginning, the question naturally arises: is there such a beginning in life? If there is, then where to look for it - on Earth or in Space? Can living come from inanimate?

Over the centuries, many have thought about these issues.

religious figures, representatives of art, philosophers and scientists.

V.I.Vernadsky examines in detail the most interesting points of view that have been put forward by prominent thinkers of different eras, and comes to the conclusion that no convincing answer to these questions exists yet. He himself, as a scientist, at first adhered to an empirical approach to solving these problems when he claimed that numerous attempts to detect traces of the presence of any transitional life forms in the ancient geological layers of the Earth were unsuccessful. In any case, some remains of life were found even in Precambrian layers, numbering 600 million years. These negative results, according to V.I.Vernadsky, make it possible to suggest that life as matter and energy

exists in the universe forever and therefore has no beginning. But such an assumption is no more than an empirical generalization based on the fact that traces of living matter are still not found in the earth's layers. To become a scientific hypothesis, it must be consistent with other results of scientific knowledge, including with broader concepts of natural science and philosophy. In any case, one cannot ignore the views of those naturalists and philosophers who defended the thesis about the emergence of living matter from inanimate matter, and now even put forward fairly substantiated hypotheses and models of the origin of life.

Assumptions regarding abiogenic, or inorganic,

the origin of life was made repeatedly in the ancient era, for example, by Aristotle, who allowed the possibility of the emergence of small organisms from inorganic matter. With the advent of experimental science and the emergence of sciences such as geology, paleontology and biology, this point of view has been criticized as unfounded by empirical facts. In the second half of the XVII century. The principle proclaimed by the famous Florentine doctor and naturalist F.Redi that all living things arise from living things has become widespread.

The assertion of this principle was facilitated by the studies of the famous English physiologist William Harvey (1578 - 1657), who believed that every animal comes from an egg, although he admitted the possibility of life in an abiogenic way.

In the future, as the penetration of physico-chemical methods into

biological research began to advance more and more persistently

hypotheses about the abiogenic origin of life. We have already talked about chemical evolution as a prerequisite for the emergence of a prebiotic, or prebiological, stage of the emergence of life. V.I. could not help but reckon with the indicated results. Vernadsky, and therefore his views on these issues did not remain unchanged, but, based on the basis of precisely established facts, he did not admit either divine intervention or the earthly origin of life. He transferred the emergence of life beyond the boundaries of the Earth, and also allowed the possibility of its appearance in the biosphere under certain conditions. He wrote: “The Redi principle ... does not indicate the impossibility of abiogenesis outside the biosphere or when establishing the presence in the biosphere (now or earlier) of physico-chemical

phenomena not accepted in the scientific definition of this form of organization of the earth’s shell. ”.

Despite some contradictions, Vernadsky’s doctrine of the biosphere

represents a new major step in understanding not only wildlife, but also its inextricable connection with the historical activities of mankind.

Biogeocenosis

Biogeocenosis (from bio ..., geo ... and Greek. Koinós - common), an interdependent complex of living and inert components, interconnected by the exchange of substances and energy; one of the most complex natural systems. The living components of biogeocenosis include autotrophic organisms (photosynthetic green plants and chemosynthetic microorganisms) and heterotrophic organisms (animals, fungi, many bacteria, viruses), and the inert ones are the surface layer of the atmosphere with its gas and heat resources, solar energy, soil with its water and water mineral resources and partly weathering crust (in the case of aquatic biogeocenosis - water). In each biogeocenosis, both the homogeneity (homogeneous or more often mosaic-homogeneous) of the composition and structure of the components, as well as the nature of the material and energy exchange between them, is preserved. A particularly important role in biogeocenosis is played by green plants (higher and lower), which give the bulk of living matter. They produce primary organic materials, the substance and energy of which are used by the plants themselves and are transmitted to all heterotrophic organisms through food chains. Green plants through the processes of photosynthesis, respiration maintain the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air, and through transpiration participate in the water cycle. As a result of the death of organisms or their parts, biogenic migration and redistribution of nutrients in the soil (N, P, K, Ca, etc.) occur. Finally, green plants directly or indirectly determine the composition and spatial distribution of animals and microorganisms in the biogeocenosis. The role in the biogeocenosis of chemotrophic microorganisms is less significant. Heterotrophs, by the specifics of their activity in the Biogeocenosis, can be divided into consumers, transforming and partially decomposing organic substances of living organisms, and destroyers, or destructors (fungi, bacteria), decomposing complex organic substances in dead organisms or their parts to simple mineral compounds. During all transformations, the initially accumulated energy is lost and scattered in the surrounding space in the form of heat. In the functioning of the biogeocenosis, the role of soil animals is great - saprophages, which feed on the organic remains of dead plants, and soil microorganisms (fungi, bacteria) that decompose and mineralize these residues. The soil structure, the formation of humus, the nitrogen content in the soil, the conversion of a number of mineral substances and many other soil properties depend to a large extent on their activities. Without heterotrophs, neither the completion of the biological cycle of substances, nor the existence of autotrophs, nor the Biogeocenosis itself would be possible. Inert components The biogeocenosis serves as a source of energy and primary materials (gases, water, minerals). The material and energy exchange between the components of the Biogeocenosis is shown in the Biogeocenosis diagram below (according to A. A. Molchanov; energy input and consumption are expressed in kcal per 1 ha).

The transition of one Biogeocenosis to another in space or time is accompanied by a change in the states and properties of all its components and, therefore, a change in the nature of biogeocenotic metabolism. The boundaries of biogeocenosis can be traced to many of its components, but more often they coincide with the boundaries of plant communities (phytocenoses). Thickness Biogeocenosis is not homogeneous either in the composition and condition of its components, nor in the conditions and results of their biogeocenotic activity. It differentiates into aboveground, underground, underwater parts, which in turn are divided into elementary vertical structures - bio-geo-horizons, very specific in composition, structure and condition of living and inert components. To indicate horizontal heterogeneity, or mosaic, Biogeocenosis introduced the concept of biogeocenotic parcels (see. Fig.). Like Biogeocenosis as a whole, this concept is complex, because the parcel on the rights of participants in metabolism and energy includes vegetation, animals, microorganisms, soil, atmosphere.

