Abstract: Environmental environmental factors. Environmental factors and their classification - abstract Environmental environmental factors and their effects

Environmental factors is a complex of environmental conditions affecting living organisms. Distinguish factors inanimate nature — abiotic (climatic, edaphic, orographic, hydrographic, chemical, pyrogenic), wildlife factors— biotic (phytogenic and zoogenic) and anthropogenic factors (impact of human activity). Limiting factors include any factors that limit the growth and development of organisms. The adaptation of an organism to its environment is called adaptation. The external appearance of an organism, reflecting its adaptability to environmental conditions, is called life form.

The concept of environmental environmental factors, their classification

Individual components of the environment that affect living organisms, to which they respond with adaptive reactions (adaptations), are called environmental factors, or environmental factors. In other words, the complex of environmental conditions affecting the life of organisms is called environmental environmental factors.

All environmental factors are divided into groups:

1. include components and phenomena of inanimate nature that directly or indirectly affect living organisms. Among the many abiotic factors, the main role is played by:

• climatic(solar radiation, light and light conditions, temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind, atmospheric pressure, etc.);
• edaphic(mechanical structure and chemical composition of the soil, moisture capacity, water, air and thermal regime of the soil, acidity, humidity, gas composition, groundwater level, etc.);
• orographic(relief, slope exposure, slope steepness, elevation difference, altitude above sea level);
• hydrographic(water transparency, fluidity, flow, temperature, acidity, gas composition, content of mineral and organic substances, etc.);
• chemical(gas composition of the atmosphere, salt composition of water);
• pyrogenic(exposure to fire).

2. - the totality of relationships between living organisms, as well as their mutual influences on the habitat. The effect of biotic factors can be not only direct, but also indirect, expressed in the adjustment of abiotic factors (for example, changes in soil composition, microclimate under the forest canopy, etc.). Biotic factors include:

• phytogenic(the influence of plants on each other and on the environment);
• zoogenic(the influence of animals on each other and on the environment).

3. reflect the intense influence of humans (directly) or human activities (indirectly) on the environment and living organisms. Such factors include all forms of human activity and human society that lead to changes in nature as a habitat for other species and directly affect their lives. Every living organism is influenced by inanimate nature, organisms of other species, including humans, and in turn has an impact on each of these components.

The influence of anthropogenic factors in nature can be either conscious, accidental, or unconscious. Man, plowing virgin and fallow lands, creates agricultural land, breeds highly productive and disease-resistant forms, spreads some species and destroys others. These influences (conscious) are often negative, for example, the thoughtless resettlement of many animals, plants, microorganisms, the predatory destruction of a number of species, environmental pollution, etc.

Biotic environmental factors are manifested through the relationships of organisms belonging to the same community. In nature, many species are closely interrelated, their relationships with each other as components environment can be extremely complex. As for the connections between the community and the surrounding inorganic environment, they are always two-way, reciprocal. Thus, the nature of the forest depends on the corresponding type of soil, but the soil itself is largely formed under the influence of the forest. Similarly, temperature, humidity and light in the forest are determined by vegetation, but the prevailing climatic conditions in turn affect the community of organisms living in the forest.

Impact of environmental factors on the body

The impact of the environment is perceived by organisms through environmental factors called environmental. It should be noted that the environmental factor is only a changing element of the environment, causing in organisms, when it changes again, adaptive ecological and physiological reactions that are hereditarily fixed in the process of evolution. They are divided into abiotic, biotic and anthropogenic (Fig. 1).

Name the entire set of factors inorganic environment affecting the life and distribution of animals and plants. Among them there are: physical, chemical and edaphic.

Physical factors - those whose source is physical state or phenomenon (mechanical, wave, etc.). For example, temperature.

Chemical factors- those that originate from the chemical composition of the environment. For example, water salinity, oxygen content, etc.

Edaphic (or soil) factors are a set of chemical, physical and mechanical properties of soils and rocks that affect both the organisms for which they are a habitat and the root system of plants. For example, the influence of nutrients, humidity, soil structure, humus content, etc. on plant growth and development.

Rice. 1. Scheme of the impact of the habitat (environment) on the body

— human activity factors affecting the natural environment (hydrosphere, soil erosion, forest destruction, etc.).

Limiting (limiting) environmental factors These are factors that limit the development of organisms due to a lack or excess of nutrients compared to the need (optimal content).

