The Biotic World is composed of some living organisms and some non-living objects known as components of The Biotic World or environment.
The Biotic World or environment is mainly composed of two things called components. These two biotic components of environment are as follow:
i. Abiotic Components
ii. Biotic Components
Abiotic Components of the biotic world are those components which are non living, such as water, mountains etc.
Abiotic Components of the biotic world are very essential for living or biotic components of the world's environment.
Abiotic components are the base of origin of biotic components of the biotic world.
Biotic Components of the biotic world are those components which are living, such as plants, animals etc.
Biotic Components of the biotic world are directly or indirectly depends on Abiotic Components of the world's environment for their daily needs.
Biotic components are very important for the maintenance of origin of biotic components of the biotic world.
Environment is the biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism, or population, and includes particularly the factors that have an influence in their survival, development and evolution.
The term environment can make reference to different concepts, but it is often used as a short form for the biophysical environment.
The expression "the environment" is often used to refer to the global environment, usually as referred to humanity, the number of biophysical environments is countless, given that it is always possible to consider an additional living organism that has its own environment.
Environmental Factors: Environmental factors, ecological factors or eco factors are any factors, abiotic or biotic, that influences living organisms.
Abiotic factors include ambient temperature, amount of sunlight, and pH of the water soil in which an organism lives.
Biotic factors would include the availability of food organisms and the presence of conspecifics, competitors, predators, and parasites. Together, abiotic and biotic factors make up an ecosystem.
Abiotic factors are the non-living parts of an environment. These include things such as sunlight, temperature, wind, water, soil and naturally occurring events such as storms, fires and volcanic eruptions.
Biotic factors are the living parts of an environment, such as plants, animals and micro-organisms. Together, they are the biological factors that determine a species' success.
Each of these factors impacts others, and a mix of both is necessary for an ecosystem to survive.
Weather is different in different parts of the world and changes over minutes, hours, days, and weeks. Most weather happens in the part of Earth’s atmosphere that is closest to the ground called the troposphere.
And, there are many different factors that can change the atmosphere in a certain area like air pressure, temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, and lots of other things. Together, they determine what the weather is like at a given time and location.
⇒ Climate: Whereas weather refers to short-term changes in the atmosphere, climate describes what the weather is like over a long period of time in a specific area.
Different regions can have different climates. To describe the climate of a place, we might say what the temperatures are like during different seasons, how windy it usually is, or how much rain or snow typically falls.
When scientists talk about climate, they're often looking at averages of precipitation, temperature, humidity, sunshine, wind, and other measures of weather that occur over a long period in a particular place.
In some instances, they might look at these averages over 30 years. And, we refer to these three decade averages of weather observations as Climate Normal.
I. Atmosphere: Segment which includes various gases, water vapors.
II. Hydrosphere: Containing water bodies.
III. Lithosphere: Which contain land/soil.
IV. Biosphere: Which includes atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere with life like plants, animals and other organisms.
These four segments are discussed in detail as follows:
I. Atmosphere: It forms the envelope of the earth containing various gases (like Ne, He, CH, 0, N, 0, CO, Ar), water vapors, suspended liquids and solids. Significance:
A. It forms the main source of Oxygen which is essential for life & Carbon dioxide essential for photosynthesis.
B. It forms the clouds, weather, rain etc.
C. Atmosphere protect the earth from excessive radiations, it balances the heat on the earth. The atmosphere extents vertically up to several thousand kilometers.
The structure of atmosphere is divided into four layers as:
a. Troposphere
b. Stratosphere
c. Mesosphere
d. Thermosphere
e. Exosphere
f. Ionosphere
II. Hydrosphere: This segment consists of glaciers, streams, rivers, lakes as the fresh water bodies and oceans, seas as salty or marine water bodies.
Out of the total water present on the earth, 97% is contained in seas and oceans, 2% is locked in glaciers and polar ice and only 1% is available as fresh water in lakes, streams, rivers and underground resources.
III. Lithosphere: The uppermost layer of soil on the earth is the most important region of the lithosphere. It contains organic matter, and source of producing food for animals and human beings.
This segment also includes the biological activities and decomposition of organic waste, by microorganisms in the soil.
IV. Biosphere: In this segment all the three layers i.e. hydrosphere, lithosphere and atmosphere with all the life forms are included. The life sustaining resources such as air water, food etc. are recycled within the biosphere.
1. Physical elements: Physical elements are space, landforms, water bodies, climate, soils, rocks and minerals. They determine the variable character of the human habitat, its opportunities as well as limitations.
2. Biological elements: Biological elements such as plants, animals, microorganisms and men constitute the biosphere.
3. Cultural elements: Cultural elements such as economic, social and political elements are essentially man- made features, which make the cultural background.
The increase in human and animal population, industries and other issues
make the survival cumbersome. A great number of environment issues have
grown in size and make the system more complex day by day, threatening the
survival of mankind on earth.
Environment studies have become significant for the following
reasons:
1. Environment Issues are being of Global: It has been well recognized that environment issues like global warming and ozone depletion, acid rain, marine pollution and biodiversity are not merely national issues but are global issues and hence require international efforts and cooperation to solve them.
2. Development and Environment: Development leads to Urbanization, Industrial Growth, Telecommunication and Transportation Systems, Hitech Agriculture and Housing etc.
However, it has become phased out in the developed world. The North intentionally moves their dirty factories to South to cleanse their own environment.
When the West developed, it did so perhaps in ignorance of the environmental impact of its activities. Development of the rich countries of the world has undesirable effects on the environment of the entire world.
3. Explosive Increase in Pollution: World census reflects that one in every seven persons in this planet lives in India. Evidently with 16 per cent of the world's population and only 2.4 per cent of its land area, there is a heavy pressure on the natural resources including land.