Biogeocenosis is a dynamic system. It is constantly changing and developing as a result of internal conflicting trends of its components. Changes in Biogeocenosis can be short-term, causing easily reversible reactions of the components of Biogeocenosis (daily, weather, seasonal), and deep, leading to irreversible changes in the state, structure and general metabolism of Biogeocenosis and signifying a change (succession) of one Biogeocenosis to another. They can be slow and fast; the latter often occur under the influence of sudden changes as a result of natural causes or human economic activity (not only transforming and destroying natural B, but also creating new, cultural Biogeocenosis). Along with dynamism, Biogeocenosis is also characterized by stability over time, which is due to the fact that modern natural Biogeocenosis is the result of a long and deep adaptation of living components to each other and to the components of the inert environment. Therefore, biogeocenosis, removed from a stable state by one or another cause, after its elimination can be restored in a form close to the original one. Biogeocenosis, similar in composition and structure of components, in metabolism and development direction, belong to one type of Biogeocenosis, which is the main unit of biogeocenological classification. The totality of the biogeocenosis of the entire Earth forms a biogeocenotic cover, or biogeosphere. The study of biogeocenosis and the biogeosphere is the task of science - biogeocenology.

The concept of biogeocenosis was introduced by V. N. Sukachev (1940), which was a logical development of the ideas of Russian scientists V. V. Dokuchaev, G. F. Morozov, G. N. Vysotsky and others about the connections between living and inert bodies of nature and V.'s ideas. I. Vernadsky on the planetary role of living organisms. In the understanding of V. N. Sukachev, biogeocenosis is close to the ecosystem in the interpretation of the English phytocenologist A. Tensley, but differs in the certainty of its volume. Biogeocenosis is the unit cell of the biogeosphere, understood within the boundaries of specific plant communities, while the ecosystem is a dimensionless concept and can encompass a space of any length - from a drop of pond water to the biosphere as a whole.

The component composition of biogeocenoses

Translated into simple language, "Biogeocenosis is the totality of species and the totality of environmental factors that determine the existence of a given ecosystem, taking into account the inevitable anthropogenic impact." The latest addition, taking into account the inevitable anthropogenic impact, is a tribute to the present. In the time of V.N. There was no need for Sukachev to attribute the anthropogenic factor to the main environment-forming ones, which he is now. But even then it was clear that the components of the biogeocenosis (Fig. 1) not only exist side by side, but actively interact with each other.

A biocenosis, or biological community, is a combination of the three components living together: vegetation (phytocenosis), animals (zoocenosis), and microorganisms (microbocenosis: a combination of microbes, bacteria, protozoa). Each of the components is represented by many individuals of different species by the population.

The role of all components: plants, animals and microorganisms in the biocenosis is different.

So, plants form a relatively constant structure of the biocenosis due to their immobility, while animals cannot serve as the structural basis of the community. Microorganisms, although most are not attached to the substrate, move at a slow speed; water and air carry them passively over considerable distances.

Animals depend on plants because they cannot build organic matter from inorganic. Some microorganisms (both all green and a number of non-green ones) are autonomous in this respect, as they are capable of building organic matter from inorganic matter due to the energy of sunlight or the energy released during chemical oxidation reactions.

Microorganisms play a large role in the decomposition of dead organic substances into minerals, i.e., in the process without which the normal existence of biocenoses would be impossible. Soil microorganisms can play a significant role in the structure of terrestrial biocenoses.

The differences in the biomorphological ecological and functional features of the organisms that make up these three groups are so great that the methods for studying them differ markedly. Therefore, the existence of three branches of knowledge - phytocenology, zoocenology and microbocenology, studying phytocenoses, zoocenoses and microbocenoses, respectively, is quite legitimate.

Ecotope - a kind of "geographical" space is the place of life of the biocenosis. It is formed on one side by soil with a characteristic subsoil, with forest litter, as well as with one or another amount of humus (humus); on the other hand, an atmosphere with a certain amount of solar radiation, with one or another amount of free moisture, with a characteristic content of carbon dioxide in the air, various impurities, aerosols, etc., in water biogeocenoses instead of the atmosphere - water. The role of the environment, i.e., physical factors, in the evolution and existence of organisms is not in doubt. Its individual parts (air, water, etc.) and factors (temperature, solar radiation, high-altitude gradients, etc.) are called abiotic, i.e., non-living, components, in contrast to biotic, components represented by living matter.

A biotope is an ecotope transformed by a biocenosis for "itself." Biocenosis and biotope function in continuous unity. The sizes of the biocenosis always coincide with the boundaries of the biotope, therefore, with the boundaries of the biogeocenosis as a whole.

Of all the components of the biotope, the soil is closest to the biogenic component of the biogeocenosis, since its origin is directly related to living matter. Organic matter in the soil is a product of the life of the biocenosis at different stages of transformation.

The community of organisms is limited by the biotope (in the case of oysters - the shallows) from the very beginning of existence.

Properties of biocenoses: self-regulation and self-reproduction.

The main properties of biocenoses that distinguish them from inanimate components is the ability to produce living matter, to have self-regulation and self-reproducibility. In a biocenosis, individual species, populations, and groups of species can be replaced respectively by others without much damage to the community, and the system itself exists due to balancing the forces of antagonism between species. It takes time for a biosystem to acquire these properties.

A very important property of biogeocenoses as biological systems is their self-regulation - the ability to withstand high loads of adverse external influences, the ability to return to the conditionally initial state after significant violations of their structure (Le Chatelier principle). But above a certain threshold of exposure, self-healing mechanisms do not work and biogeocenosis is irreversibly destroyed.

