Man post as part of the biosphere. Biosphere of earth

27.11.2020

The biosphere is understood as the totality of all living organisms on the planet. They inhabit all corners of the Earth: from the depths of the oceans, the bowels of the planet to airspace, so many scientists call this shell the sphere of life. The human race itself also lives in it.

Biosphere composition

The biosphere is considered the most global ecosystem on our planet. It consists of several areas. It includes, that is, all water resources and reservoirs of the Earth. This is the World Ocean, underground and surface waters. Water is both the living space of many living creatures and a necessary substance for life. It supports many processes.

The biosphere contains an atmosphere. There are various organisms in it, and it itself is saturated with various gases. Of particular value is oxygen, which is necessary for life for all organisms. Also, the atmosphere plays a vital role in nature, affects the weather and climate.

The lithosphere, namely the upper layer of the earth's crust, is part of the biosphere. It is inhabited by living organisms. So, insects, rodents and other animals live in the thickness of the Earth, plants grow, and people live on the surface.

The world and are the most important inhabitants of the biosphere. They occupy a huge space not only on earth, but also shallow in the depths, inhabit water bodies and are found in the atmosphere. Plant forms vary from mosses, lichens and grasses to shrubs and trees. As for animals, the smallest representatives are unicellular microbes and bacteria, and the largest are land and sea creatures (elephants, bears, rhinos, whales). They are all very diverse, and each species is important to our planet.

The value of the biosphere

The biosphere was studied by various scientists in all historical eras. Much attention was paid to this shell by V.I. Vernadsky. He believed that the biosphere is determined by the boundaries in which living matter lives. It is worth noting that all its components are interconnected, and changes in one sphere will lead to changes in all shells. The biosphere plays an essential role in the distribution of the planet's energy flows.

Thus, the biosphere is the living space of people, animals and plants. It contains the most important substances and natural resources such as water, oxygen, earth and others. It is greatly influenced by people. In the biosphere there is a cycle of elements in nature, life is in full swing and the most important processes are carried out.

Human influence on the biosphere

Human influence on the biosphere is controversial. With every century, anthropogenic activity becomes more intense, destructive and large-scale, therefore people contribute to the emergence of not only local environmental problems, but also global ones.

One of the results of human influence on the biosphere is a decrease in the number of flora and fauna on the planet, as well as the disappearance of many species from the face of the earth. For example, plant areas are decreasing due to agricultural activities and deforestation. Many trees, shrubs, grasses are secondary, that is, new species were planted instead of the primary vegetation cover. In turn, animal populations are destroyed by hunters not only for the sake of food, but also for the purpose of selling valuable skins, bones, shark fins, elephant tusks, rhino horns, and various body parts on the black market.

Anthropogenic activity has a rather strong effect on the process of soil formation. So, plowing of fields leads to wind and water erosion. A change in the composition of the vegetation cover leads to the fact that other species are involved in the process of soil formation, and, therefore, a different type of soil is formed. Due to the use of various fertilizers in agriculture, the discharge of solid and liquid waste into the ground, the physicochemical composition of the soil changes.

Demographic processes have a negative impact on the biosphere:

the population of the planet is growing, which more and more consumes natural resources;
the scale of industrial production is increasing;
more waste appears;
the area of \u200b\u200bagricultural land is increasing.

It should be noted that people contribute to the pollution of all layers of the biosphere. There is a huge variety of pollution sources today:

exhaust gases of vehicles;
particles released during fuel combustion;
radioactive substances;
petroleum products;
emissions of chemical compounds into the air;
municipal solid waste;
pesticides, mineral fertilizers and agricultural chemistry;
dirty drains from both industrial and municipal enterprises;
electromagnetic devices;
nuclear fuel;
viruses, bacteria and foreign microorganisms.

All this leads not only to changes in ecosystems and a decrease in biodiversity on earth, but also to climate change. Due to the influence of the human race on the biosphere, the melting of glaciers and, changes in the level of the oceans and seas, the fallout of acid precipitation, etc.

