Currently, the term "environment" is widely used by many people and the media. Everyone talks about preserving and protecting the environment. Meetings are held regularly at the international level to discuss environmental issues. Over the past hundred years, the relationship between the environment, social organizations and culture has been discussed in sociology, and anthropology. All this testifies to the growing importance of the environment. In addition, the fact that life is associated with the environment is undeniable.

Social sciences have taken the concept of ecology from biology. - This is an industry that studies the relationship between living things and their environment. Sociology was greatly influenced by biology. Sociology also studies the relationship between man and the environment through ecology. The field of study of human ecology in sociology is concentrated around a person and his environment.

It is believed that the study of human ecology in the field of sociology began Park (1921) and Burgess (1925). There is a close relationship between man and the environment. On the one hand, a person is born in the environment and establishes harmony with it. On the other hand, a person is trying to control his environment and change it in accordance with his own requirements. Therefore, this requires an understanding of the environment of which the person is a part.

Definition

The term "environment" is derived from the French word " environia"Which means surroundings. It includes both abiotic (physical or inanimate) and biotic (living) environments. The word environment is a combination of natural conditions due to which the life of organisms is possible. The environment and organisms are two dynamic and complex. The environment regulates the life of organisms, including humans. People interact more energetically with the environment than other living things. Typically, the environment refers to the materials and forces surrounding a living organism.

The environment is a set of conditions that surround us at a given moment in time and space. It consists of interacting physical, biological and cultural elements that are interconnected both individually and collectively. The environment is a set of conditions in which the body has to survive or maintain its life process. It affects the growth and development of living forms.

The environment consists of, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. Its main components are soil, water, air, organisms and solar energy. It provides humanity with everything to ensure a comfortable life.

1. According to P. Gisbert, "The environment is something that surrounds the object and has a direct impact on it."

2. According to E. Ross, “The environment is an external force that affects us.”

Thus, the environment refers to everything that surrounds the object and has a direct impact on it. Our environment affects our lives or activities. The human environment is subject to various factors that can be natural, artificial, social, biological and psychological.

Kinds

The environment can be divided into two types or types, such as micro-environment and macro-environment. It can also be divided into two other species, such as the physical (inanimate) and biotic (living) environment.

• Micro environment   refers to the immediate local environment of the body.
• Macro environment   applies to all physical and biotic conditions that surround the body from the outside.
• Physical environment   includes all abiotic factors or conditions, such as temperature, light, precipitation, soil, minerals, etc. It includes the atmosphere, lithosphere and hydrosphere.
• Biotic environment   includes all biotic factors or living forms, such as plants, animals, microorganisms.

Value

The role of the environment is difficult to overestimate, because it represents the totality of all the necessary conditions that any living organism needs for nutrition, reproduction, functioning, etc.

If the environment changes under the influence of various anthropogenic factors, it is not able to fully ensure the health of ecosystems and each organism, in particular.

The environment provides:

• various ;
• natural resources;
• biological diversity of species;
• climatic conditions;
• air and food;
• construction Materials;
• medicines
• aesthetic beauty and much more.

Change

Environmental change is a change or disturbance, most often caused by human activities and natural environmental processes. It may include any number of factors, such as natural disasters, human intervention or interaction with animals. Environmental changes not only encompass physical changes, but also include the introduction of invasive species that somehow affect other organisms or change their environment.

Examples of environmental changes include:

• soil erosion;
• floods and droughts;
• the extinction of certain species of living organisms;
• deforestation;
• fires, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc.

Pollution

Pollution is the introduction of pollutants into the environment that cause adverse changes. Pollution can take the form of chemicals or energy, such as noise, heat or light. The components of the pollution can be either foreign substances / energy or natural pollutants.

Protection

  Environmental protection is a set of measures aimed at reducing the negative impact of humanity on nature. It should be carried out at various levels, including local, state and international, to ensure a better result.

Environmental protection may include:

• creation of nature conservation territories (including national parks, reserves, reserves);
• purification of contaminated;
• land degradation prevention;
• preservation of biologically unique;
• raising public awareness of the importance of the environment;
• making decisions on environmental protection at the international level, etc.

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 identified four inextricably interconnected components of the subsystem 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.

Adaptation of organisms to environmental factors.

Introduction

1. The concept of habitat.

2. Correspondence between organisms and habitat.

3.Adaptation to environmental factors

Conclusion

Bibliography.

INTRODUCTION
The environment in which organisms exist has a regulatory effect on organisms. Natural conditions in different parts of the planet can vary significantly. At the same time, life has the amazing ability to adapt to environmental changes. And these adaptations even in remote and unrelated areas, but with similar environmental conditions, turn out to be surprisingly similar, as a result of which similar life forms develop there. Thus, the planet, as well as the Sun, the Moon, other planets and in general the entire cosmos, as it were, direct evolutionary processes in the biosphere. The very structure of the planet, its landscapes, its place in the solar system and in the Universe as a whole, together with the historical path (memory), carry in themselves in “encoded” form information about possible life forms under these conditions. It is this code that science is trying to solve in search of the laws of the global evolutionary process. Maybe this is what is a kind of genetic program that determines the evolution of the planet at a given point in time. Moreover, in these very external factors for life there is a certain fractal repeatability (like in the structure of DNA), which is based on the laws of the Universe.

