The environment affects organisms that live on Earth. Temperature, light, humidity - these are environmental environmental factors. Their changes lead to a change in the biological properties of living organisms. The geography of habitat, reproduction, nutrition is changing.
Environmental factors
Environmental factors include environmental conditions that affect organisms. There are abiotic factors of inanimate nature and biotic. Biotic factors - the interaction of living organisms that affect their appearance. Anthropogenic factors, the consequences of human activity, also affect living organisms.
Living organisms are able to adapt to change - this is called adaptation. The appearance of the organism, reflecting its interaction with the environment, is a life form.
Biotic environmental factors include temperature, provided that a special microclimate or environment occurs. Physical and chemical environmental changes are abiotic.
Temperature as an environmental factor
Relative constancy of temperature is the main condition for the existence of living organisms. The main source of heat is solar radiation. Physiological processes occur only at a certain temperature.
The effect of temperature depends on the geographical location of a particular species. The climate defines the plants and animals that live in the area. In the Universe, the temperature range is quite large. Life can exist only from -200 to + 100 ° C. But most species live in a much narrower temperature regime.
For the structure of proteins, a temperature of 0 to +50 ° C is required. Some organisms can exist outside these limits. Temperature as an environmental factor is characterized by seasonal and daily fluctuations. Changes in temperature that go beyond the range at which living organisms can exist, leads to their mass death. A less significant change affects the growth, development, and behavior of many animals.
Organoregulation
Light and temperature as environmental factors affect the adaptability of living organisms. This is due to the biochemical and physiological changes in the body and their maintenance of a constant body temperature. There are two types of organisms:
- poikilothermic;
- homoyothermal.
Poikilothermic organisms change body temperature depending on the environment. These include plants, mushrooms, fish, amphibians, reptiles and invertebrates. They become numb at low or too high temperatures.
Homoyothermal able to maintain a relatively constant body temperature with changing environmental conditions. Some warm-blooded ones are able to fall into a stupor with a decrease in temperature, while their body temperature also becomes close to zero. This is observed in some birds and small rodents. Seasonal hibernation is characteristic of bears, hedgehogs, ground squirrels and bats.
Biochemical adaptation of plants
Temperature is the most important environmental factor for plants. When the environment changes, plants cannot move to another locality, so they adapt in a different way.
To adapt to too low or high temperatures, most plants increase the concentration of juice, accumulate sugar in cells, reduce heat transfer, and increase the level of anthocyanins.
When exposed to highly critical temperatures in the cytoplasm of plants, the amount of protective substances, the concentration of organic acids, salts and mucus increase. Due to this, the risk of coagulation of the cytoplasm is reduced and toxic substances are neutralized.
In plants adapted to lower temperatures, carbohydrates accumulate, most often glucose, in cells, the amount of water decreases. This helps to reduce the freezing point.
Physiological adaptation of plants
Changes in temperature, the environmental environmental factor, cause living organisms to adapt as follows:
- decrease in own size, increase in reproductive organs;
- the formation of shortened shoots;
- preservation of dead leaves on crowns;
- pubescence of shoots;
- waxing leaves;
- braiding with roots of warm stones;
- immersion of parts of the plant in the soil.
Also, physiological protection against temperature changes is enhanced evaporation of water. This form of plant protection is used in hot, humid areas. In deserts and steppes, a short development cycle protects against high temperatures. The whole cycle takes place in the spring, and the plants survive the summer in a dormant state of bulbs or rhizomes. Mosses and lichens at high temperatures fall into a state of suspended animation.
Morphological adaptation of plants to temperature
Temperature as an environmental factor causes plants to adapt to high and low ambient temperatures.
In the subtropical and tropical zones, plants enhance the reflection of sunlight. This contributes to a bright shiny color. In this way, plants reduce the effects of heat. Individual individuals are able to reduce the surface that absorbs light due to thorns, dissected or folded leaves. Vertical leaves reduce overheating of the plant. The sheet can be rotated during the day to avoid direct sunlight.
In cold climates, dwarf forms of plants are formed to retain heat. Trees can reach a height of 50 cm. Bushes take a creeping shape. Alpine and arctic plants are pillow-shaped. They are less sensitive to wind, they hide well under snow in the winter and make maximum use of the heat of the soil in the summer.
Biochemical adaptations of animals
Environmental factors such as light, temperature, humidity, affect the adaptive mechanisms of animals. A variety of adaptive factors appeared due to poikilothermic and homeothermic organisms.
In cold-blooded animals, so-called biological antifreezes accumulate in the blood to prevent freezing in the blood. Their formation allows you to lower the freezing point and not die in critical conditions. In fish, substances are called glycoproteins; in insects, glycerin or a high concentration of glucose accumulates.
Warm-blooded animals avoid hypothermia by increasing metabolism. Fat reserves contribute to the appearance of additional energy, which is spent on heating the body. Some mammals, for example, a brown bear, have a special fatty tissue - brown fat. It is rich in mitochondria and blood vessels.
Physiological adaptation of animals to temperature
The process of adaptation to new conditions is affected by temperature as an environmental factor. Briefly, the process can be described in the following words: in cold-blooded animals, vital processes depend on the environment, in warm-blooded animals they are regulated inside the body.
Heat transfer in cold-blooded animals occurs due to the characteristics of the circulatory system. The vessels, muscles and skin are in close contact with each other, the blood of the skin heats up and goes to the muscles, warming them. If the ambient temperature rises, blood flow accelerates.
In all animals, overheating is removed due to the evaporation of moisture from the surface of the body. In some, evaporation occurs more intensively through the mucous membranes and upper respiratory tract. This method is inherent in warm-blooded animals with wool.
With a decrease in ambient temperature, animals, including humans, feel muscle tremors. Certain species hibernate. If the animal has a rare and short coat, then thermoregulation occurs through the expansion and narrowing of the vessels of the skin.
Morphological adaptation of animals
Temperature as an environmental factor affects animals and morphological adaptation. It is noted that cold-blooded animals are larger the closer to the equator. Warm-blooded, on the contrary. Their size increases as they approach the Arctic pole.
The larger the surface of the body, the more intense is the transfer of heat to the surrounding space. For this reason, southern animals have long ears, a long tail and limbs. This is especially evident when considering closely related species of rodents.
Various integuments of the body contribute to the reduction of heat loss: in reptiles - the cornea, in birds - feathers, in mammals - fur. Subcutaneous fat contributes to the conservation of heat while lowering the environmental factor - water temperature - in animals of the north living in the water. An important role is played by the color of the skin. The light color of tropical animals avoids overheating.
Behavioral adaptations of animals
Behavioral adaptations depend on temperature as an environmental factor. In cold-blooded animals, the following types of behavioral reactions are distinguished:
- selection of places with the best temperature;
- change of pose.
Cold-blooded animals seek out places where there is enough sunlight. After heating the body, they move into the shade or hide in holes. They maintain body temperature through muscle contractions.
Warm-blooded animals choose places to protect from cold or heat. Massive gatherings of animals to maintain heat, seasonal migrations, the ability to create burrows and burrow in the snow are characteristic. In a hole dug under snow, the temperature can be 15-18 ° C higher than around. Many animals of the northern latitudes are characterized by food storage, hibernation and migration.
Deviation of temperature from normative indicators leads to irreversible consequences for the body. Behavioral adaptation is characteristic only for animals. Plants do not use this factor.