Over time, the biosphere becomes more and more unstable, which leads to the destruction of many of the planet's ecosystems. Many scientists and public figures are in favor of reducing the influence of the human community on nature in order to preserve the Earth's biosphere from destruction.

The material composition of the biosphere

The composition of the biosphere can be viewed from various points of view. If we talk about the material composition, then it includes seven different parts:

Living matter is the totality of living beings that inhabit our planet. They have an elementary composition, and in comparison with the rest of the shells, they have a low mass, they feed on solar energy, distributing it in the environment. All organisms constitute a powerful geochemical force, spreading unevenly across the earth's surface.
Biogenic substance. These are those mineral-organic and purely organic components that were created by living things, namely, combustible minerals.
Inert substance. These are inorganic resources that are formed without the fate of living beings, by themselves, that is, quartz sand, various clays, as well as water resources.
Bioinert substance obtained through the interaction of living and inert components. These are soil and rocks of sedimentary origin, atmosphere, rivers, lakes and other surface water areas.
Radioactive substances such as elements of uranium, radium, thorium.
Scattered atoms. They are formed from substances of terrestrial origin when they are affected by cosmic radiation.
Cosmic matter. Bodies and substances formed in outer space fall on the earth. It can be both meteorites and debris with cosmic dust.

Biosphere layers

It should be noted that all the shells of the biosphere are in constant interaction, so it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the boundaries of a particular layer. One of the most important shells is the aerosphere. It reaches a level of about 22 km above the ground, where there are still living things. In general, this is an airspace where all living organisms live. This shell contains moisture, energy from the Sun and atmospheric gases:

oxygen;
ozone;
argon;
nitrogen;
water vapor.

The number of atmospheric gases and their composition depends on the influence of living beings.

The geosphere is a constituent part of the biosphere; it includes the totality of living beings that inhabit the earth's firmament. This sphere includes the lithosphere, the world of flora and fauna, groundwater and the gas envelope of the earth.

A significant layer of the biosphere is the hydrosphere, that is, all bodies of water without groundwater. This shell includes the World Ocean, surface waters, atmospheric moisture and glaciers. The entire aquatic sphere is inhabited by living things - from microorganisms to algae, fish and animals.

If we talk in more detail about the hard shell of the Earth, then it consists of soil, rocks and minerals. Depending on the location environment, there are different types of soil, which differ in chemical and organic composition, depend on environmental factors (vegetation, water bodies, wildlife, anthropogenic influence). The lithosphere consists of a huge amount of minerals and rocks, which are presented in unequal quantities on earth. At the moment, more than 6 thousand minerals have been discovered, but only 100-150 species are most common on the planet:

quartz;
feldspar;
olivine;
apatite;
gypsum;
carnallite;
calcite;
phosphorites;
sylvinite, etc.

Depending on the amount of rocks and their economic use, some of them are valuable, especially fossil fuels, metal ores and precious stones.

As for the world of flora and fauna, it is a shell, which includes, according to various sources, from 7 to 10 million species. Presumably, about 2.2 million species live in the waters of the World Ocean, and about 6.5 million - on land. Representatives of the animal world live on the planet approximately 7.8 million, and plants - about 1 million. Of all known species of living things, no more than 15% are described, so it will take humanity hundreds of years to study and describe all existing species on the planet.

The relationship of the biosphere with other shells of the Earth

All constituent parts of the biosphere are closely related to other shells of the Earth. This manifestation can be seen in the biological cycle, when animals and people emit carbon dioxide, it is absorbed by plants, which release oxygen during photosynthesis. Thus, these two gases are constantly being regulated in the atmosphere due to the interconnection of different spheres.

One example is soil - the result of the interaction of the biosphere with other shells. This process involves living beings (insects, rodents, reptiles, microorganisms), plants, water (groundwater, atmospheric precipitation, water bodies), air mass (wind), parent rocks, solar energy, climate. All these components slowly interact with each other, which contributes to the formation of soil at an average rate of 2 millimeters per year.