The essence of biogeocenosis

The essence of the functioning of biogeocenosis can be represented as a complex system of many synchronous bioflows directed to and from the biogeocenosis from the outside (Fig. 2). It is proposed to distinguish between two sides of this entity (Biallovich, 1969). One side is a spatial structure with elements in the form of so-called hospitals - conditional structural units denoting everything at rest, i.e. static, immovable relative to the territory and boundaries of the biogeocenosis itself or the boundaries of its parts: tiers and parcels. These elements are formed by plants (tiers and biogeogorizonts: 1S, 2S, 3S, canopies, microgroups, parcels: IS, IIS, IIIS). In nature, this side gives certain physical, habitual (static at the time of measurement) parameters of the biogeocenosis and its structural elements. For example, for the forest community, this is the average diameter and height, stock, fullness of the stand, etc.

The second side of the essence reflects the multifunctionality of biogeocenosis. It can be represented by a combination of radials (R) and laterals (L). Behind these concepts is the mobile component of biogeocenosis, i.e. bioflows. Radials here mean everything moving in the radial direction - from one tier (bio-geohorizon) to another, i.e. vertically, and laterals - symbolize everything moving within the tier (bio-horizon) in the lateral directions - from one parcel to another, i.e. horizontally. The parameters of radials and laterals are measured in units reflecting certain processes.

Stationals create discreteness to the biogeocenosis, while radials and laterals form a kind of continuum of the cycle of matter and energy in the zone of functioning of biological horizons and cenosis parcels.

Examples of "threads". In ecosystems dominated by vascular plants, such as forest biogeocenoses, for example, the largest amount of nutrients is involved in internal cycles, representing flows from soil reserves of elements to plants and vice versa - from plants to soil. The intra-system arrival includes both liquid and dry deposition from the atmosphere, as well as weathering from the underlying rock. The intra-systemic output occurs with the hydrological movement of ions and particles of matter through the soil. In this case, there is a partial loss, which is especially important for the cycle cycles of some chemical elements (S, N).

The nature and power of intrabiogeocenotic flows determine the total (integral) production potential and spatial structure of biogeocenosis. The participation of this potential in the general production of the ecosystem will be determined by both the intrinsic features of the biogeocenosis and the extent and intensity of its external relations - with neighboring (adjacent) biogeocenoses and ecosystems of other, higher ranks.

Under different growing conditions, the same components and elements of cenoses may differ in the features of the functions performed, in their particular production indicators. Therefore, in nature there are no completely identical biogeocenoses, even if they have a very close composition of components. This is the general law of the universe.

The concept of ecosystem productivity: the concepts of ecosystem productivity, its types. Ecosystem classification by productivity

During the life of the biocenosis, organic matter is created and consumed, i.e., the corresponding ecosystem has a certain biomass productivity. Biomass is measured in units of mass or expressed as the amount of energy contained in the tissues.

The concepts of “production” and “productivity”, although expressed in cognate words, have a different meaning in ecology (as in biology). Productivity is the rate of biomass production per unit time that cannot be weighed, but can only be calculated in units of energy or the accumulation of organic substances. Yu. Odum proposed to use the term “production rate” as a synonym for the term “productivity”.

Ecosystem productivity speaks of its “wealth." There are more organisms in a rich or productive community than in a less productive one, although sometimes it happens the other way around when organisms in a productive community are more quickly withdrawn or “turn around”. Thus, the yield of grass at the root of a rich pasture eaten by cattle can be much less than on a less productive pasture where cattle were not driven out.

They also distinguish between current and total productivity. For example, in some specific conditions, I ha of a pine forest is capable of forming 200 m3 of wood mass during its existence and growth - this is its total productivity. However, in one year, this forest creates only about 2 m3 of wood, which is current productivity or annual growth.

The primary productivity of an ecosystem, community, or any part thereof is defined as the rate at which the energy of the sun is absorbed by producer organisms (mainly green plants) during photosynthesis or chemical synthesis (chemoproducers). This energy materializes in the form of organic substances of tissue producers.

It is customary to distinguish four successive stages (or stages) of the organic matter production process: gross primary productivity - the total rate of organic matter accumulation by producers (photosynthesis rate), including those that were used up for respiration and secretory functions. Plants during life processes spend about 20% of the produced chemical energy; net primary productivity - the rate of accumulation of organic substances minus those that were expended during respiration and secretion during the study period. This energy can be used by organisms of the following trophic levels; net community productivity is the rate of total accumulation of organic matter left over from consumption by heterotrophs-consumers (net primary production minus consumption by heterotrophs). It is usually measured over a period; for example, the vegetative period of growth and development of plants or for the year as a whole; secondary productivity - the rate of energy storage by consumers. It is not divided into “gross” and “clean”, since consumers consume only previously created (prepared) nutrients, spending them on respiration and secretory needs, and turning the rest into their own tissues.

The primary production available to heterotrophs, and man refers to them, is a maximum of 4% of the total energy of the sun entering the surface of the earth. Since energy is lost at each trophic level, for omnivorous organisms (including humans), the most effective way to extract energy is to consume plant foods (vegetarianism). However, the following must also be considered:

Animal protein contains more essential amino acids and only some legumes (for example, soy) are close to it in value;

Plant protein is more difficult to digest than animal protein, due to the need to previously destroy hard cell walls;

In a number of ecosystems, animals obtain food in a large area where it is not profitable to grow cultivated plants (these are the badlands on which sheep or reindeer graze).

So, in humans, about 8% of proteins are excreted daily from the body (with urine) and synthesized again. For proper nutrition, a balanced intake of amino acids, such as those found in animal tissues, is necessary.

In the absence of any amino acid important for the human body (for example, in cereals), a smaller proportion of proteins are absorbed during metabolism. The combination in the diet. legumes and grains provides a better use of protein than when consuming each of these types of food separately.

Continuum principle

The species structure is the number of species forming a biocenosis and the ratio of their numbers. Accurate information about the number of species included in a particular biocenosis is extremely difficult to obtain because of microorganisms that are practically not countable.

