Environmental science-Components of environment And its factors.

What is Environment?

  The word environment is derived from the French word Environ which means Surrounding.Our surrounding includes biotic factors like human being,plants, animals, microbes,etc. and abiotic factors such as light,air, water, soil,etc.

Environmental science:

The branch of biology which deal with the study of the relationships between the organisms and their environment occurring in the nature.

Components of Environments

Our environment has been classified into four major components:

1. Hydrosphere
2. Lithosphere
3. Atmosphere
4. Biosphere

Hydrosphere: -

The liquid bodies of earth is called hydrosphere. simply it is the liquid component of the earth crust. Its included lakes, seas, ponds, rivers and streams. hydrosphere functions in a cyclic ordered which termed as the bydrological cycle and water cycle. The water cycledescribe us how much water evaporates from the earth surface rises into the atmosphere, cools and condenses into rain and snow in clouds, and fall again to the earth surface as precipitation. The hydrosphere covers the 70% of the surface of the earth and the home for many plants and animals.

 Lithosphere

Lithosphere means the mantle of the rocks constituting the earth crust or earth surface. Lithosphere mainly contain soil, earth rocks and mountains etc. Lithosphere is divided into three layers Crust;  It is the outer layer  of the earth than , Mantle; It is the middle layer of earth between crust and Core after that the last one is the Core ; It is the inner layer of the earth .

Atmosphere

The cover of the air , that  envelopes the earth is known as atmosphere . Atmosphere is thin layer which contains gases oxygen , carbon dioxide etc. And which protects the solid earth and human beings from the harmful radiations of the sun. It contain the  five concentric layers within the atmosphere which can be differentiated  on the basis of temperature and each layer has its own characteristics. These include the troposphere , the stratosphere, the mesosphere, the thermosphere and the exosphere.

Biosphere

It is also known as the life layer, because it refers to all organisms on the earth crust or surface and their interaction or relationship with water and air. It consist of plants, animals and micro-organisms, ranging from the tiniest  microscopic organisms to the largest whales in the sea.

Factors of environment

1. Biotic components

     Biotic components includes all living organisms and their products. This group includes all animals, plants, bacteria, fungi and their waste products like fallen leaves or branches or excreta. Its also included animal and human dung.
Based on activity, biotic components are classified into four categories as

• Producers
• Consumers
• Transformers
• Decomposers

Let us see these main  categories.

Producers

They make their own food. Such as plants make their own food through photosynthesis. This food is used by plants for its own energy or may be eaten by consumers . producers is also called autotrophs.

Consumers

They need to eat food that autotrophs have produced. There are different types of consumers. Herbivores eat plants. Carnivores eat animals. Omnivores eat both plants and animals.

2. Abiotic components

The abiotic components are the non -living components of the ecosystem. They are of three categories
• Climate and physical factors-air, water, soil and sunlight; rainfall, temperature, humidity, soil texture and geomorphic conditions.
• Inorganic substances-these are the various nutrient elements and compound, such as carbon, nitrogen, carbon-dioxide, water, etc. These are involved in the cycling of materials in the ecosystem.
• Organic compounds -These are the proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, etc. the largely form from living body and link the abiotic compounds with the biotic factors.

The abiotic factors determine the type of organisms that can successfully live in a particular area. Some of the major nonliving factors of an environment are:

• Sunlight
• Water
• Temperature
• Oxygen
• Soil
• Air

Sunlight- is necessary for photosynthesis ; it influences organisms and their environment; it has a profound effect on the growth and development of life .
Water is the elixir of life; all living things require water for their survival, but some can live with lesser amounts.
Temperature- all living things have a range of temperaturein which they can survive; beyond those limits it will be difficult for them.
Oxygen -many living things require oxygen; it is necessary for cellular respiration, a process used to obtain energy from food; others are actually killed by presence of oxygen (certain bacteria).
Soil -The type of soil, ph,amount of water it holds, available nutrients, etc determine what type of organisms can successfully live in or on the soil; for examplecactic live in sand, cattails in soil saturated with water.