Thus, when growing plants at different temperatures, the point at which maximum growth occurs will be optimum. The entire temperature range, from minimum to maximum, at which growth is still possible is called range of stability (endurance), or tolerance. The points limiting it, i.e. the maximum and minimum temperatures suitable for life are the limits of stability. Between the optimum zone and the limits of stability, as it approaches the latter, the plant experiences increasing stress, i.e. we're talking about about stress zones, or zones of oppression, within the stability range (Fig. 2). As you move further down and up the scale from the optimum, not only does stress intensify, but when the limits of the body's resistance are reached, its death occurs.

Rice. 2. Dependence of the action of an environmental factor on its intensity

Thus, for each species of plant or animal there is an optimum, stress zones and limits of stability (or endurance) in relation to each environmental factor. When the factor is close to the limits of endurance, the organism can usually exist only for a short time. In a narrower range of conditions, long-term existence and growth of individuals is possible. In an even narrower range, reproduction occurs, and the species can exist indefinitely. Typically, somewhere in the middle of the resistance range there are conditions that are most favorable for life, growth and reproduction. These conditions are called optimal, in which individuals of a given species are the most fit, i.e. leave the greatest number of descendants. In practice, it is difficult to identify such conditions, so the optimum is usually determined by individual vital signs (growth rate, survival rate, etc.).

Adaptation consists in adapting the body to environmental conditions.

The ability to adapt is one of the main properties of life in general, ensuring the possibility of its existence, the ability of organisms to survive and reproduce. Adaptations appear on different levels- from the biochemistry of cells and the behavior of individual organisms to the structure and functioning of communities and ecological systems. All adaptations of organisms to existence in various conditions have been developed historically. As a result, groupings of plants and animals specific to each geographical zone were formed.

Adaptations may be morphological, when the structure of an organism changes until a new species is formed, and physiological, when changes occur in the functioning of the body. Closely related to morphological adaptations is the adaptive coloration of animals, the ability to change it depending on the light (flounder, chameleon, etc.).

Widely known examples of physiological adaptation are winter hibernation of animals, seasonal migrations of birds.

Very important for organisms are behavioral adaptations. For example, instinctive behavior determines the action of insects and lower vertebrates: fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, etc. This behavior is genetically programmed and inherited (innate behavior). This includes: the method of building a nest in birds, mating, raising offspring, etc.

There is also an acquired command, received by an individual in the course of his life. Education(or learning) - the main way of transmitting acquired behavior from one generation to another.

The ability of an individual to manage his cognitive abilities to survive unexpected changes in his environment is intelligence. The role of learning and intelligence in behavior increases with improvement nervous system- enlargement of the cerebral cortex. For humans, this is the defining mechanism of evolution. The ability of species to adapt to a particular range of environmental factors is denoted by the concept ecological mystique of the species.

The combined effect of environmental factors on the body

Environmental factors usually act not one at a time, but in a complex manner. The effect of one factor depends on the strength of the influence of others. The combination of different factors has a noticeable impact on the optimal living conditions of the organism (see Fig. 2). The action of one factor does not replace the action of another. However, with the complex influence of the environment, one can often observe a “substitution effect”, which manifests itself in the similarity of the results of the influence of different factors. Thus, light cannot be replaced by excess heat or an abundance of carbon dioxide, but by influencing temperature changes, it is possible to stop, for example, plant photosynthesis.

In the complex influence of the environment, the impact of various factors on organisms is unequal. They can be divided into main, accompanying and secondary. The leading factors are different for different organisms, even if they live in the same place. The role of a leading factor at different stages of an organism’s life can be played by one or another element of the environment. For example, in the life of many cultivated plants, such as cereals, the leading factor during the germination period is temperature, during the heading and flowering period - soil moisture, and during the ripening period - the amount of nutrients and air humidity. The role of the leading factor may change at different times of the year.

The leading factor may be different for the same species living in different physical and geographical conditions.

The concept of leading factors should not be confused with the concept of. A factor whose level in qualitative or quantitative terms (deficiency or excess) turns out to be close to the limits of endurance of a given organism, called limiting. The effect of the limiting factor will also manifest itself in the case when other environmental factors are favorable or even optimal. Both leading and secondary environmental factors can act as limiting factors.

The concept of limiting factors was introduced in 1840 by the chemist 10. Liebig. Studying the effect on plant growth of the content of various chemical elements in the soil, he formulated the principle: “The substance found in the minimum controls the harvest and determines the size and stability of the latter over time.” This principle is known as Liebig's law of the minimum.

The limiting factor can be not only a deficiency, as Liebig pointed out, but also an excess of factors such as, for example, heat, light and water. As noted earlier, organisms are characterized by ecological minimums and maximums. The range between these two values ​​is usually called the limits of stability, or tolerance.