Adaptation is a purposeful systemic reaction of the body, providing the possibility of life and all types of social activity under the influence of factors, the intensity and extensiveness of which at first causes disturbances in the homeostatic balance. Without adaptation, it would be impossible to maintain normal life and adapt to various environmental factors. Adaptation is of great vital importance for the body, allowing not only to tolerate significant and dramatic changes in the environment, but also to actively rebuild its physiological functions and behavior in accordance with these changes, sometimes ahead of them. Thanks to adaptation, the constancy of the internal environment of the body (homeostasis) is maintained. Adaptation and homeostasis are mutually related and complementary processes that ultimately determine the functional state of the body. In addition to maintaining the constants of the internal environment with the help of adaptation, a restructuring of various body functions is carried out, ensuring its adaptation to physical, emotional and other loads.

In nature, every generation of any kind is subjected to selection for survival and reproduction. Individuals that survive and reproduce pass their genes to the next generation, and the genes of those that died without leaving offspring are eliminated from the gene pool. Thus, the gene pool of each species experiences the effect of natural selection. Therefore, almost all signs of the body serve survival and reproduction.

1. The concept of habitat.

Under habitat   they understand the totality of external environmental conditions and phenomena in which living organisms are immersed, and with which these organisms are in constant interaction.

In bioecology, it is usually a natural environment that has not been altered by humans. Applied (social) ecology speaks of the environment, one way or another mediated by man.

Individual elements of the environment to which organisms respond with adaptive reactions (adaptations) are called environmental factors or environmental factors. Among environmental factors, usually three groups of factors are distinguished: abiotic, biotic and anthropogenic.

1. Abiotic environmental factors   called conditions that are not directly related to the vital activity of organisms. The most important abiotic factors include temperature, light, water, composition of atmospheric gases, soil structure, composition of nutrients in it, topography, etc. These factors can affect organisms either directly, for example, light or heat, or indirectly, for example, the terrain, which determines the effect of direct factors, light, wind, moisture, etc. Perhaps, among the abiotic factors there are also those that we still don’t even we guess. So, for example, we recently discovered the influence of changes in solar activity on processes in the biosphere.

2. Biotic environmental factors   called the totality of the effects of some organisms on others. Living creatures can serve as a source of food for other organisms, be their habitat, contribute to their reproduction, etc. The effect of biotic factors can be not only direct, but also indirect, expressed in the correction of abiotic factors, for example, changes in soil composition, microclimate under the forest canopy, etc.

3. Anthropogenic environmental factorscalled the totality of human influences on living organisms. This influence can also be direct, for example, when a person cuts down a forest or shoots animals, or indirect, manifested in a person’s impact on abiotic and biotic environmental factors, for example, a change in the composition of the atmosphere, soil, hydrosphere, or a change in the structure of ecosystems.

The existence of any organism depends on a whole complex of factors. At the same time, it is possible to single out a number of laws common to a wide variety of particular cases.

Thus, studying the effect of environmental factors on plant growth, in 1840, J. Liebig established that the productivity of various crops is determined not by those substances that are present in relative abundance in the environment, for example, carbon dioxide, or water, but by vitally important elements, but present in the medium in small quantities, for example, zinc. So one of the most important laws of ecology appeared, liebig's law of minimum: plant growth depends on the nutrient that is present in a minimal amount.

Later, the law of minimum was extended to all living organisms and all factors. In a modern interpretation, this law reads as follows: body endurance is determined by the weakest link in the chain of its environmental needs. That is, the vital capabilities of the body are limited by environmental factors, the quantity and quality of which is close to the minimum necessary for this organism. A further decrease in these factors leads to the death of the body.

However, not only a decrease in the intensity of the action of any factor, but also exceeding it beyond the permissible limits can have a limiting effect on organisms. For example, the effectiveness of photosynthesis is known to be determined by the amount of light falling on the surface of a green leaf. Excessive shading can lead to suppression of the vital activity of the plant and even to its death. This contributes to the emergence of shade-tolerant plant species. However, if you increase the light flux, for example, to obtain a larger crop of shade-tolerant plants, then the efficiency of photosynthesis decreases. Almost all plants have optimal limits of luminous flux.

Therefore, instead of the law of minimum, more often the law of limiting (limiting) factors: a factor that is in shortage or excess negatively affects organisms even in the case of optimal combinations of other factors. In accordance with this law, for each factor with respect to a specific type of organisms, a diagram of the degree of favorableness of this factor on organisms can be drawn depending on the strength of this factor. Almost always, this diagram looks like an inverted bell (Fig. 22). On it, critical points can be noted that determine the limits of endurance (tolerance, from the Latin word tolerance - patience) of a given species of organisms with respect to the factor under consideration (therefore, this diagram is called the tolerance curve). Going beyond these limits leads to mass death of organisms. The zone near the curve maximum is called the zone of optimal conditions. The maximum population density is usually confined to it. Outside this zone, between the critical points are zones of oppression, in which organisms are under stress.

There are many such curves for a given species of organisms — for each of the environmental factors. One and the same habitat can provide organisms with such combinations of various factors that some of them will correspond to the zone of optimal conditions for a given species of organisms, while others will go beyond this zone. Most fully, the potential capabilities of this type will manifest themselves if all factors lie in the optimum zone. In accordance with the law of limiting factors, going beyond tolerance for at least one of these factors is fraught with the death of organisms. Similarly, if one of the factors falls into the zone of oppression, it will be more significant for the body than the fact that all other factors will be in the zone of optimal conditions.

True, this rule has one significant limitation associated with the interaction of various factors. So in 1930, E. Rübel formulated   law of compensation of factors: the absence or lack of certain factors can be compensated by another close factor. In a more general wording, it reads as follows: some factors may enhance or mitigate the effects of other factors. For example, the lack of light can be mitigated to some extent by the increased content of carbon dioxide in the air.

