How often do we use the word "nature", sometimes not fully understanding what it means? We are talking about the fact that nature surrounds us, that we are going to go to nature, that its strength is great, but not unlimited.
Sometimes we even forget that there is animate and inanimate nature.
So what is nature? How do living organisms differ from inanimate objects or natural phenomena? Living and inanimate nature is a single whole, to which the entire material world of the Universe belongs. Nature is the main and only subject that is studied by all natural disciplines, all that has appeared and is living independently of humanity.
Everything that surrounds us is living and inanimate nature. The examples are endless: nature is man and plant, viruses and flowers, stones and air, water and mushrooms.
Living and inanimate nature differ from each other. The main characteristic of all living things is, expressed in scientific language, the ability to genetic changes, development, mutations and replications.
In simple terms, all living things are constantly growing, developing, breathing and multiplying. All organisms have common features: they need energy metabolism, are able to absorb and synthesize chemicals, and have their own genetic code. Animate and inanimate nature are also distinguished by their ability to transmit genetic information to all subsequent generations and mutate under the influence of the environment.
Inanimate nature does not have a genetic code, and therefore is not capable of transmitting genetic information. Inanimate objects, which include stones, mountains, chemical elements, cosmic bodies,
molecules, etc., can exist for centuries, and change only under the influence of the elements. For example, chemical elements are able to enter into reactions and create new, but also inanimate substances. Rocks can erode, oceans can dry out. However, none of these objects is capable of multiplying, dying, developing or mutating. This is the main thing that distinguishes living and inanimate nature from each other.
However, all of the above does not mean that between the concepts of "living" and "inanimate" lies the abyss. Not at all. Our world is designed in such a way that the living is inextricably linked with the inanimate. The destruction of inanimate nature entails the death of all living things. There are many examples of this in the history of the Earth. Unfortunately, one of the main factors in the destruction of nature is human activity.
Our grandiose projects to change the riverbed more than once led to the death of hundreds of animal species. The transformation of the
Aral Sea into a salty desert led to the destruction of more than twenty species of fish, several dozen species of animals, hundreds of species of different plants. Today, not only health is threatened, but also the gene pool of the local population.
There is a reverse example. The destruction of sparrows in China led to the propagation of pests and the death of the crop and, as a result, to desertification of the land.
The beautiful and vast world in which we appeared and live, nature, living and nonliving, are in a state of very fragile balance. This should be remembered when shooting animals while hunting, collecting primroses, breaking a small twig of the urban bush. It is necessary to upset this fragile balance, and only a chaos can remain from a beautiful world, unable to give birth to either the living or the dead.