IN general view the entire complexity of the influence of environmental factors on the body is reflected by V. Shelford’s law of tolerance: the absence or impossibility of prosperity is determined by a deficiency or, conversely, an excess of any of a number of factors, the level of which may be close to the limits tolerated by a given organism (1913). These two limits are called tolerance limits.

Numerous studies have been carried out on the “ecology of tolerance”, thanks to which the limits of existence of many plants and animals have become known. Such an example is the effect of air pollutants on the human body (Fig. 3).

Rice. 3. The influence of air pollutants on the human body. Max - maximum vital activity; Additional - permissible vital activity; Opt - optimal (not affecting vital activity) concentration harmful substance; MPC is the maximum permissible concentration of a substance that does not significantly change vital activity; Years - lethal concentration

The concentration of the influencing factor (harmful substance) in Fig. 5.2 is indicated by the symbol C. At concentration values ​​of C = C years, a person will die, but irreversible changes in his body will occur at significantly lower values ​​of C = C MPC. Consequently, the range of tolerance is limited precisely by the value C MPC = C limit. Hence, Cmax must be determined experimentally for each pollutant or any harmful chemical compound and its Cmax must not be exceeded in a specific habitat (living environment).

In protecting the environment, it is important upper limits of body resistance to harmful substances.

Thus, the actual concentration of the pollutant C actual should not exceed C maximum permissible concentration (C fact ≤ C maximum permissible value = C lim).

The value of the concept of limiting factors (Clim) is that it gives the ecologist a starting point when studying complex situations. If an organism is characterized by a wide range of tolerance to a factor that is relatively constant, and it is present in the environment in moderate quantities, then such a factor is unlikely to be limiting. On the contrary, if it is known that a particular organism has a narrow range of tolerance to some variable factor, then it is this factor that deserves careful study, since it may be limiting.

Ecological environmental factors. Abiotic factors

1. Environmental factor- this is any element of the environment that can have a direct or indirect effect on a living organism at least at one of the stages of its individual development, or any environmental condition to which the organism responds with adaptive reactions.

In general, a factor is a driving force of a process or a condition affecting the body. The environment is characterized by a huge variety of environmental factors, including those that are not yet known. Every living organism throughout its life is under the influence of many environmental factors that differ in origin, quality, quantity, time of exposure, i.e. regime. Thus, the environment is actually a set of environmental factors affecting the body.

But if the environment, as we have already said, does not have quantitative characteristics, then each individual factor (be it humidity, temperature, pressure, food proteins, the number of predators, a chemical compound in the air, etc.) is characterized by measure and number, i.e. i.e. it can be measured in time and space (in dynamics), compared with some standard, subjected to modeling, prediction (forecast) and ultimately changed in a given direction. You can only control what has measure and number.

For an enterprise engineer, economist, sanitary doctor or prosecutor's office investigator, the requirement to “protect the environment” does not make sense. And if the task or condition is expressed in quantitative form, in the form of any quantities or inequalities (for example: C i< ПДК i или M i < ПДВ i то они вполне понятны и в практическом, и в юридическом отношении. Задача предприятия - не "охранять природу", а с помощью инженерных или организационных приемов выполнить названное условие, т. е. именно таким путем управлять качеством окружающей среды, чтобы она не представляла угрозы здоровью людей. Обеспечение выполнения этих условий - задача контролирующих служб, а при невыполнении их предприятие несет ответственность.

Classification of environmental factors

Any classification of any set is a method of its cognition or analysis. Objects and phenomena can be classified according to various criteria, based on the assigned tasks. Of the many existing classifications of environmental factors, it is advisable to use the following for the purposes of this course (Fig. 1).

All environmental factors can generally be grouped into two large categories: factors of inanimate, or inert, nature, otherwise called abiotic or abiogenic, and factors of living nature - biotic, or biogenic. But in their origin, both groups can be like natural, so anthropogenic, i.e. related to human influence. Sometimes they distinguish anthropic And anthropogenic factors. The first includes only direct human impacts on nature (pollution, fishing, pest control), and the second includes mainly indirect consequences associated with changes in the quality of the environment.

Rice. 1. Classification of environmental factors

In his activities, man not only changes the regimes of natural environmental factors, but also creates new ones, for example, by synthesizing new chemical compounds- pesticides, fertilizers, medicines, synthetic materials, etc. Among the factors of inanimate nature are: physical(space, climatic, orographic, soil) and chemical(components of air, water, acidity and other chemical properties of the soil, impurities of industrial origin). Biotic factors include zoogenic(influence of animals), phytogenic(influence of plants), microgenic(influence of microorganisms). In some classifications, biotic factors include all anthropogenic factors, including physical and chemical.