It is the limiting factors that usually determine the distribution boundaries of species (populations), that is, their ranges, the productivity of communities, the number of individuals, and many other parameters of life depend on them.

The tolerance curves for different factors can have a wider or narrower shape, and the limits of the tolerance of the organism with respect to different factors differ accordingly. Organisms with a wide range of tolerance towards this factor are called eurybionts(from the Greek words euri - wide and bios - life). Organisms with a narrow range of tolerance in relation to this factor are called stenobionts   (from Greek words stenos - narrow). One and the same organism can be a stenobiont in relation to one factor and an eurybiont in relation to others. Moreover, at different periods of the life of one organism, its requirements for the environment can vary significantly. For example, insect larvae are usually stenobiontic with respect to temperature, while pupae and adults can be eurybionts.

Eurybionts well withstand a wide range of environmental factors, for example, a typical eurybiont is a camel, capable of living not only in the desert, withstanding significant fluctuations in temperature, lack of moisture and food, but also in temperate zones. Species with wide ranges of tolerance are usually the first to populate new areas in which there are some specific changes in the environment for which nature has not yet developed adaptations, that is, certain adaptations to the action of these factors. If environmental conditions change in small ranges, then this contributes to the formation of clear adaptations in organisms, sometimes to the detriment of the width of the tolerance range. Moreover, they turn out to be able to exist normally under rather severe conditions by our standards, for example, in polar waters, where the temperature, although low (about 2 ° C), is quite stable, or even in the vents of volcanoes. That is, euribionts adequately withstand competition with fairly wide and unpredictable fluctuations in environmental factors. In more stable conditions, stenobionts usually win in the competition.

Thus, the appearance in nature of narrow limits of tolerance can be considered as a form of specialization, as a result of which greater efficiency is achieved to the detriment of the adaptability of organisms. Usually, with the growth of stenobionts in the community, the diversity of species increases. That is, this is one of the varieties of differentiation in nature.

This pattern is characteristic of any evolutionary process. In the already mentioned process of the evolution of science, one can also observe the gradual differentiation of individual branches of knowledge, which are increasingly narrowing their subject. Specialists in these branches of knowledge, as a rule, are characterized by a rather narrow outlook, but they become excellent experts in their subject. Such trends are a direct consequence of the principle of optimality, since in the end the system tends to an energetically more favorable state. Narrow specialization contributes to a more efficient energy conversion, but at the same time, increased demands are made on the form of energy at the input of this specialized subsystem. This form should be provided by other highly specialized subsystems that are at the previous (and sometimes even higher) levels in the energy conversion chain. But they, in turn, are also demanding in their form of input energy. In this way, a rather complex hierarchical, but rather complicated, structure of energy conversion by this system is built, similar to the trophic network of ecosystems. Its distinctive feature is the strict coordination of all subsystems, their interdependence and the complete impossibility of independent existence outside the system. This is precisely what distinguishes a holistic living organism from a combination of elements loosely connected to each other. It is thanks to the narrow and interdependent specialization of individual individuals that biological systems such as anthill, termite mound, beehive, as well as larger formations such as coral reef, tropical forest, human society, and the biosphere as a whole can be considered living organisms.

2. Correspondence between organisms and habitat

Life develops in close interaction and unity of the environment and the organisms that inhabit it.   This is one of the most important laws of evolution, formulated by V.I. Vernadsky. This means that in nature the principle of ecological conformity is valid: the form of the organism’s existence always corresponds to its living conditions. And this correspondence is fixed by genetic mechanisms, therefore, each species of organisms can exist only as long as its environment corresponds to the genetic possibilities of adaptation of this species to its fluctuations and changes. If this environment changes, then organisms are forced to either migrate in search of a suitable habitat, or adapt to a new environment, possibly giving rise to a new species, or die. This is the main mechanism of action. the law of environmental pressure on life, or the law of limited growth,   formulated by C. Darwin, better known as   law of natural selection: despite the fact that the offspring of one pair of individuals, reproducing exponentially, tends to fill the entire globe, there are limitations that do not allow this phenomenon. The essence of these limitations is precisely the effect on the organisms of environmental factors. Not the strongest survives in natural selection, but the one that is most adapted to environmental factors, that is, who is most harmoniously inscribed in it, in whom the similarity with a system of a higher hierarchical level, that is, with an ecosystem, with a biosphere, with a planet is most fully expressed , with the Universe as a whole, the one who, obeying the requirements of the metasystem, was able to correctly change himself and his descendants.

At the same time, according to the principle of the maximum pressure of life discovered by V.I. Vernadsky, any kind of organisms, striving for ecological expansion, constantly increases its pressure on the environment, changing it in order to achieve more optimal environmental factors. This pressure grows until it is strictly limited by external factors, that is, action from the side of the supersystem (metasystem) or from competitors or predators of the same level of the system hierarchy. If this is not possible, then an evolutionary ecological disaster ensues. It manifests itself in the destruction of feedbacks regulating the activity of the species as part of the ecosystem, and, as a result, in the emergence of a long series of contradictions leading to an anomalous phenomenon: the destruction of the species’s own environment. In this case, the species dies or migrates, and the ecosystem biocenosis undergoes a qualitative restructuring. The situation leads to the same consequences when the ecosystem, following the changes of a higher supersystem, has already changed (for example, due to global cooling or warming), and the species, subject to genetic conservatism, remains unchanged.