The species composition and saturation of the biocenosis depend on environmental conditions. On Earth, there are sharply depleted communities of polar deserts, as well as the richest communities of tropical forests, coral reefs, etc. The richest species diversity are the biocenoses of moist tropical forests, in which there are hundreds of species of phytocenosis plants alone.

Species prevailing in number, mass and development are called dominant (from lat. Dominantis - dominant). However, among them there are edificators (from the Latin. Edifikator-- builder) - species that, with their vital activity, form the living environment to the greatest extent, predetermining the existence of other organisms. It is they who give rise to a spectrum of diversity in the biocenosis. So, spruce dominates in the spruce forest, spruce, birch and aspen dominate in the mixed forest, and feather grass and fescue in the steppe. At the same time, spruce in the spruce forest, along with dominance, has strong edificatory properties, expressed in the ability to obscure the soil, create an acidic environment with its roots and form specific podzolic soils. As a result, only shade-loving plants can live under the canopy of the spruce. At the same time, in the lower tier of the spruce forest, for example, blueberries can be the dominant, but it is not an edifier.

Anticipating the discussion of the species structure of the biocenosis, attention should be paid to the principle of L.G. Ramensky (1924) - G.A. Gleason (1926) or the principle of continuum: the wide overlap of ecological amplitudes and the dispersion of population distribution centers along the gradient of the medium lead to a smooth transition of one community to another, therefore, as a rule, they do not form strictly fixed communities.

The principle of the continuum N.F. Reimers contrasts the principle of biocenotic discontinuity: species form environmentally defined systemic aggregates — communities and biocenoses that differ from neighboring ones, although they are gradually moving into them.

Crop losses from pests, diseases and weeds. Measures aimed at reducing and preventing crop losses.

In various crops and on steam fields, in vegetable gardens and in fruit and tree plantations, on pastures and hayfields, harmful plants usually grow along with cultivated crops. Such plants clogging agricultural land and harming crops are called weeds.

In addition, the crops of some crops are often clogged with other types of cultivated plants - weeds that reduce the quality of the crop. For example, rye or barley can be found in winter wheat crops, and oats in spring wheat crops. Spring crops are often littered with sunflower, etc. In the production of varietal seeds, weeds include all plants of the same species that do not belong to this variety.

The structure of biogeocenosis (ecosystems)

The species structure of biogeocenosis. The formation of biogeocenosis is carried out due to interspecific relationships that determine its structure, i.e., the ordering of the structure and functioning of the ecosystem. Distinguish species, spatial and trophic structure of biogeocenosis.

The species structure of biogeocenosis is understood as the diversity of species in it and the ratio of the abundance or biomass of all the populations included in it.

Organisms of different species have different environmental requirements, so in different environmental conditions a different species composition is formed. If the biological features of a species sharply differ in this respect from other species, then this species, due to competition, falls out of the community and enters another biogeocenosis corresponding to it. In other words, in each biogeocenosis there is a natural selection of the organisms most adapted to the given environmental conditions.

There are poor and species-rich biogeocenoses. In polar ice deserts and tundra, with extreme heat deficiency, in waterless hot deserts, heavily polluted by sewage, water bodies of the community are extremely poor in species, since only a few of them can adapt to such adverse conditions. In the same biotopes where the conditions of the abiotic environment are close to optimal, on the contrary, extremely species-rich communities arise (the total number of species of living organisms in such ecosystems ranges from several hundred to many thousands). Examples include tropical rainforests, complex oak forests, and floodplain meadows. The species composition of young, emerging communities (for example, young pine plantings) is usually poorer than mature, mature ones.

Species that prevail in the biogeocenosis in the number of individuals or occupy a large area are called dominants. For example, in our forests, spruce dominates among the trees, acid grass, green moss in the grass cover, field voles among mouse-like rodents, etc. However, not all dominant species equally affect biogeocenosis. Among them, those that play a dominant role in determining the composition, structure and properties of an ecosystem by creating an environment for the entire community are distinguished. Such environment-forming species are called edificators. The main edificators (creators, community builders) of terrestrial biogeocenoses are plants; in the forests it is spruce, oak, in lowland marshes - sedge, on high marshes - sphagnum moss.

How do certain plant species create an environment for the entire community? As an example, consider the coniferous forest. On clear summer days, under the canopy of the spruce forest, illumination is 1.5-2 times less, and the air temperature is 0.2-0.8 ° C lower than under broad-leaved trees. Under thick crowns of spruce, 2-2.5 times less atmospheric precipitation penetrates than under crowns of birch, aspen, and oak. At the same time, rainwater flowing from the spruce crowns has an acid reaction (pH 3.5-4.0). And finally, the litter under the spruce tree consists mainly of needles, which decompose very slowly, as a result of which a thick litter is formed under the spruce, with a low content of humus necessary for all plants.

Thus, spruce in the process of its life activity changes environmental conditions so much that this biotope becomes unsuitable for the existence of many types of living organisms. Only those species that are adapted to life in such conditions (for example, sorrel, minnik, green moss) settle here.

In some cases, animals can also be identifiers. For example, in the territories occupied by marmot colonies, it is their activity that mainly determines the nature of the landscape, the microclimate, and the conditions for the growth of herbaceous plants.

In addition to a relatively small number of dominant species, the composition of the biogeocenosis usually includes many small and even rare forms that create its species richness, increase the diversity of biocenotic connections and serve as a reserve for replenishment and replacement of dominants. These species give biogeocenosis stability and ensure its functioning in different conditions. Therefore, the higher the species diversity, the more fully the resources of the environment are used and the more stable the biogeocenosis. In addition, great biodiversity is the guarantor of the complexity of the spatial structure of the cenosis.

Spatial structure.

This structure of biogeocenosis is determined primarily by the addition of phytocenosis. As a rule, phytocenoses are divided into fairly well delimited in space (vertically and horizontally), and sometimes in time, structural elements, or price elements. The main price elements include tiers and microgroups. The former characterize the vertical; the latter, the horizontal dissection of phytocenoses.