Along with the one considered, there are other classifications of environmental factors. Factors are identified dependent and independent on the number and density of organisms. For example, climatic factors do not depend on the number of animals and plants, and mass diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms (epidemics) in animals or plants are certainly associated with their numbers: epidemics occur when there is close contact between individuals or when they are generally weakened due to a lack of food, when rapid transmission of the pathogen from one individual to another is possible, and resistance to the pathogen is also lost.

The macroclimate does not depend on the number of animals, but the microclimate can change significantly as a result of their life activity. If, for example, insects, with their high numbers in the forest, destroy most of the needles or foliage of trees, then the wind regime, illumination, temperature, quality and quantity of food will change here, which will affect the condition of subsequent generations of the same or other animals living here. Mass reproduction of insects attracts insect predators and insectivorous birds. Harvests of fruits and seeds influence changes in the population of mouse-like rodents, squirrels and their predators, as well as many seed-eating birds.

All factors can be divided into regulating(managers) and adjustable(controlled), which is also easy to understand in connection with the above examples.

The original classification of environmental factors was proposed by A. S. Monchadsky. He proceeded from the idea that all adaptive reactions of organisms to certain factors are associated with the degree of constancy of their influence, or, in other words, with their periodicity. In particular, he highlighted:

1. primary periodic factors (those that are characterized by the correct periodicity associated with the rotation of the Earth: the change of seasons, daily and seasonal changes in illumination and temperature); these factors were originally inherent in our planet and nascent life had to immediately adapt to them;

2. secondary periodic factors (they are derived from the primary ones); these include all physical and many chemical factors, such as humidity, temperature, precipitation, population dynamics of plants and animals, the content of dissolved gases in water, etc.;

3. non-periodic factors that are not characterized by regular periodicity (cyclicity); These are, for example, factors associated with the soil, or various types of natural phenomena.

Of course, only the soil body itself and the underlying soils are “non-periodic”, and the dynamics of temperature, humidity and many other properties of the soil are also associated with primary periodic factors.

Anthropogenic factors are definitely non-periodic. Among such non-periodic factors, first of all, are pollutants contained in industrial emissions and discharges. In the process of evolution, living organisms are able to develop adaptations to natural periodic and non-periodic factors (for example, hibernation, wintering, etc.), and to changes in the content of impurities in water or air, plants and animals, as a rule, cannot acquire and hereditarily fix the corresponding adaptation. True, some invertebrates, for example, plant-eating mites from the class of arachnids, which have dozens of generations a year in closed ground conditions, are capable of forming races resistant to poison by constantly using the same pesticides against them by selecting individuals that inherit such resistance.

It must be emphasized that the concept of “factor” should be approached in a differentiated manner, taking into account that factors can be of both direct (immediate) and indirect action. The differences between them are that the direct factor can be quantified, while the indirect factors cannot. For example, climate or relief can be designated mainly verbally, but they determine the regimes of direct action factors - humidity, daylight hours, temperature, physicochemical characteristics of the soil, etc.

The environment is a set of living and nonliving objects, interrelated conditions and influences present in some environment of a living organism, and, in particular, a person.

The environment is divided into the following types:

a) natural or natural environment, represents a number of conditions or factors (sun, soil, water, air, flora and fauna);

b) artificial environment - created by man, the products of his labor (houses, parks, enterprises, highways, various mechanisms and machines);

c) the social environment is a team, family, friends.

The human body and any animal or plant develops as a result of constant exchange of matter and energy with the environment. Just as the environment influences living organisms, organisms influence the environment by changing it. This function of living organisms is called environment-forming.

Living organisms need an influx of matter and energy and are completely dependent on the environment.

Environmental elements influence living organisms through environmental factors.

Environmental factors- these are certain conditions and elements of the environment that affect living organisms, to which the latter respond with adaptive reactions - adaptations.

Environmental factors conditions and resources are divided.

Conditions are factors necessary for life and which do not depend on their consumption (solar activity, water salinity, temperature, pressure).

Resources are what an organism can consume and thereby make them unavailable to other organisms; - everything from which the body draws energy and receives substances for its vital functions (oil, coal, etc.). Resources, unlike conditions, can be spent and exhausted.