The constant pressure of life on the environment, together with the limiting pressure of the environment on life, leads to the emergence of a dynamic equilibrium in which an interdependent progressive movement occurs, called evolution. The progressiveness of this movement is sometimes disrupted by local or global environmental disasters, but despite this, after each disaster, life becomes even more difficult, obeying the law irreversibility of evolution. In the process of evolution, not only the complication of life forms takes place, but also a change in the environment that favors new forms of life. Which of these two forces is primary and which is secondary is probably impossible to say. They are complementary. Life is inherently anti-entropic. It accumulates in itself better energy than energy in the environment. This means that it is capable of exerting a controlling influence on the environment, changing it, which, in fact, expresses the pressure of life on the environment. At the same time, the environment is subject to the powerful influence of supersystems: planetary, cosmic and other factors that are not yet affected by life. It is through these components of the environment that are inaccessible to the influence of life that the pressure of the environment on life occurs, forcing it to change itself by looking for all kinds of adaptations to the fatal inevitability of these factors. We are changing the environment, the environment is changing us, and this is the wisdom of the universe, in which fatal predestination harmonizes with freedom of choice.

Greater quality of life energy allows it to carry out more accurate and directed impacts on the environment, this is the main force of life. For example, ants in the process of long and painstaking work collect in one place a huge amount of fallen needles, lay and fasten it in a certain order, not forgetting to provide an extensive network of “corridors” and “rooms”. No wind could create such a design. The action of environmental factors is very rough and non-directional. But you can’t argue with them, you need to adapt to them. For this, life uses all the informational power of concentrated energy. And, oddly enough, the result of these devices is quite predictable, and even fairly accurate. In the theory of evolution, this is called convergence (convergence of characters): if the living conditions of organisms of different evolutionary origin are the same, then they acquire similar adaptations to the environment. For example, the bodies of sharks, penguins and dolphins, which are representatives of completely different systematic groups (fish, bird, mammal), living in the aquatic environment, were forced to take similar forms. This is a direct consequence of the principle of optimality: through repeated trial and error, due to the presence of various kinds of feedbacks, the evolutionary process will sooner or later necessarily find the most optimal forms of life in these specific conditions. I.e, despite all the approximation and inaccuracy of the actions of environmental factors, due to the action of the principle of optimality, the result of the influence of the environment on organisms is as accurate and predictable as the reverse effect of organisms on the environment.

Thus, the environment implicitly sets a specific standard to which life in a given place and at a given time should correspond quite accurately, otherwise it will fall under the pressure of limiting factors and will either have to die or adapt. This standard is dynamic, that is, it changes over time. Despite the presence of some fatalism caused by the action of supersystems, it is not without the likelihood of significant adjustments from within, that is, from lower-level systems.

About the same can be said about the genetic mechanism of biosystems. There is also some fatal predetermination of ontogenesis. This is a kind of fate, recorded partially in the structure of DNA molecules, and partially in the structure of the environment in which we are born, including the initial conditions that are unique for each of us (mother, father, time and place of birth, etc.). But at the same time, we are creating our own destiny. We are not slaves of our own destiny, and we have the freedom to build our own lives as we see fit, but within certain limits dictated by society, the biosphere and other supersystems up to the Universe as a whole. For each specific combination of conditions, there is one most optimal way of developing events. Any living creature evaluates the majority (if not all) of the possible options using the set of trial steps and inevitably finds the most optimal one. It is in this direction that it should take its next step, because all other non-optimal steps will inevitably lead to disharmony (non-optimality means the lack of similarity with the supersystem, the lack of fine tuning to its parameters, that is, to its will), we feel this disharmony in different forms kind of suffering (voice of conscience, mental suffering, pain). Low-organized creatures take these tentative steps quite explicitly (remember a fly hitting the glass in search of a way out). For highly organized creatures, the situation is somewhat facilitated by the ability to simulate the situation in their psyche, a person models in consciousness. Powerful tools for this are our imagination and our analytical mind (reason). But a much larger number of modeling processes occur at an unconscious level, while a ready-made answer is issued to the consciousness. We call this mechanism intuition, and we call instinctive animal models of similar mechanisms.

Thus, through environmental factors, the planet, space, and the Universe quite unambiguously direct all life processes in the biosphere. How much this impact is optimal and justified is not for us to judge, we can only take it for granted, if possible moderately affecting the environment, mitigating the effect of its factors. However, the very history of the evolution of life on Earth once again confirms the third law of Commoner: nature is always right. Therefore, we need to significantly reduce pressure on our habitat, which has recently grown to the extent that causes environmental disasters. As already noted, according to J. Forrester, “humanity has only one alternative - the rejection of hopes for a further increase in welfare or environmental disaster; better economic stagnation than environmental crisis. ” More attention should be paid not to transforming the planet for your needs, increasing at a frantic pace, but to adapting to environmental factors, which, in fact, is what the whole living world does in its bulk.

3. Adaptation to environmental factors

According to the theory of C. Darwin, organisms are volatile. It is impossible to find two absolutely identical individuals of the same species. These differences are partly inherited. All this is easily explained from the point of view of genetics. Each species and each population is saturated with various mutations, that is, changes in the structure of organisms caused by corresponding changes in the chromosomes that occur under the influence of environmental or internal factors. These changes in the signs of the body are spasmodic and inherited. The vast majority of these mutations are usually unfavorable, so almost all of them are recessive, that is, their manifestations disappear after a certain number of generations. However, all this set of changes is a reserve of heredity, the gene pool of a species or population, which can be mobilized through natural selection when changing the conditions of existence of populations.

