Environment can be defined as a sum total of all the living and non-living elements and their

effects that influence human life. While all living or biotic elements are animals, plants,
forests, fisheries, and birds, non-living or abiotic elements include water, land, sunlight,
rocks, and air.

INTRODUCTION: -

Everything that surrounds or affects an organism during its life time is collectively known as
its environment or simply put everything surrounding a living organism like people; place
and things constitute its environment which can be either natural or man-made. The word
environment has been derived from a French word ‘environner’ meaning to encircle or to
surround. In the beginning, environment of early man consisted of only physical aspects of
the planet earth such as land (lithosphere), air (atmosphere) and water (hydrosphere) along
with biotic communities but, with the passage of time and advancement of society man
extended his environment to include his social, economic and political functions too. At the
organismic level it is essentially physiological interaction which tries to understand that how
different organisms are adapted to their environment in terms of not only survival but also
reproduction and propagation of their population. All organisms (from virus to man) are
obligatorily dependent on the environment for various essential needs such as food, shelter,
water, oxygen etc. The surrounding that affects an organism during its lifetime is collectively
known as its environment. In another words “Environment is sum total of water, air and land
inter- relationships among themselves and also with the human being, other living organisms
and material goods”. It comprises all the physical and biological surrounding and their
connections. Environmental studies give an approach towards understanding the environment
of our globe and the impact of human life upon the environment and vice-versa. Thus
environment is actually universal in nature and it is a multidisciplinary subject counting
physics, chemistry, geology, geography, history, economics, physiology, biotechnology,
remote sensing, geophysics, soil science and hydrology etc. Environment belongs to all the
biotic and abiotic components and therefore is, vital for all. Consequently, everyone is
affected by environmental issues like global warming, depletion of ozone layer, dwindling
forest, depleting energy resources, loss of biodiversity etc. Environment also deals with the
analysis of the processes in hydrosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere, and organisms which leads
to pollute biosphere. Environment helps us for setting benchmark for safe and healthy natural
ecosystem.
DEFINITION AND SCOPE: -

The surroundings or settings in which a human being, animal, or plant lives or operates or it
is a set of conditions of a living being all the natural forces which provide settings for
development and growth as well as danger and damage. In a comprehensive form the
environment may be defined as “sum total of living, non-living components; influences and
events, surrounding an organism.” Environment is defined more comprehensively by others
‘as a holistic view of the world as its functions at any point of time, with a multitude of
spatial elemental and socio-economic systems distinguished by quality and attributes of space
and mode of behaviour of abiotic and biotic forms.’ (K.R. Dikshit, 1984)

Environment is argued as an inseparable whole and is constituted by the interacting systems

of physical, biological and cultural elements, which are interlinked individually as well as
collectively in myriad ways. Physical elements (space, landforms, waterbodies, climate, soils,
rocks and minerals) determine variable character of the human habitat, its opportunities as
well as limitations. Biological elements (plants, animals, micro-organisms and man)
constitute the biosphere. Cultural elements (economic, social, political) are essentially
manmade features which go into the making of cultural milieu (Savindra Singh and A.
Dubey, 1983). Thus, environment is defined as ‘(1) the circumstances and conditions
(physical conditions) that surround an organism or group of organisms, or (2) the social and
cultural conditions that affect an individual or community. Since human inhabit the natural
world as well as the ‘built’ or technological, social, and cultural world, all constitute part of
our environment’ (W.P.Cunnigham and M.A. Cunnigham, 2004).

Environmental knowledge is a multidisciplinary knowledge whose fundamental aspects have

a direct significance to every segment of the planet. Its main characteristics include:

 Conservation and natural resources.

 Maintenance and management of biological diversity.

 Controlling and managing environmental pollution to permissible limit

 Stabilisation of human population and environment.

 Development of alternate sources of renewable energy systems

  Providing new dimension to nation’s security through conservation, protection,
management and maintenance of environment It also deals with vital issues like safe and
clean drinking water, hygienic living conditions and pollution free fresh air, fertility of land,
healthy food and development of sustainable environmental laws, administration,
environmental protection, management and environmental business are coming up as new
opportunities for environment protection and managements. The relationship and interaction
between organism and environment are highly complex and multidimensional. No organism
can live alone without interacting with other organisms or other biotic/abiotic forms. So each
organism has other organisms as a part of its environment. Each and everything with which
we interact or which we need for our sustenance forms our environment. In fact, environment
is visualised in different ways with different angles by different groups of people but it may
be safely argued that ‘environment is an inseparable whole and is constituted by the
interacting system of physical, biological and cultural elements which are interlinked
individually as well as collectively in myriad ways. The environment is not static; rather it’s a
very dynamic entity. Various factors (biotic & abiotic) are in a flux and keep changing the
environment continuously.