Environmental factors are divided into

1) abiotic 2) biotic 3) anthropogenic

Abiotic- factors inanimate nature: climatic, soil, hydrological, chemical, physical. Chemical ones include: gas composition of the atmosphere, water salinity, mineral composition of the soil; to physical – temperature, humidity, pressure, radiation level, etc.

BIOTIC– factors of living nature, the influence of some organisms or communities on others, as well as on the habitat. Interactions between living organisms consist of intra- and interspecific relationships.

Intraspecific relationships between individuals of the same species. These relationships are reflected in competition for food, for habitat, and for a partner. Intraspecific relationships determine population size, which are regulated by natural selection.

Interspecies relationships are more diverse, among them the following are distinguished:

- neutralism– both types are independent and have no effect on each other. There is no competition, but one habitat (squirrel and elk in the same forest, monkeys and elephants);

-competition– each type has an adverse effect on the other;

- mutualism (symbiosis) - mutually beneficial existence, species cannot exist without each other (nitrogen-fixing bacteria and legumes; ungulates and bacteria living in their rumen that break down fiber);

- compensatoryism– one species, the compensation, benefits from cohabitation, and the other species, the owner, does not have any benefit (in the oceans and seas in each shell there are organisms that receive shelter here, but are absolutely harmless to the owner of this shell);

- predation– the predator feeds on the prey;

- amensalism– in this case, the growth of one species (amensal) is inhibited by the secretion product of another (blue-green algae, causing water blooms, thereby poison the aquatic fauna, and sometimes even livestock that comes to drink).

These relationships form the basis for the existence of biocenoses.

ANTHROPOGENIC - FACTORS of human activity and its impact on the environment. Anthropogenic factors include the extraction and consumption of natural resources, fishing, construction of dams on rivers, impacts of industry, transport, construction, etc. Often the anthropogenic factor has a negative character, which consists in environmental pollution, destruction of the natural environment, and depletion of natural resources. V.I. Vernadsky compared the influence of the anthropogenic factor in strength with the effect of geological processes on Earth.

INFORMATION FACTOR– transfer of hereditary information, as well as information entering a living organism with food, water, as well as from the media for humans. Excess and lack of any information has an irritating effect not on the body (solitary confinement, without access to information - torture).

The interaction between man and his environment has been the object of study in medicine at all times. To assess the effects of various environmental conditions, the term “ecological factor” was proposed, which is widely used in environmental medicine.

A factor (from the Latin factor - doing, producing) is the cause, the driving force of any process, phenomenon, determining its character or certain features.

An environmental factor is any environmental impact that can have a direct or indirect effect on living organisms. An environmental factor is an environmental condition to which a living organism reacts with adaptive reactions.

Environmental factors determine the living conditions of organisms. The conditions of existence of organisms and populations can be considered as regulating environmental factors.

Not all environmental factors (for example, light, temperature, humidity, the presence of salts, the supply of nutrients, etc.) are equally important for the successful survival of the organism. The relationship of an organism with its environment is a complex process in which the weakest, “vulnerable” links can be identified. Those factors that are critical or limiting for the life of an organism are of greatest interest, primarily from a practical point of view.

The idea that the body's endurance is determined by its weakest link

all his needs, was first expressed by K. Liebig in 1840. He formulated a principle that is known as Liebig’s law of the minimum: “The substance found in the minimum controls the harvest and determines the size and stability of the latter over time.”

The modern formulation of J. Liebig’s law is as follows: “The vital capabilities of an ecosystem are limited by those environmental environmental factors, the quantity and quality of which are close to the minimum required by the ecosystem; their reduction leads to the death of the organism or the destruction of the ecosystem.”

The principle, originally formulated by K. Liebig, is currently extended to any environmental factors, but it is supplemented by two restrictions:

Applies only to systems in a stationary state;

Refers not only to one factor, but also to a complex of factors that are different in nature and interact in their influence on organisms and populations.

According to prevailing ideas, a limiting factor is considered to be one in which a minimum relative change in this factor is required to achieve a given (sufficiently small) relative change in the response.

Along with the influence of a deficiency, a “minimum” of environmental factors, the influence of an excess, that is, a maximum of factors such as heat, light, moisture, can also be negative. The idea of ​​the limiting influence of the maximum, along with the minimum, was introduced by V. Shelford in 1913, who formulated this principle as the “law of tolerance”: The limiting factor in the prosperity of an organism (species) can be both a minimum and a maximum environmental impact, the range between which determines the amount of endurance (tolerance) of the body in relation to this factor.