The main factor determining the vertical distribution of plants is the amount of light that determines the temperature and humidity conditions at different levels above the soil surface in a biogeocenosis. The plants of the upper tiers are more photophilous than undersized, and are better adapted to fluctuations in temperature and humidity; lower tiers are formed by plants less demanding of light; the grass cover of the forest as a result of the death of leaves, stems, roots is involved in the process of soil formation and thereby affects the plants of the upper tier.

Tiers (I-V) are especially visible in temperate forests (Fig. 14.4). In them, 5-6 tiers can be distinguished: the first (upper) tier is formed by trees of the first magnitude (English oak, heart-shaped linden, smooth elm, etc.); the second - trees of the second magnitude (mountain ash, wild apple and pear, bird cherry, etc.); the third tier is the undergrowth formed by shrubs (common hazel, buckthorn brittle, European euonymus, etc.); the fourth tier consists of tall grasses (forest chi-stets, nettle, common chaff) and shrubs (blueberries); the fifth tier is composed of low herbs (sedge hairy, European ungulate); in the sixth tier - mosses, lichens.

Layering in forest phytocenosis.

Animals are also predominantly confined to one or another layer of vegetation. For example, among birds there are species that nest only on the ground (pheasant, black grouse, wagtail, skates, oatmeal), others - in the shrub layer (blackbirds, warblers, bullfinches) or in the crowns of trees (finches, carduelis, kings, large predators, etc. .).

The underground layer of phytocenoses, as a rule, is absent. It has been established that, with very rare exceptions, the total mass of underground organs naturally decreases from top to bottom. The decrease in the number of small sucking roots, the bulk of which is confined to the upper soil horizon, where more than 90% of all roots are concentrated, is especially significant. Such a distribution of the active part of the roots is associated with the formation in the surface soil horizons of the greatest amount of mineral nutrients available for plants, primarily nitrogen. In some cases, the deterioration (top to bottom) of aeration conditions plays a role. All this determines even for deep-rooted plants the importance of using the surface soil horizon in which they form permanently or temporarily existing roots. This is evidenced, for example, by confining to the same soil horizon the surface of the rooting assimilating roots of the sour and common more deeply rooted spruce.

Separation (heterogeneity) in the horizontal direction - mosaic - is characteristic of almost all biogeocenoses. Mosaicism is expressed by the presence in the biocenosis of various microgroups that differ in species composition, quantitative ratio of different species, closeness, productivity and other signs and properties.

The uneven distribution of species of living organisms within biogeocenoses and the associated mosaic pattern are due to several reasons: the biology of the reproduction and form of plants, the heterogeneity of soil conditions (the presence of depressions and increases), the environment-forming effect of plants, etc. Mosaic can occur as a result of animal activity (education anthills, trampling the grass stand by ungulates, etc.) or a person (selective cutting, campfire, etc.).

The ecological structure of biogeocenosis. Each biogeocenosis is composed of certain ecological groups of organisms, the ratio of which reflects the ecological structure of the community, which has been developing for a long time under certain climatic, soil-ground, and landscape conditions is strictly logical. For example, in the biogeocenoses of different natural zones, the ratio of phytophages (animals that feed on plants) and saprophages naturally changes. In the steppe, semi-desert and desert regions, phytophages prevail over saprophages, and in forest communities, on the contrary, saprophagy is more developed. In the depths of the ocean, predation is the main type of food, while on the illuminated surface of the reservoir filtering organisms that consume phytoplankton or species with a mixed diet prevail.

The ecological structure of biogeocenoses is also reflected in the ratio of plant groups such as hygrophytes, mesophytes and xerophytes, and among animals - hygrophiles, mesophiles and xerophiles. Naturally, plants with xeromorphic characters (sclerophytes and succulents) predominate in arid habitats, and hygrophytes prevail in highly humid areas. The diversity and abundance of representatives of one or another ecological group of organisms ensures their high density per surface unit, maximum biological productivity, optimal competitive relationships and, finally, gives a clear idea of \u200b\u200bthe characteristics of a particular biotope.

The trophic (food) structure of biogeocenosis is based on food chains. Thus, the structure of biogeocenosis makes it possible to determine the properties of a particular community, to find out the prospect of its stability in time and space, and also to predict the possible consequences of the impact of anthropogenic factor on it.

The biological cycle.

The biological cycle of substances is the unity of two processes:
  - accumulation of elements in living organisms; and
  - mineralization as a result of decomposition of dead organisms.

The formation of living matter predominates on the surface of the land and in the upper layers of the seas. Mineralization of living matter prevails in the soil and in the depths of the seas.

BIOLOGICAL CIRCLE OF SUBSTANCES, or small K.v. - the entry of substances from the soil and atmosphere into living organisms with a corresponding change in their chemical form, their return to the soil and atmosphere during the life of the organisms and with posthumous residues, and re-entry into living organisms after the processes of destruction and mineralization using microorganisms. Such an understanding (according to N.P. Remezov, L.E. Rodin and N.I. Bazilevich) corresponds to the biogeocenotic Circulation level. More precisely, we can talk about the biological cycle of chemical elements, rather than substances, since at different stages of the cycle of matter substances can be chemically modified. According to V.A. Kovdy (1973), the annual value of B.K. ash elements in the soil-plant system significantly exceeds the annual geochemical flow of these elements into rivers and seas and is measured by a colossal figure of 109 t / g.

Environmental factors

Elements of the environment that cause adaptive reactions (adaptations) in living organisms and their communities are called environmental factors.

According to the origin and nature of the action, environmental factors are divided into abiotic (elements of inorganic or inanimate, nature), biotic (forms of influence of living things on each other) and anthropogenic (all forms of human activity that affect living nature).

Abiotic factors are divided into physical, or climatic (light, temperature of air and water, humidity of air and soil, wind), edaphic, or soil-soil (soil texture, their chemical and physical properties), topographic, or orographic (terrain features ), chemical (salinity of water, gas composition of water and air, soil and water pH, etc.).