If the population lives in relatively constant conditions, then almost all mutations are cut off by natural selection, which in this case is called stabilizing. Only mutations are fixed that lead to less variability of traits, as well as mutations that contribute to energy saving due to getting rid of functions that have become “superfluous” under constant conditions. This contributes to the formation of stenobionts. Often, stabilizing selection leads to degeneration, that is, evolutionary changes associated with a simplification of the form of organization, usually accompanied by the disappearance of some organs that have lost their significance. So the whales lost their hind limbs, the lancelet does not have its own digestive organs, etc. In exchange for the lost, new organs may be acquired.

When environmental conditions change, environmental pressure on the population forms, and the carriers of mutations that “guessed” those changes that are more favorable for new environmental conditions than the initial forms are most likely to survive. They give the greatest offspring, in which there is an even greater refinement of forms that satisfy the new state of the environment. As a result, with each new generation, forms gradually change. This natural selection is called driving.

Minor evolutionary changes that contribute to better adaptation to certain environmental conditions are called ideal adaptation. These are various private devices: protective coloration, the flat shape of bottom fish, the adaptation of seeds to dispersal, the degeneration of leaves in thorns to reduce transpiration, etc. Ideoadaptation usually results in small systematic groups: species, genera, and families.

More substantial evolutionary changes that are not adaptations to individual environmental factors, leading to significant changes in life forms, giving rise to new orders, classes, types, etc., are called aromorphosis. An example of aromorphosis is the emergence of ancient fish on land and the formation of a class of amphibians. The consequences of aromorphosis are also the emergence of such qualities of living beings as the psyche and consciousness. Aromorphosis marks a major revolutionary change in the structure of the biosphere, apparently caused by global changes in the environment.

Arguing by the principle of analogy, we can assume that just as the environment affects us, forcing us to look for ways to adapt to it, we can also act on the cells of our organisms as a supersystem, forcing them to adapt to external conditions for them in those ways which we expect from them and which for some reason we need. For example, we begin to regularly load our muscles, and our muscle tissues, adapting to new conditions, begin to grow and become stronger in response to these loads. Exposure can occur along a more complex chain, for example, in case of fright, adrenaline is released into our bloodstream, forcing all cells to go into a stressful, that is, more active, state, using their reserves for this, which gives the whole body additional strength to overcome external danger . Thus, the mechanism of influence on internal subsystems by changing environmental factors for these subsystems is, apparently, a fairly universal mechanism of influence of any supersystem on its internal organization.

Most likely, the intracellular level is no exception. If the cell of our body falls into altered conditions, and these changes are either fixed or periodically repeated, then the cell tries to adapt to new conditions by changing its structure accordingly, that is, by changing the intracellular environment, thereby affecting the organelles inhabiting it, including including chromosomes, which are also probably forced to adapt to external conditions for them. It is possible that, with some effects on the body, almost the entire genetic apparatus in all cells undergoes a certain effect, which leads to completely unambiguous changes in the structure of chromosomes. It means that the external environment can directly affect our genetic apparatus.

That is, the mutations that we talked about may not be random at all, but quite directed. Then the theory of natural selection acquires a slight adjustment:   Among the mutations present in the population at a specific change in environmental conditions, those that are directly initiated by this change predominate. That is, the mutations themselves are, apparently, directed and designed to find new forms that meet the requirements of a changing environment. And since the response of life to external changes, as we have already said, obeying the principle of optimality, turns out to be quite unambiguous, it is possible that a particular mutation of any trait is of a chain nature. That is, having arisen once in the offspring of one pair, a successful mutation is “contagious” for other pairs of parents giving their offspring, but with the same successful mutations. As a result, for one generation within the framework of the species, different parents can have children with the same characteristics that differ from the characteristics of the parents, thereby forming a completely new subspecies. And then it is already useless to look for some intermediate links. A new subspecies (and subsequently a new species) appears immediately, almost at the same time, and immediately turns out to be represented by a large enough number of individuals for stable reproduction. True, so far this is only a hypothesis.

Such processes appear, apparently, in those very periods of serious environmental changes that threaten the extinction of this species. It was then that the “whorl” was formed, that is, a huge number of mutations appeared, the purpose of which was: to find the right solution, a new form. And this solution will certainly be found, because, as we have already said, for this, life involves the “technique of trial grope”, which is “a specific and irresistible weapon of any expanding multitude” (Teilhard de Chardin's terminology). Mutations fill the entire possible space of variants of new forms, and then the environment itself determines which of these forms will become fixed in life and which will disappear without passing the test of natural selection. Sometimes such a whorl generates a whole bunch of new phyla, that is, evolutionary branches, which are different answers to the same change in the environment.

Adaptation of organisms to environmental factors is caused not only by evolutionary rearrangements occurring in the biosphere. Often organisms use the natural orientation, and the frequency of these factors, to distribute their functions over time and program their life cycles in order to make the best use of favorable conditions. Due to the interaction between organisms and natural selection, the entire community becomes programmed for various kinds of natural rhythms. In these cases, environmental factors act as a kind of synchronizer of processes in the biosphere.

According to the degree of direction of action, environmental factors can be classified as follows:

1) periodic factors (daily, annual, etc.); 2) repeated without strict periodicity (floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc.); 3) unidirectional factors (climate change, waterlogging, etc.) ; 4) random and uncertain factors that are most dangerous for the body, as they often occur for the first time.

In the best way, living organisms manage to adapt to periodic and unidirectional factors, characterized by certainty of actions, therefore amenable to unambiguous interpretation. That is, the requirement of a supersystem in this case is quite understandable.

