In a broad sense, impact is the process of the active participation of one participant in an activity on another. In our world, nothing exists by itself. All organisms and objects in one way or another interact, influencing each other or experiencing influence on themselves.
Environmental factors
Ecology science considers several environmental factors, which are various conditions that affect the life of organisms. The first group is abiotic factors, including climate, topography, water quality, soil, atmosphere composition.
Biotic factors represent the interaction of living organisms with each other. Animals and plants can adapt to coexistence and even derive personal benefits from it, or, conversely, can compete with each other. As a result of life, they turn into environmental factors and are able to change the conditions of existence.
The third group is anthropogenic factors. Recently, they have played the most important role, as they reflect the influence of man on the world around him. This includes intentional and accidental interference on the part of people in the vital activity of organisms and environmental conditions.
Environment and organisms
Natural conditions, as a rule, act on the body in a complex. Together they represent a holistic system called the environment. Each individual species of living organisms requires certain environmental conditions for existence.
An important role is played by the gas composition of the atmosphere, salinity of water and soil, temperature conditions, rainfall and much more. At the same time, some environmental factors can enhance or reduce the effect of others. Four types of their interaction are distinguished depending on the result: monodominance, synergism, provocativeness and antagonism. Let's talk about them in more detail.
Monodominant influence is the suppression by one factor of all the others. Synergism is a process of positive mutual reinforcement. Antagonism, on the contrary, represents mutual oppression. For example, locusts are so actively destroying their food that a subsequent shortage of food also reduces its population. A provocative effect is a positive and negative effect on the body, in which the effect of the latter is enhanced by the influence of the former.
Anthropogenic impact on the environment
Anthropogenic impact is any human intervention in the laws of the world. The positive effect is manifested in the establishment of nature reserves and other protected natural areas. In this case, it is possible to preserve valuable landscapes, plants and protect rare species of animals from extinction.
Unfortunately, for the most part, people have a negative impact on the environment, and nature reserves are often an attempt to fix this. Human activities cover all existing environmental factors. One plant, for example, can simultaneously pollute soil, air and water. A change in at least one such factor inevitably leads to a change in the rest.
Air pollution can change climatic conditions, the changed composition of soils or water affects the vital activity of animals and plants. The anthropogenic factor is manifested in deforestation, waste throwing, poaching, construction of dams, reservoirs. Its influence is direct - a targeted action on a component of nature, or indirect - a random consequence of a direct action. For example, soil erosion after deforestation, etc.
Human exposure
The environment affects a person in the same way as other living beings. Often, it is the activities of people that are reflected in negative changes in the environment. Although changes in conditions are not always associated with this. The reasons can be natural disasters, cyclones, electromagnetic waves, changes in atmospheric pressure, precipitation.
An important component of human health is its mental state, which can be affected by the environment. In the modern urban world, the individual is stressed every day. The psychological burden bears everything: architectural structures, color schemes of buildings and interiors, noise, lighting, compositional solutions. All these components affect a person no less than natural factors.