Understanding Environmental Factors and Adaptations in Terrestrial Ecosystems
1. The Environment
The environment is defined by the set of conditions or environmental factors that exist in a place. Not all factors that determine an environment equally affect different living things. The environmental factors that determine the distribution and abundance of a species are called limiting factors. For each factor, species develop within certain values > tolerance zone. Within this, there is an optimal zone in which the species survives best.
Two Types of Environmental Factors
Abiotic
The physical and chemical environment may vary over time and affect the survival of organisms, causing them to be comparable to each other.
- Physical > Temperature, precipitation, light and shade, solar radiation, atmospheric humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, latitude, elevation, depth, soil, water movements, the amount of substances in suspension, density, and viscosity of water.
- Chemical > The amount of air and soil water, salinity, concentration of mineral nutrients, the amount of toxic chemicals, the amount of dissolved oxygen.
Biotic
These depend on the presence of other living things and can be:
- Intraspecific (same species)
- Familial association > Individuals related to each other, which is in the procreation and protection of the offspring (male, female, and offspring).
- Colonial association > Individuals that are kept together and come from a single progenitor (corals).
- Social association > Individuals who live together and there is a division of activities (nest).
- Gregarious association > Unrelated individuals living in the community, helping each other (flock of birds in migration).
- Interspecific (individuals of different species)
- Mutualism > Two or more individuals associated with mutual benefit (clownfish and anemones). When they cannot live separately, it is called > Symbiosis (lichen).
- Commensalism > An individual eats food scraps or products released by another without profit or causing injury (shark and remora fish).
- Inquilinism > An individual finds shelter in the body or remains of another species, without causing injury (owl and tree shelter).
- Parasitism > An individual lives at the expense of another, harming it without causing death (lice and people).
- Competition > Two individuals use a limited resource, leading to the reduction of survival.
- Predation > An individual captures and kills another to feed (leopard and gazelle).
2. The Terrestrial Environment
The terrestrial environment is made up of all areas of the world in which organisms live on a floor surrounded by air.
Factors Delimiting the Terrestrial Environment
Soil is the hardware on which terrestrial life develops. Among the abiotic factors are:
- Light: The main source of energy is sunlight.
- Temperature: Undergoes large variations. Temperature decreases with increasing altitude above sea level.
- Atmospheric humidity: The amount of water in the air.
3. Adaptations to the Terrestrial Environment
Different species are adapted to the environment in which they live and present structures, physiological mechanisms, and behavior patterns that facilitate their survival in the environment.
Adaptations to Light
Light creates stratification in photosynthetic organisms as a function of their movements to meet their needs. Many plants make movements in response to light > phototropism.