A special case of such adaptations to repetitive factors is, for example, photoperiodism - this is the body's response to daylight hours in the temperate and polar zones, which is perceived as a signal for changing developmental phases or behavior of organisms. Examples of photoperiodism are phenomena such as leaf fall, molting of animals, bird flights, etc. In relation to plants, usually short-day plants are distinguished that exist in the southern latitudes, where during the long growing season the day is relatively short, and long-day plants characteristic of the northern latitudes, where during the short growing season the day is longer.

Another example of adaptation to the periodicity of natural phenomena is daily rhythm. For example, in animals, when day and night change, respiratory rate, heart rate, etc., change. For example, gray rats are more labile in their daily rhythm than black ones, therefore they are easier to master new territories, having already populated almost the entire globe.

Another example is seasonal activity. This is not necessarily a change of seasons, but also a change, for example, of the doge season and drought, etc.

Adaptations to tidal rhythm, which is associated with both solar and lunar days (24 hours 50 minutes), are also interesting. Daily ebbs and flows are shifted by 50 minutes. The strength of the tides changes during the lunar month (29.5 days). With the new moon and full moon, the tides reach a maximum. All these features leave an imprint on the behavior of the littoral organisms (tidal zone). For example, individual fish lay eggs at the boundary of the maximum tide. The release of fry from eggs is confined to the same period.

Many rhythmic adaptations are inherited even when animals move from one zone to another. In such cases, the entire life cycle of the body may be disrupted. For example, ostriches in Ukraine can lay eggs directly in the snow.

Mechanisms of adaptation to the periodicity of processes may be the most unexpected. For example, in some insects, a kind of birth control is based on photoperiodism. Long days in late spring and early summer cause the formation of a neurohormone in the ganglion of the nerve chain, under the influence of which dormant eggs appear, giving larvae only next spring, no matter how favorable food and other conditions are. Thus, population growth is constrained even before food stocks become a limiting factor.

Adaptation to factors recurring without strict periodicity is much more complex. Nevertheless, the more characteristic this factor is for nature (for example, fires, severe storms, earthquakes), the more specific adaptation mechanisms life finds for them. For example, in contrast to the length of the day, the amount of rainfall in the desert is completely unpredictable, however, some annual desert plants usually use this fact as a regulator. Their seeds contain a germination inhibitor (an inhibitor is a substance that inhibits processes), which is washed out only by a certain amount of precipitation, which will be enough for the full life cycle of this plant from seed germination to the maturation of new seeds.

In relation to forest fires, plants also developed special adaptations. Many plant species invest more energy in underground storage organs and less in reproductive organs. These are the so-called “recovering” species. Species “dying in maturity," on the contrary, produce numerous seeds, ready to germinate immediately after a fire. Some of these seeds have been lying in forest litter for decades without sprouting or losing germination.

The most dangerous for living organisms are factors of indeterminate action. Natural systems have the ability to recover well from acute stresses such as fires and storms. Moreover, many plants even need random stresses to maintain a “vitality” that enhances the sustainability of existence. But subtle chronic disturbances, especially characteristic of anthropogenic impact on nature, give weak reactions, therefore they are difficult to track, and most importantly it is difficult to assess their consequences. Therefore, adaptations to them are formed extremely slowly, sometimes much more slowly than the accumulation time of the consequences of chronic stress beyond the limits after which the ecosystem is destroyed. Industrial waste containing new chemicals that nature has not yet encountered is especially dangerous. One of the most dangerous stressors is thermal pollution of the environment. A moderate increase in temperature can have a positive effect on life, but after a certain limit, stress effects begin to appear. This is especially noticeable in reservoirs directly connected with thermal power plants.

Human pressure on the environment already exceeds all conceivable limits. But it also grows every year. We are very stubborn and strong, and the environment is increasingly rapidly giving in to our pressure. For some reason, we are sure that we can sculpt from it and take from it everything that we want. How much longer can she withstand this onslaught? When will the chain reaction of its destruction begin? It is only a matter of time. The only hope is that a person will change his mind and abandon his projects of restructuring the supersystem at his discretion. However, the time of the first fright after the reports of the Club of Rome about the collapse of civilization has already passed. Thirty years have passed, but nothing terrible has happened. Maybe we are just scared, as always? Along with the retreat of fear, we bite into the planet with a vengeance, squeezing out of it even greater growth of our well-being. Get rich! - this is the motto of our time. True, instead of general prosperity, for some reason we come to a sharp differentiation of society, instead of joy from the benefits of civilization, we get excessive mental stress, instead of spiritual uplift - spiritual degradation, instead of progress - movement into the abyss.

Maybe this is the end of the world? After all, all his signs are evident: “And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on earth there will be despondency of nations and bewilderment; and the sea will make a noise and indignation; people will gasp with fear and expectation of calamities coming to the universe, for the heavenly forces will be shaken ... ”[Lk 21: 25-26]. The apocalyptic beast has already come to earth, and all nations bowed to it: “He who has a mind, consider the number of the beast, for this number is human; his number is six hundred sixty six ”[Rev. 13:18]. And the wisdom of the rational, as previously thought, is contained in the Bible. Therefore, we open the third book of the kingdoms of the Old Testament and read: “In the gold that came to Solomon every year, the weight was six hundred sixty-six talents of gold ...”. So is not gold, or rather, money and wealth, the beast that is called upon to corrupt the world before the end of the world? Fortunately, the end of the world does not at all mean the end of life on Earth. But the end of civilization, and possibly the end of humanity, is quite real.

