Environment Is Constituted by the Interacting Systems of Physical

Elements of Environment:

Environment is constituted by the interacting systems of physical, biological and cultural elements inter- related in various ways, individually as well as collectively. These elements may be explained as under:

(1) Physical elements

Physical elements are as space, landforms, water bodies, climate soils, rocks and minerals. They determine the variable character of the human habitat, its opportunities as well as limitations.

(2) Biological elements

Biological elements such as plants, animals, microorganisms and men constitute the biosphere.

(3) Cultural elements

Cultural elements such as economic, social and political elements are essentially manmade features, which make cultural milieu.

According to Kurt Lewin, environment is of three types which influence the personality of an individual as under:

(a) Physical Environment,

(b) Social and Cultural Environment, and

These may be explained as under:

1. Physical Environment:

Physical environment refers to geographical climate and weather or physical conditions wherein and individual lives. The human races are greatly influenced by the climate. Some examples are as under:

(a) In the cold countries i.e. European countries the people are of white colour. Likewise, in Asian and African countries, that is, in hot countries people are of dark complexion. (b) The physique of an individual depends on climate conditions as the individual tries to adjust in his physical environment.

2. Social Environment:

Social Environment includes an individual’s social, economic and political condition wherein he lives. The moral, cultural and emotional forces influence the life and nature of individual behaviour. Society may be classified into two categories as under:

(i) An open society is very conductive for the individual development.

(ii) A closed society is not very conductive for the development.

3. Psychological Environment:

Although physical and social environment are common to the individual in a specific situation yet every individual has his own psychological environment, in which he lives. Kurt Lewin has used the term ‘life space’ for explaining psychological environment. The Psychological environment enables us to understand the personality of an individual. Both the person and his goal form psychological environment. If a person is unable to overcome the barriers, he can either get frustrated or completed to change his goal for a new psychological environment. But adopting this mechanism, the individual is helped in his adjustment to the environment.

COMPONENTS OF ENVIRONMENT

Environment mainly consists of atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere. But it can be roughly divided into two types such as (a) Micro environment and (b) Macro environment.

(a) Micro environment refers to the immediate local surrounding of the organism.

(b) Macro environment refers to all the physical and biotic conditions that surround the organism externally.

It can also be divided into two other types such as (a) Abiotic or Physical environment and (b) Biotic environment. (a) Abiotic or Physical environment refers to all abiotic factors or conditions like temperature, light, rainfall, soil, minerals etc. It comprises of atmosphere, lithosphere and hydrosphere.

(b) Biotic environment includes all biotic factors or living forms like plants, animals, Micro-organisms.

ABIOTIC ENVIRONMENT:

The Physical Constituent of environment includes soil, water, air, climate, temperature, light etc. These are also called abiotic constituents of the environment. This part of the environment mainly determines the type of the habitat or living conditions of the human population. This physical constituent of the environment is again divided into three parts.

These are:

(i) Atmosphere (gas)

(ii) Hydrosphere (liquid)

(iii) Lithosphere (solid)

These three parts represent the three important states of matter constituting the environment. This physical component of environment only consists of non-living things like air, water and soil. All these nonliving things influence much to all living organisms including man. Water and temperature are the most important abiotic components affecting living beings. Larger proportion of body’s weight is due to water.

All living organisms require water for their survival. Besides water is the main vital fluid to keep optimum temperature of the body. All life activates work in a particular range of temperature. When temperature will be in excess of necessity, living beings will die.

Air is main physical component which provides oxygen for respiration. All living beings including plants & animals require oxygen for their existence. Oxygen is taken into the body by respiration process and comes out in from of carbon dioxide. Plants, on the other hand takes in carbon dioxide for food preparation during photosynthesis and gives out oxygen to the surrounding.

Soil is the most important for all living beings to create their habitat. It is the soil in which plant grows and man constructs houses to live in. It is the ground water present in the soil which provides for drinking and other farming activities. BIOTIC ENVIRONMENT:

The biological constituent of environment is also called biotic component of environment. This component consists of all living things like plants, animals and small micro-organisms like bacteria. This component interacts with the abiotic component of the environment. This interaction of two components forms various ecosystems like pond ecosystem, marine ecosystem, desert ecosystem etc.

The self sufficient large ecosystem of the earth is called Biosphere. All ecosystems consist of three different types of living organisms.

These three types are named as:

(a) Producers

(b) Consumers

Producers are generally green plants and other photosynthetic bacteria which produces various organic substances such as carbohydrates, proteins etc. with the help of water, soil and light energy. Consumers depend for their nutrition on the organic food produced by the green plants Decomposers bring about the decomposition of dead plants and animals and return various important minerals for the running of the biogeochemical cycles.

The three components of the environment (viz. physical, biological and social) give rise to four important zones. These are Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Lithosphere and Biosphere. There is continuous interaction among these four zones. These interactions involve the transport of various elements, compounds and energy forms. These zones are explained as follows. [Fig. l (A).l]