Anthropogenic (anthropic) factors are all forms of human society that change nature as the living environment of living organisms or directly affect their lives. The separation of anthropogenic factors into a separate group is due to the fact that at present the fate of the vegetation cover of the Earth and all currently existing species of organisms is practically in the hands of human society.

One and the same environmental factor has different meanings in the life of living organisms. For example, the salt regime of the soil plays a paramount role in the mineral nutrition of plants, but is indifferent to most terrestrial animals. The intensity of illumination and the spectral composition of light are extremely important in the life of phototrophic plants, and in the life of heterotrophic organisms (fungi and aquatic animals), light does not have a noticeable effect on their vital activity.

Environmental factors affect organisms in different ways. They can act as stimuli causing adaptive changes in physiological functions; as limiters that make it impossible for certain organisms to exist under given conditions; as modifiers that determine the morphological and anatomical changes of organisms.

Law of optimum

The law of optimum (in ecology) - any environmental factor has certain limits of a positive effect on living organisms.

The results of the action of a variable factor depend primarily on the strength of its manifestation, or dosage. Factors have a positive effect on organisms only within certain limits. Inadequate or excessive effects on organisms negatively.

The optimum zone is the range of the factor that is most favorable for life. Deviations from the optimum determine the zone of pessimum. In them, organisms are oppressed.

The minimum and maximum tolerated values \u200b\u200bof the factor are critical points beyond which the body dies.

The law of optimum is universal. It defines the boundaries of the conditions in which the existence of species is possible, as well as the measure of variability of these conditions. Species are extremely diverse in their ability to tolerate changes in factors. In nature, there are two extreme options - narrow specialization and broad stamina. In specialized species, the critical points of the factor are very close; such species can live only under relatively constant conditions. So, many deep-sea inhabitants - fish, echinoderms, crustaceans - do not tolerate temperature fluctuations even within 2-3 ° C. Plants of wet habitats (marsh marigold, touchy, etc.) instantly wither if the air around them is not saturated with water vapor. Species with a narrow range of endurance are called stenobionts, and with a wide range - eurybionts. If it is necessary to emphasize the relation to any factor, they use the combination of “wall” and “heury-” as applied to its name, for example, a stenothermal species that does not tolerate temperature fluctuations, euryhaline, able to live with wide fluctuations in water salinity, etc.

Three cardinal points

1 - minimum, 2 - optimum, 3 - maximum

the optimal factor is the optimum point; however, it is usually difficult to determine the optimal value of the factor with sufficient accuracy, more often they say optimum ozone or, in a broader sense, the comfort zone. -points, minimum and maximum are three cardinal points that determine the body's response to this factor. The extreme sections of the curve, expressing the state of oppression with a sharp deficiency or excess of the factor, are referred to as pessimum and pessimum; they correspond to pessimal values \u200b\u200bof the factor. Near the critical points lie the sub-lethal values \u200b\u200bof the factor, and outside the tolerance zone, the lethal ones.

Range of environmental factors

The favorable range of environmental factors is called the optimum zone (normal life). The more significant is the deviation of the factor from the optimum, the more this factor inhibits the vital activity of the population. This range is called the zone of oppression. The maximum and minimum tolerated values \u200b\u200bof the factor are critical points beyond which the existence of an organism or population is no longer possible.

In accordance with the law of tolerance, any excess of a substance or energy turns out to be a polluting beginning. Thus, excess water, even in arid areas, is harmful and water can be considered as a regular pollutant, although in optimal quantities it is simply necessary. In particular, excess water interferes with normal soil formation in the chernozem zone.

Species for the existence of which strictly defined environmental conditions are necessary are called stenobiotic, and species that adapt to the ecological situation with a wide range of parameter changes are called eurybiotics.

Among the laws governing the interaction of an individual or an individual with his environment, let us single out the rule of correspondence of environmental conditions to the genetic predetermination of the organism. It claims that the species of organisms can exist until then, insofar as the natural environment surrounding it corresponds to the genetic possibilities of adaptation of this species to its fluctuations and changes.

The law of the minimum of J. Liebig

A living organism in natural conditions is simultaneously exposed to not one but many environmental factors. Moreover, any factor is required by the body in certain quantities / doses. Liebig found that the development of a plant or its condition does not depend on those chemical elements that are present in the soil in sufficient quantities, but on those that are not enough. If any, even one of the nutrients in the soil is less than that required by these plants, then it will develop abnormally, slowly, or have pathological deviations.

The law of the minimum of J. LIBIHA is a concept according to which the existence and endurance of an organism is determined by the weakest link in the chain of its environmental needs.

According to the law of minimum, the environmental capabilities of organisms are limited by those environmental factors whose quantity and quality are close to the minimum necessary for the organism or ecosystem.

Liebig's Law:

The substance present in the minimum is controlled by the crop, its size and stability over time are determined. At the beginning of the 20th century, the American scientist Shelford showed that a thing or any other factor present not only at a minimum, but also in excess compared to the level required by the body, can lead to undesirable consequences for the body. Example: if you place a plant / animal in an experimental chamber and measure the air temperature in it, the state of the body will change.

At the same time, some best, optimal for the body level of this factor is revealed, at which activity (physiological state) will be maximum. If different factors deviate from the optimal up / down, then the activity will decrease. Upon reaching a certain max / min value, the factor will become incompatible with life processes, changes will occur in the body leading to death. Similar results can be obtained in experiments with changes in humidity, the content of various salts in water, acidity, concentration of various things, etc.

The wider the amplitude of the fluctuation of the factor at which the body can reduce viability, the higher its resistance (tolerance) to one or another factor.

Blackman's Law

The total influence of limiting factors may exceed the total additional effect of the influence of other factors.

Shelford's Law of Tolerance

If in an environment that is a combination of interacting factors, there is a factor whose value is less than a certain minimum or greater than a certain maximum, then the manifestation of the active life of the organism in this environment is impossible.