The law of tolerance, formulated by V. Shelford, was supplemented by a number of provisions:

Organisms may have a wide range of tolerance for one factor and a narrow range for another;

Organisms with a large range of tolerance are the most widespread;

The range of tolerance for one environmental factor may depend on other environmental factors;

If conditions for one environmental factor are not optimal for a species, then this also affects the range of tolerance for other environmental factors;

The limits of tolerance depend significantly on the state of the body; Thus, the tolerance limits for organisms during the reproductive period or at an early stage of development are usually narrower than for adults;

The range between the minimum and maximum of environmental factors is usually called the limits or range of tolerance. To designate the limits of tolerance to environmental conditions, the terms “eurybiont” - an organism with a wide limit of tolerance - and “stenobiont” - with a narrow one - are used.

At the level of communities and even species, the phenomenon of factor compensation is known, which is understood as the ability to adapt (adapt) to environmental conditions in such a way as to weaken the limiting influence of temperature, light, water and other physical factors. Species with a wide geographic distribution almost always form populations adapted to local conditions - ecotypes. In relation to people, there is the term ecological portrait.

It is known that not all natural environmental factors are equally important for human life. Thus, the most significant is the intensity solar radiation, air temperature and humidity, concentration of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the ground layer of air, chemical composition of soil and water. The most important environmental factor is food. To maintain life, for growth and development, reproduction and preservation of the human population, energy is needed, which is obtained from the environment in the form of food.

There are several approaches to classifying environmental factors.

In relation to the body, environmental factors are divided into: external (exogenous) and internal (endogenous). It is believed that external factors, acting as an organism, they themselves are not subject or almost not subject to its influence. These include environmental factors.

External environmental factors in relation to the ecosystem and living organisms are impacts. The reaction of an ecosystem, biocenosis, populations and individual organisms to these impacts is called a response. The nature of the response to the influence determines the body’s ability to adapt to environmental conditions, adapt and acquire resistance to the influence of various environmental factors, including adverse effects.

There is also such a thing as a lethal factor (from Latin - letalis - deadly). This is an environmental factor, the action of which leads to the death of living organisms.

When certain concentrations are reached, many chemical and physical pollutants can be lethal.

Internal factors correlate with the properties of the organism itself and form it, i.e. are included in its composition. Internal factors are the number and biomass of populations, the number of different chemical substances, characteristics of water or soil mass, etc.

According to the criterion of “life,” environmental factors are divided into biotic and abiotic.

The latter include non-living components of the ecosystem and its external environment.

Abiotic environmental factors are components and phenomena of inanimate, inorganic nature that directly or indirectly affect living organisms: climatic, soil and hydrographic factors. The main abiotic environmental factors are temperature, light, water, salinity, oxygen, electromagnetic characteristics, soil.

Abiotic factors are divided into:

Physical

Chemical

Biotic factors (from the Greek biotikos - life) are factors of the living environment that affect the life of organisms.

Biotic factors are divided into:

Phytogenic;

Microbiogenic;

Zoogenic:

Anthropogenic (socio-cultural).

The action of biotic factors is expressed in the form of mutual influence of some organisms on the life activity of other organisms and all together on the habitat. There are: direct and indirect relationships between organisms.

In recent decades, the term anthropogenic factors has been increasingly used, i.e. caused by man. Anthropogenic factors are contrasted with natural or natural factors.

An anthropogenic factor is a combination of environmental factors and impacts caused by human activity in ecosystems and the biosphere as a whole. An anthropogenic factor is the direct impact of humans on organisms or the impact on organisms through human changes in their habitat.

Environmental factors are also divided into:

1. Physical

Natural

Anthropogenic

2. Chemical

Natural

Anthropogenic

3. Biological

Natural

Anthropogenic

4. Social (socio-psychological)

5. Informational.

Ecological factors are also divided into climatic-geographical, biogeographical, biological, as well as soil, water, atmospheric, etc.

Physical factors.

Physical natural factors include:

Climatic, including local microclimate;

Geomagnetic activity;

Natural background radiation;

Cosmic radiation;

Terrain;

Physical factors are divided into:

Mechanical;

Vibration;

Acoustic;

EM radiation.

Physical anthropogenic factors:

Microclimate settlements and premises;

Pollution of the environment by electromagnetic radiation (ionizing and non-ionizing);

Noise pollution;

Thermal pollution of the environment;

Deformation of the visible environment (changes in the terrain and color scheme in populated areas).

Chemical factors.

Natural chemical factors include:

Chemical composition of the lithosphere:

Chemical composition of the hydrosphere;

Chemical composition of the atmosphere,

Chemical composition of food.