Conclusion

Summarize.
So, adaptation is fitness, an inherited correspondence of the structure, physiology and behavior to the specific living conditions of the body, ensuring its survival and reproduction (expediency). Adaptation in this sense means the correspondence of the organization and functioning of the organism to the external environment, the harmony of the organism with the environment. Fitness, as a property of a whole organism (genotype), is composed of various components - adaptations that have arisen as a result of the influence of natural selection on the gene pool of a population for countless generations. The organism does not adapt at all, but with respect to this complex of ecosystem factors.

In this regard, it is obvious that fitness is not some kind of internal or permanent property of an organism. Fitness is a temporary phenomenon, it is a phenomenon of relative conformity of an organism’s organization to specific environmental conditions. Any fitness, no matter how perfect, is satisfactory only in certain conditions - in the conditions under which this fitness appeared.

The existence of any organism or group of organisms depends on a set of certain conditions, or environmental factors, among which biotic, abiotic, anthropogenic, and their combination are environmental environmental factors.
Living creatures can serve as a source of food for other organisms, be a habitat, promote their reproduction, and exert chemical (bacterial toxins), mechanical and other effects. The action of biotic factors manifests itself in the form of mutual influence of living organisms of different species on each other.
The main adaptations of organisms to environmental factors are hereditarily determined. They formed on the historical and evolutionary path of biota and changed along with the variability of environmental factors. Organisms are adapted to constantly acting periodic factors. The properties of the environment are constantly changing, and any creature in order to survive, adapt to these changes.

Bibliography:

1. Kuznetsov V.I., Idlis D.M., Gutina V.N. Natural History. - M .: Agar, 1996, 384s.

2. Moiseev NN Man and the biosphere. - M .: Young Guard, 2005.
3. Nebel B. Environmental science: How the world works. In 2 volumes - M .: Mir, 1993.
4. Nikanorov A.I., Khoruzhaya T.A. Global Ecology: A Study Guide. - M .: PRIOR, 2005.
5. Nature Management / Ed. Yu.S. Stoyanova. M .: UNITY-DANA, 2005.

The environment, its composition and structure. The human environment and its elements as subjects of environmental relations

As L. V. Maksimova notes, the concept of environment is fundamentally correlated, since it reflects the subject-object relationship and therefore loses its content without determining which subject it refers 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 of 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. 1.2). The natural component of the environment is the total space directly or indirectly available to man. This is, first of all, the 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 is the gas, air envelope surrounding the globe and the gravity associated with it. It is divided into the lower layer - the troposphere (up to a height 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 x 1015 tons. Its main components are nitrogen (78.08%), oxygen (20.95%), argon (0.93%), carbon dioxide (0.03%), and other elements (hydrogen, ozone, etc.) are present in extremely small quantities. In addition to gases, various aerosols and water vapor are also present in the atmosphere.

Fig. 1.2. Components of the human environment and society (according to D. Zh. Markovich)

The hydrosphere 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: 85-95% of water is contained in plants, 57-66% in the human body.

The lithosphere (or the earth’s crust) 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 accounts for 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 matter 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 are 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 "work 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 are the smallest, predominantly unicellular living things 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 slightly different approach to the analysis of the structure of the human environment was proposed by Η. F. Reimers. He identified four inextricably interconnected component 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) artificial environment - the "third nature", or artepriroda; d) social environment (Fig. 1.3).

Fig. 13. Components of the human environment (by Ф.. 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). To their number Η. 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 systemically self-sustaining themselves (i.e., 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). P.F. Reimers also refers to the "second nature" of domestic animals, including indoor and cultivated plants.

"Third nature" (arteprirody) 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. To her, according to Η. F. Reimers, asphalt and concrete of modern cities, the space of places of life and work, transport, service enterprises (physical and chemical characteristics, dimensions, aesthetics of premises, etc.) can be classified 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. It is the arteprirod environment that surrounds modern man.

Finally, the fourth component of the human environment is society and various social processes. The social environment is, according to Η. F. Reimers, first of all, the 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, job loss, hunger, imprisonment, gangster assault, theft, illness, family breakdown, 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; availability 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 availability of services (absence or presence of queues, quality of service, etc.).

According to Η. F. Reimers, the social environment, combining with the natural, quasi-natural and arte-natural environments, forms the general 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 a vast array of 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. 1.4.

Fig. 1.4. Components of the human environment (according to L. V. Maximova)

In the above diagram, the component that Maximova designated 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 block Ф2 of this textbook.

The study of human relations with the environment led to the emergence of ideas about the properties or conditions of the environment, expressing the perception of the environment by a person, an assessment of the quality of the environment from the point of view 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 in terms of compliance with its biosocial requirements of a person is the concept of comfort, i.e. compliance of the environment with these requirements, and discomfort, or non-compliance with them. Extreme expression of discomfort is extreme. The discomfort or extremeness of the environment can be most closely associated with its properties such as pathogenicity, pollution, etc.

  The interaction of man and society with the environment

L. V. Maksimova identifies two main aspects in the study of human relations with the environment. Firstly, we study the totality of the effects exerted on a person by the environment and various environmental factors.

In modern anthropoecology and social ecology, environmental factors, the effects of which a person is forced to adapt to, are commonly referred to as environmental factors. Along with abiotic and biotic factors, a special group consists of anthropogenic factors generated by the activity of the person himself, the human community (pollution of the atmosphere and the hydrosphere, plowing of fields, deforestation, replacing natural complexes with artificial structures, etc.). Although a person influences wildlife through a change in abiotic factors and biotic relationships of species, it is customary to single out human activities on the planet in view of the fact that the value of anthropogenic influences on the entire living world of the Earth is currently extremely large and continues to grow rapidly.