TYPES OF ENVIRONMENT: - On the basis of basic structure, the environment may be

divided into

 Physical/abiotic environment

 Biotic environment

 Cultural environment

PHYSICAL/ABIOTIC ENVIRONMENT: - on the basis of physical characteristics and state,

abiotic or physical environment is subdivided into:

i. Solid i.e. lithosphere (solid earth)

ii. Liquid i.e. hydrosphere (water component)
iii. Gas i.e. atmosphere (gaseous component)

These environments can be termed as lithospheric, hydrospheric, atmospheric

environment which can be further broken into smaller units based on different spatial
scales like mountain environment, plateau, plain, lake, river maritime, glacier, desert
environment etc. The physical environment may also be viewed in terms of climatic
 conditions providing certain suits of habitat for biological communities like tropical,
temperate and polar environment etc.

BIOTIC ENVIRONMENT-: biotic environment consists of flora and fauna including man
as an important factor. Thus the biotic environment may be divided into:

i. Floral environment

ii. Faunal environment. Further all the organisms work to form their social groups and
organizations at several levels and thus is formed social environment, where in, the
organisms work to derive matter from the physical environment for their sustenance and
development. This process generates economic environment. It may be pointed out that of all
the organisms man is the most skilled and civilize and hence his social organization is most
systematic. It is significant to note that three aspects of man, physical, social and economic
have different characteristics and functions in the biotic environment. As ‘physical man’ is
one of the organismic populations or biological community and thus requires basic elements
of physical environment (habitat, air, water, food etc.) like other biological populations and
releases wastes into the ecosystem; ‘social man’ establishes social institutions forms social
organisations, formulates laws and policies to safeguard his existence, interest and social
welfare and ‘economic man’ derives and utilises resource from the physical and biotic
environments with his skills and technologies. These may be termed as physical, social and
economic functions of man. It is the third function which makes the man and environmental
process because he transports matter and energy from one component of the ecosystem to the
other.

COMPONENTS OF ENVIRONMENT: - The basic components of the environment are

atmosphere or the air, lithosphere or the rocks and soil, hydrosphere or the water, and the
living component of the environment or the biosphere.

ATMOSPHERE: -

• the thick gaseous layer surrounding the earth.

• It spreads up to 300 km. above the earth’s surface.

• Apart from gases there are water vapour, industrial gases, dust and smoke particles in
suspended state, microorganism etc.
LITHOSPHERE: - The word lithosphere originated from a Greek word mean "rocky" +
"sphere” i.e. the solid outmost shield of the rocky planet. The Earth is an oblate spheroid. It is
composed of a number of different layers. These layers are:

• The Core which is around 7000 kilometres in diameter (3500 kilometres in radius) and is
situated at the Earth's centre.

• The Mantle which environs the core and has a thickness of 2900 kilometres.

• The Crust floats on top of the mantle and is composed of basalt rich oceanic crust and
granitic rich continental crust.

HYDROSPHERE: -

• The hydrosphere includes all water on or near earth surface and includes oceans, lakes,
rivers, wetlands, icecaps, clouds, soils, rock layers beneath surface etc.

• water exist in all three states: solid (ice), liquid (water), and gas (water vapour)

• 71% of planet surface is covered with water

• Freshwater- 2.53%

• Freshwater in glaciers-1.74%

• Water as water vapour in atmosphere-12,900 km3

• living organism contain- 1100 km3 Since the environment includes both physical and
biological concept, it embraces both the abiotic (non-living) and biotic (living) components
of planet earth. Thus, on account of basic structure the components of environment may be
classified into two basic types:

ABIOTIC COMPONENTS (NON-LIVING): - these are the most important determining

factor of where and how well an organism exists in the environment. Although these factors
interact with each other, one single factor can limit the range of an organism thus acting as
the limiting factor. These factors can be categorised into following groups:

PHYSICAL FACTORS: - the major components are temperature, Water (Rainfall), Light
(Energy), Soil, Atmospheric pressure.

TEMPERATURE: - Temperature is the most ecologically germane environmental factor. It’s

a very well-known and an established fact that the average temperature on land varies
seasonally, decreasing progressively from the equator towards the poles and from plains to
the top of mountains ranging from sub-zero levels to >50˚C in polar areas/high altitudes and
tropical deserts in summer respectively. There are, however, unique habitats like thermal
springs and deep-sea hydrothermal vents where average temperatures exceed 100˚C. It is
commonly known fact that mango trees do not and cannot grow in temperate countries like
Canada and Germany, snow leopards are not found in Kerala forests and tuna fish are rarely
caught beyond tropical latitudes in the ocean. A few organisms can tolerate and thrive in a
wide range of temperatures without having effect on their internal environment (they are
called eurythermal), but, a vast majority of them operate within a narrow range of
temperatures (such organisms are called stenothermal).