Agricultural experts have recognized soil health problems like deficiency of micronutrients and organic matter, soil salinity and damage of soil structure.
4. Need for an Alternative Solution: It is essential, especially for developing countries to find alternative paths to an alternative goal. We need a goal as under:
a. A true goal of development with an environmentally sound and sustainable development.
b. A goal common to all citizens of our planet earth. c. A goal distant from the developing world in the manner it is from the over-consuming wasteful societies of the “developed” world.
5. Need for Wise Planning of Development: Our survival and sustenance depend on resources availability. Hence Resources withdraw, processing and use of the products have all to be synchronized with the ecological cycle. In any plan of development our actions should be planned ecologically for the sustenance of the environment and development.
1. What are the main causes of environmental degradation?
Ans: Environmental degradation can be defined as a risk to which the world
is exposed. It is termed as pollution. Generally, the term pollution refers
to contaminated air, water, soil, besides unclean and unhygienic living
areas. Such conditions cause harm to human health and damage to non-human
natural world. Some Reasons of Environmental Degradation:
I. Exhaust gas from factories and auto-emissions.
II. Deforestation.
III. Chemical Effluents.
IV. Unplanned Construction.
V. Secondary Pollutants.
VI. Defective Agricultural Policies.
VII. The Population Explosion.
2. What are the main elements of Biosphere?
Ans: The plants, animals and all living organism are the main elements of
biosphere. There are about 10 lakh species of plants and 3 lakh species of
animals including man in biosphere.
3. Distinguish between physical and biological environment?
Ans. Physical environment - The physical environment includes all non -
living things like land, water and air. The physical environment are not
renewable except water which is inexhaustible.
These are in great demand for the development of various industries. They do not have capacity to reproduce and regenerate. Biological environment - The biological environment includes all living things, such as plants and animals.
Man is the most important component of the biological environment. This provide a variety of useful products. Most of them have the capacity to reproduce and regenerate.
4. Define and Explain the term Ecology?
Ans. The prefix 'eco' has become synonymous with environmentally friendly living. This green fad, however, has more to do with conservation
biology than with ecology, where the prefix is borrowed from.
All organisms, no matter their size, their species, or where they live, need to interact with other organisms in their 'neighborhood' and with their environment in order to survive. Ecology is the scientific study of the interactions between organisms and their environment. The term comes from the Greek 'study of house', or the study of the place we live in.
The scope of ecology is huge, and it encompasses all organisms living on Earth and their physical and chemical surroundings. For this reason, the field is usually divided into different levels of study including: organismal ecology, population ecology, community ecology and ecosystem ecology.
5. What is atmosphere? Give an account of its composition?
Ans. The atmosphere is concentrated at the earth’s surface and rapidly
thins as you move upward, blending with space at roughly 100 miles above
sea level.
The atmosphere is actually very thin compared to the size of the earth, equivalent in thickness to a piece of paper laid over a beach ball. However, it is responsible for keeping our earth habitable and for producing weather.
The atmosphere is composed of a mix of several different gases in differing amounts. The permanent gases whose percentages do not change from day to day are nitrogen, oxygen and argon.
Nitrogen accounts for 78% of the atmosphere, oxygen 21% and argon 0.9%. Gases like carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides, methane, and ozone are trace gases that account for about a tenth of one percent of the atmosphere.
Water vapor is unique in that its concentration varies from 0-4% of the atmosphere depending on where you are and what time of the day it is. In the cold, dry artic regions water vapor usually accounts for less than 1% of the atmosphere, while in humid, tropical regions water vapor can account for almost 4% of the atmosphere. Water vapor content is very important in predicting weather.
6. Describe the problem of population explosion.
Ans. Population explosion is an undesirable condition where the number of
existing human population exceeds the carrying capacity of Earth.
Overpopulation is caused by number of factors.
Reduced mortality rate, better medical facilities, depletion of precious resources are few of the causes which results in overpopulation. It is possible for a sparsely populated area to become densely populated if it is not able to sustain life.
Growing advances in technology with each coming year has affected humanity in many ways. One of these has been the ability to save lives and create better medical treatment for all.
A direct result of this has been increased lifespan and the growth of the population. In the past fifty or so years, the growth of population has boomed and has turned into overpopulation.
In the history of our species, the birth and death rate have always been able to balance each and maintain a population growth rate that is sustainable.
7. Describe how the natural calamities affect the
environment.
Ans. Natural disasters, depending on the type, frequency, intensity, and
timing, tend to cause a variety of calamities and may have all of the
following outcomes:
I. Earthquakes, volcanos, orogeny: Shape and reshape the Earth’s surface (ultimately related to plate tectonics), Demolish towns and cities, infrastructure, Orogeny is much slower but will in time change the climate on both sides of the mountain range.
II. Volcanos, landslides, magmatic intrusions: Redistribute certain minerals, Shape and reshape the Earth’s surface.
III. Forest fires, lava flows, tsunamis: Renew certain parts of the biosphere, including the forests, burn all developed structures in affected area; bare areas will increase runoff and the chance for flooding and landslides.
IV. Hurricanes and related storms (Cyclones, Typhoons, etc.): Distribute excess tropical heat by movement of heated water to cooler climate, cause storm surges similar to tsunamis; demolish coastal infrastructure, high winds can strip forests, demolish cities, cause local flooding; spawn tornados.
V. Weather outcomes (downpours, floods, blizzards, windstorms, hail, avalanches, etc.): Can cause disruption in river flow patterns from flooding, can cause destruction of farms, towns, and cities, can cause disruption of air and ground travel and the movement of goods.