The minimum and maximum values \u200b\u200bof this factor act as limiting (limiting). The distance between the two pessimums is the zone of tolerance.

Tolerance - the endurance of a species in relation to the fluctuations of an environmental factor. Tolerant species - species that are resistant to adverse environmental conditions.

The law of tolerance was supplemented in 1975 by Yu.Odum.

Organisms can have a wide range of tolerance for one factor and a narrow range for another.

Organisms with a wide range of tolerance for all environmental factors are usually the most common.

If the conditions for one environmental factor are not optimal for the species, then the tolerance range may be narrowed in relation to other environmental factors (for example, if the nitrogen content in the soil is low, more water is required for cereals)

The ranges of tolerance to individual factors and their combinations are different.

The breeding season is critical for all organisms, therefore it is during this period that the number of limiting factors increases.

  Literature

1. Agroecology. Ed. V.A. Chernikova A.I. Cherkesov. M .; Ear of 2000

2. Ecology. Akimova T.A., Haskin V.V. Textbook for high schools - M .; UNITY 1998

3. Agricultural ecology. Ivolin V.M. tutorial. Novocherkessk 1991

4. Ecology. Nikolaykin N.I. et al. M .; Bustard 2003

5. Odum Yu. Ecology. M .: World. 1986.

6. Shilov I.A. Ecology. M .: Higher school. 2000.

7. Ostroumov S.A. Introduction to biochemical ecology. 1986. M.

As L. V. Maksimova notes, the concept wednesday    is fundamentally correlative, since it reflects the subject-object relationship and therefore loses its content without determining which subject it belongs to. The human environment is a complex entity that integrates many different components, which makes it possible to talk about a large number of environments in relation to which the "human environment" acts as a generic concept. The diversity, the multiplicity of heterogeneous environments that make up a single human environment, ultimately determine the diversity of its influence on him.

According to D. Zh. Markovich, the concept human environment   in its most general form, can be defined as a combination of natural and artificial conditions in which a person realizes himself as a natural and social being. The human environment consists of two interconnected parts: natural and social (Fig. 2). The natural component of the environment is the total space directly or indirectly available to man. This is primarily planet Earth with its diverse shells. The social part of the human environment is made up of society and social relations, thanks to which a person realizes himself as a social active being.

As elements of the natural environment (in its narrow sense) D.Zh. Markovich considers the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, plants, animals and microorganisms.

Atmosphere   called the gas, air shell surrounding the globe and the associated gravity. It is divided into the lower layer - the troposphere (up to an altitude of 8-18 km) and the overlying layers - the stratosphere (up to 40-55 km), the mesosphere (up to 80-85 km), the ionosphere (up to 500-800 km) and the exosphere (800- 2000 km). The most mastered by man are the troposphere and stratosphere (the latter to a much lesser extent). The total mass of the atmosphere is 1.15 · 10 15. Its main components - nitrogen (78.08%), oxygen (20.95%), argon (0.93%), carbon dioxide (0.03%), the remaining elements (hydrogen, ozone, etc.) are extremely small quantities. In addition to gases, various aerosols and water vapor are also present in the atmosphere.

Fig. 2. The components of the human environment and society (according to D. Zh. Markovich)

Hydrosphere It is the water shell of the Earth, including the oceans, land (rivers, lakes, glaciers), as well as groundwater. The vast majority of hydrosphere waters fall on the oceans (94%), followed by groundwater (4%) and glaciers (1.7%). Water acts as a universal solvent, as it interacts with all substances without entering into chemical reactions with them. Owing to this peculiarity, it ensures the exchange of substances dissolved in it between land and the ocean, living organisms and the environment. Water played and continues to play a significant role in the establishment and preservation of life on Earth. The first organisms appeared in water bodies, and only much later began the resettlement of living things on the surface of the land. It is also noteworthy that almost all functioning living systems consist mainly of water in the liquid phase: up to 85-95% of water is contained in plants, 57-66% in the human body.

Lithosphere   (or earth's crust) -   this is the upper hard stone shell of the Earth, bounded above by the atmosphere and hydrosphere, and below - by the surface of the mantle substrate, established by seismic data. It is 1.5% of the total planet and 0.8% of its mass. The total thickness of the lithosphere is 35-45 km on the continents and 5-7 km in the oceans. The rocks composing the earth's crust are subdivided into igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary. Erupt rocks form as a result of solidification of molten volcanic lava. Metamorphic rocks arise as a result of heating or compression of previously formed rocks. Sedimentary rocks are formed as a result of the destruction of more ancient rocks, as well as the death of organisms. Soil is one of the most important natural resources of mankind from sedimentary rocks and waste products of various living creatures. The soil is characterized by fertility and ensures the production of a significant proportion of the food resources consumed by people.

Plants, animals   and microorganisms    make up the living environment of man.

Plants are autotrophic (consuming organic substances obtained by conversion from inorganic) living organisms, which are characterized by the ability to photosynthesis and the presence of dense cell walls, usually consisting of cellulose. They, as a rule, are not capable of active movement. Plants are the main suppliers of oxygen to the atmosphere and consumers of carbon dioxide. They also make up a significant part of the diet of many species of animals and people. The plant kingdom includes more than 350 thousand scientifically described species.

Animals   represent a group of heterotrophic (eating ready-made organic substances) living things, as a rule, capable of active movement. Animals participate in the cycle of organic substances and gases, actively absorbing atmospheric oxygen and removing carbon dioxide as one of the products of their vital activity. Animals are widely used by man as a “labor force”, as well as suppliers of food raw materials and prepared food products. According to reports, the total number of animal species reaches 15-20 million.

