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Environment (biophysical)

Environment (biophysical)

A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution.[1] A biophysical environment can vary in scale from microscopic to global in extent. It can also be subdivided according to its attributes. Examples include the marine environment, the atmospheric environment and the terrestrial environment.[2] The number of biophysical environments is countless, given that each living organism has its own environment.

The term environment can refer to a singular global environment in relation to humanity, or a local biophysical environment, e.g. the UK's Environment Agency.

Life-environment interaction

All life that has survived must have adapted to conditions of its environment. Temperature, light, humidity, soil nutrients, etc., all influence any species, within any environment. However life in turn modifies, in various forms, its conditions. Some long term modifications along the history of the planet have been significant, such as the incorporation of oxygen to the atmosphere. This process consisted in the breakdown of carbon dioxide by anaerobic microorganisms that used the carbon in their metabolism and released the oxygen to the atmosphere. This led to the existence of oxygen-based plant and animal life, the great oxygenation event.

Environmental science is the study of the interactions within the biophysical environment. Part of this scientific discipline is the investigation of the effect of human activity on the environment. Ecology, a sub-discipline of biology and a part of environmental sciences, is often mistaken as a study of human induced effects on the environment. Environmental studies is a broader academic discipline that is the systematic study of interaction of humans with their environment. It is a broad field of study that includes the natural environment, built environments and social environments.

Environmentalism is a broad social and philosophical movement that, in a large part, seeks to minimise and compensate the negative effect of human activity on the biophysical environment. The issues of concern for environmentalists usually relate to the natural environment with the more important ones being climate change, species extinction, pollution, and old growth forest loss.

One of the studies related include employing Geographic Information Science to study the biophysical environment.[3]

See also

  • Biophysics subject to the context

  • List of conservation topics

  • List of environmental issues

  • Lists of environmental topics

References

[1]
Citation Linkwww.biology-online.orgBiology online. "Environment. Definition". Retrieved 2012-03-15.
Sep 30, 2019, 2:48 AM
[2]
Citation Linkopenlibrary.orgKemp, David Walker (1998). Environment Dictionary. London, UK: Routledge.
Sep 30, 2019, 2:48 AM
[3]
Citation Linkwww.jstor.orgDeng, Y. X., and J. P. Wilson. 2006. “The Role of Attribute Selection in GIS Representations of the Biophysical Environment”. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 96 (1). [Association of American Geographers, Taylor & Francis, Ltd.]: 47–63. JSTOR 3694144.
Sep 30, 2019, 2:48 AM
[4]
Citation Link//doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10531-013-0476-610.1007/s10531-013-0476-6
Sep 30, 2019, 2:48 AM
[5]
Citation Linkwww.biology-online.org"Environment. Definition"
Sep 30, 2019, 2:48 AM
[6]
Citation Linkwww.jstor.org3694144
Sep 30, 2019, 2:48 AM
[7]
Citation Linkdoi.org10.1007/s10531-013-0476-6
Sep 30, 2019, 2:48 AM
[8]
Citation Linken.wikipedia.orgThe original version of this page is from Wikipedia, you can edit the page right here on Everipedia.Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Additional terms may apply.See everipedia.org/everipedia-termsfor further details.Images/media credited individually (click the icon for details).
Sep 30, 2019, 2:48 AM