The chemical composition of the lithosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere depends on the natural composition + release of chemicals as a result of geological processes (for example, hydrogen sulfide impurities as a result of the eruption of a volcano) and the vital activity of living organisms (for example, impurities in the air of phytoncides, terpenes).

Anthropogenic chemical factors:

Household waste,

Industrial waste,

Synthetic materials used in everyday life, agriculture and industrial production,

Pharmaceutical industry products,

Food additives.

The effect of chemical factors on the human body can be due to:

Excess or deficiency of natural chemical elements in

environment (natural microelementoses);

Excessive content of natural chemical elements in the environment

environment associated with human activities (anthropogenic pollution),

The presence in the environment of chemical elements unusual for it

(xenobiotics) due to anthropogenic pollution.

Biological factors

Biological, or biotic (from the Greek biotikos - life) environmental factors are factors of the living environment that affect the life activity of organisms. The action of biotic factors is expressed in the form of mutual influence of some organisms on the life activity of others, as well as their joint influence on the habitat.

Biological factors:

Bacteria;

Plants;

Protozoa;

Insects;

Invertebrates (including helminths);

Vertebrates.

Social environment

Human health is not completely determined by the biological and psychological properties acquired during ontogenesis. Man is a social being. He lives in a society governed by state laws, on the one hand, and on the other, by so-called generally accepted laws, moral guidelines, rules of behavior, including those involving various restrictions, etc.

Society becomes more and more complex every year and has an increasing impact on the health of the individual, population, and society. In order to enjoy the benefits of a civilized society, a person must live in strict dependence on the lifestyle accepted in society. For these benefits, often very dubious, the individual pays with part of his freedom, or completely with all his freedom. But a person who is not free and dependent cannot be completely healthy and happy. Some part of human freedom, given to a techno-critical society in exchange for the advantages of civilized life, constantly keeps him in a state of neuropsychic tension. Constant neuropsychic stress and overstrain leads to a decrease in mental stability due to a decrease in the reserve capabilities of the nervous system. In addition, there are many social factors that can lead to a breakdown in a person’s adaptive capabilities and the development of various diseases. These include social disorder, uncertainty about the future, and moral oppression, which are regarded as leading risk factors.

Social factors

Social factors are divided into:

1. social system;

2. production sector (industry, Agriculture);

3. household sphere;

4. education and culture;

5. population;

6. Zoo and medicine;

7. other spheres.

There is also the following grouping of social factors:

1. Social politics, forming the sociotype;

2. Social security, which has a direct impact on the formation of health;

3. Environmental policy that shapes the ecotype.

Sociotype is an indirect characteristic of the integral social load based on the totality of factors in the social environment.

Sociotype includes:

2. working, rest and living conditions.

Any environmental factor in relation to a person can be: a) favorable - contributing to his health, development and realization; b) unfavorable, leading to his illness and degradation, c) exerting influence of both kinds. It is also equally obvious that in reality most influences belong to the latter type, having both positive and negative sides.

In ecology there is a law of optimum, according to which any environmental

the factor has certain limits positive influence on living organisms. The optimal factor is the intensity of the environmental factor that is most favorable for the body.

Impacts may also vary in scale: some affect the entire population of the country as a whole, others - residents of a particular region, others - groups identified by demographic characteristics, and others - an individual citizen.

The interaction of factors is the simultaneous or sequential total impact on organisms of various natural and anthropogenic factors, leading to a weakening, strengthening or modification of the action of an individual factor.

Synergism is the combined effect of two or more factors, characterized by the fact that their combined biological effect significantly exceeds the effect of each component and their sum.

It should be understood and remembered that the main harm to health is caused not by individual environmental factors, but by the total integrated environmental load on the body. It consists of an environmental load and a social load.

Environmental load is a set of factors and conditions of the natural and man-made environment unfavorable to human health. Ecotype is an indirect characteristic of the integral environmental load based on a combination of natural and man-made environmental factors.

Ecotype assessments require hygienic data on:

Quality of housing,

Drinking water,

Air,

Soils, food,

Medicines, etc.

Social burden is a set of factors and conditions of social life unfavorable to human health.

Environmental factors shaping public health

1. Climatic and geographical characteristics.

2. Socio-economic characteristics of the place of residence (city, village).

3. Sanitary and hygienic characteristics of the environment (air, water, soil).

4. Peculiarities of nutrition of the population.

5. Characteristics of work activity:

Profession,

Sanitary and hygienic working conditions,

The presence of occupational hazards,

Psychological microclimate in the service,

6. Family and household factors:

Family composition,

The nature of the housing

Average income per family member,

Organization of family life.