Particularly noteworthy is the fact that anthropogenic factors influence not only the organisms of other species, populations and communities, but also the people themselves and their communities.

The second aspect of the study of the relationship between man and the environment is the study of the problem of adaptation of man and human communities to the environment and its changes.

The concept of adaptation is one of the fundamental concepts of modern anthropoecology and social ecology, reflecting the process of communication between a person and society with the environment and its changes. Originally appearing within the framework of physiology, the term “adaptation” soon penetrated into other areas of knowledge and began to be used to describe a wide range of phenomena and processes in the natural, technical and human sciences, laying the foundation for the formation of an extensive group of concepts and terms that reflect various aspects and properties of adaptation processes man to his environmental conditions and his result.

The term "adaptation" is used not only to denote the process of adaptation, but also as a name for a property acquired by a person as a result of this process - adaptation, adaptability to the conditions of existence.

Individuals and communities in their relations with the environment implement both reactive and active adaptive strategies. One of the key differences between humans and other representatives of the animal kingdom is that they apply a wider and more successful variety of active adaptive strategies. As one of these forms should be mentioned activities to prevent the effects of adverse factors based on forecasting. The most developed form of an active adaptive strategy is the economic and cultural type characteristic of people to adapt to the conditions of existence, which is based on the subject-transforming activity that they carry out.

Human habitat

The environment surrounding modern man includes the natural environment, the artificial environment created by man and the social environment.

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.

In the life cycle, a person and a living environment continuously interact and form a constantly functioning system “person - environment”, in which a person realizes his physiological and social needs.

Acting in this system, a person continuously solves at least two main tasks:

Provides its needs for food, water and air;

Creates and uses protection from negative influences, both from the side of the habitat, and to their own kind.

The habitat is a part of nature that surrounds a living organism and with which it directly interacts. The constituent parts and properties of the medium are diverse and variable. Any living creature lives in a complex and changing world, constantly adapting to it and regulating its life activity in accordance with its changes.

In the composition of the environment emit:

The natural environment (Biosphere) is the area of \u200b\u200blife on Earth that has not experienced anthropogenic impact (atmosphere, hydrosphere, upper part of the lithosphere). It has both protective properties (protecting a person from negative factors - the difference in temperature, precipitation), and a number of negative factors. Therefore, to protect against them, a person was forced to create a technosphere.

Technogenic environment (Technosphere) - a habitat created through the influence of people and technical means on the natural environment in order to best match the environment with social and economic needs.

Classification of conditions for a person in the system "man - environment":

Comfortable   (optimal) conditions of activity and rest. To these conditions, a person is adapted to a greater extent. The highest working capacity is manifested, the preservation of health and the integrity of the components of the environment are guaranteed.

Valid. They are characterized by a deviation of the levels of flows of substances, energy and information from nominal values \u200b\u200bwithin acceptable limits. These working conditions do not have a negative impact on health, but lead to discomfort and a decrease in working capacity and productivity. Irreversible processes in humans and the environment are not caused. Permissible exposure standards are enshrined in sanitary standards.

Dangerous. The flows of substances, energy and information exceed permissible exposure levels. They have a negative impact on human health. With prolonged exposure, they cause diseases and lead to degradation of the natural environment.

Extremely dangerous. Flows in a short time can cause injury or death, causing permanent damage to the environment.

Human interaction with the environment may be positive   (in a comfortable and acceptable condition) and negative   (for dangerous and extremely dangerous). Many factors that constantly affect a person are unfavorable for his health and vigorous activity.

Security can be provided in two ways:

elimination of sources of danger;

increased protection against dangers, the ability to reliably resist them.

The human environment is divided into production   and non-productive   (household).

The main element of the production environment is labor, which in turn consists of interconnected and interconnecting elements that make up the structure of labor.

Elements of the non-production environment: the natural environment in the form of geographic landscape, geophysical, climatic elements, natural disasters, including fires from lightning and other natural sources, natural processes in the form of gas emissions from rocks, etc. it can manifest itself both in a non-production form (sphere) and in production, especially in such sectors of the national economy as construction, mining, geology, geodesy, and others.

Man is in close contact with all elements of the environment in the process of his activity.

Negative influences inherent in the environment exist as long as the World exists. Sources of natural negative impacts are natural phenomena in the biosphere: climate change, thunderstorms, earthquakes, and the like.

The constant struggle for their existence forced the person to find and improve means of protection against the natural negative effects of the environment. Unfortunately, the appearance of a home, fire and other means of protection, the improvement of methods of obtaining food - all this not only protected a person from natural negative influences, but also influenced the environment.

Over many centuries, the human environment has slowly changed its appearance and, as a result, the types and levels of negative impacts have changed little. So, it continued until the middle of the XIX century - the beginning of the active growth of human impact on the environment. In the XX century, zones of increased pollution of the biosphere arose on Earth, which led to partial, and in some cases to complete regional degradation. These changes were largely contributed by:

High rates of population growth on Earth (population explosion) and its urbanization;

Growth in consumption and concentration of energy resources;

Intensive development of industrial and agricultural production;

Massive use of vehicles;

Increased military spending and a number of other processes.

Man and his environment (natural, industrial, urban, domestic and others) in the process of life constantly interact with each other. Moreover, life can exist only in the process of movement through a living body of flows of matter, energy and information. Man and his environment harmoniously interact and develop only in conditions when the flows of energy, matter and information are within the limits favorably perceived by man and the natural environment. Any excess of the usual levels of flows is accompanied by negative effects on humans or the natural environment. Under natural conditions, such effects are observed with climate change and natural disasters.