WATER (RAINFALL): - Subsequent to temperature, water is another most important factor

influencing the life of organisms. In fact, genesis of life on earth is attributed to water without
which life is unsustainable. Its availability is too scarce in deserts. Due to this scarcity only
special adaptations by plants and animals of this region make it possible to survive there in
such an unusual living conditions. The productivity and distribution of plants is also
profoundly dependent on water. One might believe that organisms living in oceans, lakes,
rivers and other water bodies should not face any water-related problems, but it doesn’t hold
true. For aquatic organisms the quality (chemical composition, pH) of water becomes crucial
and one of the most determining factor for their survival. The saline concentration (measured
as salinity in parts per thousand), is less than 5 % in inland waters, 30-35 % in the sea and
>100 % in some hypersaline lagoons. Some organisms are tolerant to a wide range of salinity
(referred as euryhaline) while others are restricted to a much narrow range of salinity
(referred as stenohaline). Many freshwater animals cannot survive for long in sea water and
vice versa because of the osmotic problems which would subsequently lead to their death.

LIGHT (ENERGY): - One can quickly and easily understand the importance of light/energy
for living organisms, particularly autotrophs since they produce/manufacture food through
photosynthesis, a specialised process which is only possible with the availability of sunlight
as a source of energy. Many plants are also dependent on sunlight to meet their photoperiodic
requirement for flowering. For many animals too, light is essential as they use the diurnal and
seasonal variations in light intensity and duration (photoperiod) as cues for timing their
searching food, reproductive and migratory activities. The availability of light on land is in
close association with that of temperature since the sun is the source for both. But, deep
(>500m) in the oceans, the environment is perpetually dark and its inhabitants are unaware of
the existence of a celestial source of energy called Sun.

SOIL: - The nature and properties of soil in various places vary to a great extent depending
upon the climate which includes temperature and humidity, the weathering process, whether
soil is transported or sedimentary and how soil development occurred. Various physical
characteristics of the soil such as soil composition, grain size and aggregation determine the
percolation and water holding capacity of the soil. These features along with chemical
parameters such as pH, mineral composition and also topography determine to a large extent
the vegetation in any area. This in turn indicates or rather determines the type of animals that
can be supported on a particular soil area. Similarly, in an aquatic environment, the sediment-
characteristics often determine the type of benthic animals that can thrive there optimally.

RESPONSES TO CHANGE IN ABIOTIC FACTORS: -

Abiotic conditions of many habitats may vary drastically in time, which raises an essential
question –how do the organisms living in such changing habitats adapt themselves with
stressful conditions? But, prior to delving into answering this inevitable question, one should
perhaps ask first why a highly variable and ever changing external environment should create
an inconvenience to an organism after all. One would expect that during the course of
millions of years of their existence, many species would have evolved a relatively constant
internal (within the body) environment that enables all biochemical reactions and
physiological functions to progress with maximal efficiency and thus, enhance the overall
‘fitness’ of the species.

REGULATE: - Some organisms are able to achieve and stabilize homeostasis by

physiological (sometimes behavioural also) means which ensures constant body temperature,
constant osmotic concentration, etc. All birds and mammals, and a very few lower vertebrate
and invertebrate species are indeed capable of such regulation (thermoregulation and
osmoregulation). Evolutionary biologists are of the opinion that the mammalian success is
largely owing to their ability to adhere to a constant body temperature and thrive successfully
whether they live in frigid Antarctica or in the blazing Sahara Desert. The mechanisms used
by most mammals to regulate or stabilise their body temperature are similar to those of
human beings. We, the humans, maintain a constant body temperature of 37˚C. In summer,
when external temperature is more than our body temperature, we sweat profusely resulting
in evaporation which leads to external body cooling thus lowering the overall body
temperature. Likewise, in winter when the temperature is much lower than 37˚C, we start to
shiver, leading to heat generation and thus raising the body temperature and thereby
maintaining homeostasis around 37˚C. Plants, on the other hand, do not possess such
mechanisms to maintain internal temperatures and are thus unable to regulate homeostasis.

CONFORM: - In literal English term it means to obey or agree to something. An

overwhelming majority (99%) of animals and nearly all plants are unable to maintain a
constant internal environment, thus inefficient in maintaining homeostasis. Their body
temperature varies with the ambient temperature, rise with increasing temperature and fall
with decreasing temperature most of the times. In aquatic animals, the osmotic concentrations
of the body fluids change with that of the ambient water osmolality which itself depends
upon the salinity of the surrounding water. Such animals and plants are simply conformers,
meaning thereby that they just agree to the surrounding conditions rather than adopting any
mechanism to stabilise their internal environment.