Distribution of non-working time,

Psychological climate in the family.

Indicators characterizing the attitude towards the state of health and determining the activity to maintain it:

1. Subjective assessment of one’s own health (healthy, sick).

2. Determining the place of personal health and the health of family members in the system of individual values ​​(hierarchy of values).

3. Awareness of factors contributing to the preservation and strengthening of health.

4. The presence of bad habits and addictions.

Autoecology or factorial ecology studies the totality of environmental factors acting on an isolated individual, and the individual’s responses to their action.

Environmental factors are any components of the environment that directly or indirectly affect living organisms. Environmental factors are very diverse in their characteristics; they have different natures and specific actions. They are divided into three groups: abiotic (factors of the inanimate environment), biotic (related to the influence of living beings) and anthropogenic (related to human activity).

Abiotic factors- this is a set of conditions of the inorganic environment that in some way affect the organism and their communities. In ecology, they are considered as indispensable and important factors ensuring the life and development of plants, animals and microorganisms; they can influence organisms individually, simultaneously or interacting with each other. Abiotic factors include climatic, edaphic, topographical, hydrophysical and hydrochemical factors.

From climatic factors Temperature, humidity and light are of primary environmental importance, with the temperature factor being the most important. The intensity of metabolism of organisms and their geographical distribution depend on its value. Any organism is capable of living within a certain temperature range. At the same time, the range of optimal temperatures at which vital functions occur most actively is relatively small. The temperature limits within which life processes proceed normally are called biokinetic temperatures. Their level is determined by many factors and primarily depends on the taxonomic position of a given plant or animal species, which in turn is associated with the geographical place of origin of the species and certain conditions of its evolutionary development.

Among climatic factors, the radiant energy of the Sun is also of great importance - the main source of life on the planet. The sun continuously emits a huge amount of radiant energy, the power of which at the upper limit of the atmosphere ranges from 8.4 to 84 J/cm 2 min (solar constant). As it approaches the Earth's surface, a significant portion of solar energy is retained by the atmosphere and vegetation.

The environmental effectiveness of radiant energy depends on the wavelength. Depending on the wavelength, within the entire light spectrum, visible light, ultraviolet and infrared parts are distinguished.

Ultraviolet rays have a chemical effect on living organisms, while infrared rays have a thermal effect. The main ecological significance is: photoperiodism - the natural change of light and dark time of day; lighting intensity (in lux); voltage of direct and scattered radiation (in joules per unit surface and per unit time); chemical action of light energy.

The importance of light - the visible part (0.35 - 0.75 microns) of the spectrum of radiant energy, as an environmental factor, is associated with the possibility of photosynthesis of green plants and, ultimately, with the creation of organic matter, plant biomass, with the daily rhythm of organisms, etc.

Environmental factors such as wind, atmospheric pressure, smog, etc. also have a great influence on the biosphere in the aggregate and under the combined influence of temperature and radiant energy.

To edaphic factors refers to the entire set of physical and chemical properties of soils (structure, chemical composition, substances circulating in the soil - gas, water, organic and mineral elements, etc.). Edaphic factors determine the life activity of organisms that live in the soil permanently or partially.

TO hydrochemical and hydrophysical factors include all factors related to water. The role of water as an environmental factor is determined by its physical and chemical properties and mobility. Water is the habitat for a variety of living organisms. The bodies of living organisms are mainly composed of water. Thus, the water content in plants ranges from 40 to 98%, in the body of animals - from 35 to 83%. Without water, metabolic processes cannot take place. Maintaining water balance is of great importance for all living organisms. Water can be in three states: vapor, liquid and solid, and this is of great importance in the life of plants and animals.

All living organisms, depending on their need for water, and therefore according to their habitat, are divided into a number of ecological groups: aquatic or hydrophilic (live constantly in water), hygrophilic (live in very wet habitats), mesophilic (differing in moderate water needs ) and xerophilous (live in dry habitats). Each of the listed groups is a good indicator of the prevailing environmental conditions in a given area.

To biotic factors refer to the entire sum of the effects that living beings have on each other - bacteria, plants, animals. Biotic factors are not the abiotic environmental conditions modified by organisms (humidity, temperature, etc.) and not the organisms themselves, but the relationships between organisms, the direct effects of some of them on others, i.e. the nature of biotic factors is determined by the form of interrelations and relationships of living organisms. These relationships are extremely diverse. They can develop on the basis of joint feeding, habitat and reproduction.