Microorganisms -   these are the smallest, predominantly unicellular living beings of various systematic affiliations (representing both the plant and animal kingdoms), visible only through a microscope. These include bacteria, mycoplasmas, rickettsia, microscopic fungi, algae, protozoa and viruses. Microorganisms play a large role in the circulation of substances in nature. Some of them are actively used by humans in the food and microbiological industries: winemaking, bakery, production of medicines, vitamins, etc. A significant proportion of microorganisms are pathogenic forms that cause diseases of plants, animals and humans.

A somewhat different approach to the analysis of the structure of the human environment was proposed by N.F. Reimers. He distinguished four inextricably interconnected components-subsystems in the human environment: a) the natural environment, b) the environment generated by agricultural technology - the so-called second nature, or quasi-nature, c) the artificial environment - the “third nature”, or arte nature, d) the social environment (fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Components of the human environment (according to N. F. Reimers)

The natural component of the human environment is constituted by factors of natural or natural anthropogenic origin, directly or indirectly affecting an individual person or human communities (including humanity as a whole). Among them, N. F. Reimers relates the energy state of the medium (thermal and wave, including magnetic and gravitational fields); chemical and dynamic nature of the atmosphere; water component (humidity of the air, the earth's surface, the chemical composition of the waters, their physics, their very existence and the ratio with the inhabited land); physical, chemical and mechanical nature of the earth's surface (including geomorphological structures - flatness, hilly, mountainous, etc.); the appearance and composition of the biological part of ecological systems (vegetation, animal and microbial populations) and their landscape combinations (including combinations of non-arable agricultural and forestry lands with natural ecosystems); the degree of balance and stationarity of the components that create climatic and landscape conditions and provide a certain rhythm of natural phenomena, including natural-destructive and other nature, considered as a disaster (earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, natural focal diseases, etc.); population density and mutual influence of people themselves as a biological factor; informational component of all mentioned processes and phenomena.

The environment of the “second nature” (quasi-nature) is all the elements of the environment artificially transformed, modified by people; they, unlike the natural environment itself, are not capable of systematically self-sustaining themselves (that is, they are destroyed without constant regulatory influence on the part of man). These include arable and other man-converted lands (“cultural landscapes”); dirt roads; the outer space of populated areas with its natural physicochemical characteristics and internal structure (demarcation by fences, various buildings that change the thermal and wind regimes, green stripes, ponds, etc.); green spaces (lawns, boulevards, gardens, landscape parks and forest parks that give an imitation of the natural environment). N. F. Reimers also refers to the "second nature" of domestic animals, including indoor and cultivated plants.

“Third nature” (arterial nature) Reimers calls the whole artificially created, man-made world, which has no analogues in natural nature and without constant maintenance and renewal by man, which inevitably begins to collapse. According to N.F. Reimers, it can include asphalt and concrete in modern cities, the space of places of life and work, transport, service enterprises (physical and chemical characteristics, dimensions, aesthetics of premises, etc.); technological equipment; transport objects; furniture and other things (“material environment”); all objects consisting of artificially synthesized substances. The cultural and architectural environment is also called as one of the elements of the arterial environment. The modern man is mainly surrounded by the arterial environment, and not the natural environment of the “first” and “second” nature.

Finally, the fourth component of the human environment is society and various social processes. The social environment is, according to N.F. Reimers, primarily a cultural and psychological climate, intentionally or unintentionally created by the people themselves and made up of the influence of people on each other, carried out directly, as well as by means of material, energy and informational impact. Such an impact includes economic security in accordance with the standard worked out by society or this ethnic or social group (housing, food, clothing, other consumer goods), civil liberties (conscience, expression of will, movement, place of residence, equality before the law, etc.) , the degree of confidence in tomorrow (the absence or presence of fear of war, another severe social crisis, loss of work, hunger, imprisonment, gangster assault, theft, disease, decay family, its unplanned growth or reduction, etc.)..; moral standards of communication and behavior; freedom of expression, including labor activity (maximum return of forces and abilities to people, society, with receiving signs of attention from them); the possibility of free communication with people of one ethnic group and of a similar cultural level, i.e. creating and entering a social group that is standard for a person (with a commonality of interests, life ideals, behavior, etc.); the opportunity to use cultural and material values \u200b\u200b(theaters, museums, libraries, goods, etc.) or the awareness of the security of such an opportunity; accessibility or awareness of the availability of generally recognized holiday destinations (resorts, etc.) or seasonal changes in the type of housing (for example, an apartment for a tourist tent); provision with a socio-psychological spatial minimum that avoids the neuropsychiatric stress of overpopulation (the optimal frequency of meetings with other people, including friends and relatives); the presence of the service sector (absence or presence of queues, quality of service, etc.).

According to N.F. Reimers, the social environment, combining with the natural, quasi-natural and arte-natural environments, forms a common totality of the human environment. Each of these environments is closely interconnected with the others, and none of them can be replaced by another or be painlessly excluded from the general system of the human environment.

L. V. Maksimova, based on an analysis of extensive literature (articles, collections, monographs, special, encyclopedic and explanatory dictionaries), compiled a generalized model of the human environment. A somewhat abridged version of it is presented in Fig. four.

Fig. 4. Components of the human environment (according to L. V. Maximova)

In the given scheme, the component that is designated by L. V. Maximova as the “living environment” deserves special attention. This type of environment, including its varieties (social, industrial, and recreational environments), is today becoming the object of intense interest of many researchers, especially experts in the field of anthropoecology and social ecology. It is considered and analyzed in more detail in chapter 6 of this manual.

The study of human relations with the environment led to the emergence of ideas about properties    or conditions   environment, expressing the perception of the environment by man, an assessment of the quality of the environment in terms of human needs. Special anthropoecological techniques make it possible to determine the degree to which the environment meets human needs, evaluate its quality and, on this basis, identify its properties.

As L.V. Maksimova notes, the most common property of the environment from the point of view of compliance with its biosocial requirements of a person are concepts comfort   those. environmental compliance with these requirements, and discomfort   or inconsistencies with them. The extreme expression of discomfort is extremeness.    The discomfort or extremeness of the environment can be most closely associated with its properties such as pathogenicity, pollution   etc.