MIGRATE: - The organisms can shift away temporarily from the stressful habitat to a more
hospitable area and return when stressful period is over. In human analogy, this strategy is
like a person moving from Delhi to Shimla for the duration of summer to avoid the stressful
conditions of severe heat and return back to Delhi when temperature is more comfortable.
Likewise, many animals, particularly birds, during winter undertake long-distance migrations
to more hospitable areas and avoid the frigid conditions of their true environment. Every
winter the famed Keoladeo National Park (Bharatpur) in Rajasthan host thousands of
migratory birds coming from Siberia and other extremely cold northern regions which
become temporarily inhospitable for them. Thus migration is a form of temporary shift of
organism from its true habitat to an ecologically friendlier habitat due to more stressful
conditions of true habitat.

SUSPEND: - In bacteria, fungi and lower plants, various types of thick walled spores are
formed which help them to survive unfavourable/extreme conditions – which subsequently
germinate on availability of suitable environment. In higher plants, seeds and some other
vegetative reproductive structures serve as means to resist the periods of stress besides
helping in its dispersal – they germinate to form new plants under favourable moisture and
temperature conditions. They do so by reducing their metabolic activity and going into a
stage of ‘dormancy’. In animals, the organism, if unable to migrate, might avoid the stress by
escaping in time through the two phenomenon. The familiar case of bears going into
hibernation during winter is an example of escape in time to avoid extreme of cold. Some
snails and fish go into aestivation (a state of animal dormancy characterized by inactivity and
a lowered metabolic rate) to avoid extreme summer heat and desiccation. Similarly, under
unfavourable conditions many zooplankton species in lakes and ponds are known to enter
diapause, (a stage of suspended/deferred development). Diapause, when referencing animal
dormancy, is the delay in development in response to regularly and recurring periods of
adverse environmental conditions

INORGANIC AND ORGANIC SUBSTANCES: -

Water, Oxygen, Carbon, Nitrogen, Sulphur, Nitrates, Phosphates and ions of various metals
etc. are inorganic substances essential for organisms to survive while proteins,
Carbohydrates, Lipids etc. are essential Organic substances:

BIOTIC COMPONENTS (LIVING): - It consists of the living parts of the environment,

including the association of a lot of interrelated populations that belong to different species
inhabiting a common environment. The populations are those of the animal community, the
plant community and the microbial community.

The biotic community is divided into: a. Autotrophs, b. Saprotrophs, and c. Heterotrophs

AUTOTROPHS (derive from Greek word: auto - self, trophos - feeder) are called producers,
transducers or convertors, as well. Those are photosynthetic plants, normally chlorophyll
bearing, which synthesize a high-energy complex organic compound (food) from the
inorganic raw materials utilizing the aid of the sun, and this process is called photosynthesis.
Autotrophs form the core of all biotic systems. In terrestrial ecosystems, autotrophs are
usually rooted plants. In the aquatic ecosystems, the floating plants referred to as
phytoplankton and the shallow water rooted plants – macrophytes - are the main producers.

HETEROTROPHS (from Greek: heteros - other; trophs - feeder) are the consumers,
normally animals that feed on the other organisms. Consumers are also referred to as
phagotrophs (phago - to swallow or ingest) while macro-consumers are normally herbivores
and carnivores. Herbivores are called First order or primary consumers, for they feed directly
on green plants. For example, Terrestrial ecosystem consumers are cattle, deer, grass hopper,
rabbit, etc. Aquatic ecosystem consumers are protozoans, crustaceans, etc. Carnivores are
animals that prey or feed on other animals. Second order consumers or Primary carnivores
include those animals that feed on herbivorous animals. For example, fox, frog, smaller
fishes, predatory birds, snakes, etc. Third order consumers or Secondary carnivores are the
animals that feed on primary carnivores. For example, wolf, owl, peacock, etc. Some larger
carnivores prey on Secondary carnivores. Quaternary consumers or Tertiary carnivores
include those animals which feed upon secondary carnivores. For example, the lion, the tiger,
etc. Those are not eaten by any other animal. The larger carnivores which cannot be preyed
on further are also called the top carnivores. SAPROTROPHS (from Greek again: sapros -
rotten; trophos - feeder) are called the reducers or decomposers or osmotrophs. They break
the complex organic compounds in dead matter down (dead plants and animals).
Decomposers don’t ingest the food. Instead they secrete a digestive enzyme into the dead,
decaying plant or animal remains and digest this organic material. The enzymes act on the
complex organic compounds in the dead matter. Decomposers absorb a bit of the
decomposition products to provide themselves with nourishment. The remaining substance is
added as minerals in the process of mineralisation to the substratum. Released minerals are
utilised or reused as nutrients by plants - the producers.