When components of the biosphere interact with living shells, rocks are formed. As a result of the influence of living things on the lithosphere, deposits of coal, chalk, peat and limestone are formed. In the course of the mutual influence of living things, hydrosphere, salts and minerals, at a certain temperature, corals are formed, and from them, in turn, coral reefs and islands appear. It also allows you to regulate the salt composition of the waters of the World Ocean.

Various types of relief are a direct result of the relationship between the biosphere and other shells of the earth: the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere. A particular form of relief is influenced by the water regime of the area and precipitation, the nature of air masses, solar radiation, air temperature, what types of flora grow here, what animals inhabit this territory.

The value of the biosphere in nature

The importance of the biosphere as a global ecosystem of the planet can hardly be overestimated. Based on the functions of the shell of all living things, one can realize its significance:

Energy. Plants are intermediaries between the Sun and the Earth, and, receiving energy, part of it is distributed between all elements of the biosphere, and part is used to form biogenic matter.
Gas. It regulates the amount of different gases in the biosphere, their distribution, transformation and migration.
Concentration. All creatures selectively extract nutrients, so they can be both useful and dangerous.
Destructive. This is the destruction of minerals and rocks, organic substances, which contributes to a new turnover of elements in nature, during which new living and non-living substances appear.
Environment-forming. Affects environmental conditions, the composition of atmospheric gases, rocks of sedimentary origin and the land layer, the quality of the aquatic environment, as well as the balance of substances on the planet.

For a long time, the role of the biosphere was underestimated, since in comparison with other spheres, the mass of living matter on the planet is very small. Despite this, living beings are a powerful force of nature, without which many processes, as well as life itself, would be impossible. In the process of activity of living beings, their interrelationships, influence on inanimate matter, the very world of nature and the appearance of the planet are formed.

Role of Vernadsky in the study of the biosphere

For the first time, the doctrine of the biosphere was developed by Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky. He isolated this shell from other earthly spheres, actualized its meaning and imagined that this is a very active sphere that changes and affects all ecosystems. The scientist became the founder of a new discipline - biogeochemistry, on the basis of which the doctrine of the biosphere was substantiated.

Studying living matter, Vernadsky concluded that all forms of relief, climate, atmosphere, rocks of sedimentary origin are the result of the activity of all living organisms. One of the key roles in this is assigned to people who have a tremendous influence on the course of many earthly processes, being a certain element that owns a certain force capable of changing the face of the planet.

Vladimir Ivanovich presented the theory of all living things in his work "Biosphere" (1926), which contributed to the birth of a new scientific branch. The academician in his work presented the biosphere as an integral system, showed its components and their interconnections, as well as the role of man. When living matter interacts with inert matter, a number of processes are influenced:

geochemical;
biological;
biogenic;
geological;
migration of atoms.

Vernadsky indicated that the boundaries of the biosphere are the field of existence of life. Its development is influenced by oxygen and air temperature, water and mineral elements, soil and solar energy. The scientist also identified the main components of the biosphere, discussed above, and identified the main one - living matter. He also formulated all the functions of the biosphere.

Among the main provisions of Vernadsky's teaching about the living environment, the following theses can be distinguished:

the biosphere covers the entire aquatic environment to the ocean depths, includes the surface layer of the earth up to 3 kilometers and airspace to the border of the troposphere;
showed the difference between the biosphere and other shells by its dynamism and constant activity of all living organisms;
the specificity of this shell lies in the continuous circulation of elements of animate and inanimate nature;
the activity of living matter has led to significant changes throughout the planet;
the existence of the biosphere is due to the astronomical position of the Earth (distance from the Sun, the inclination of the planet's axis), which determines the climate, the course of life cycles on the planet;
solar energy is the source of life for all creatures of the biosphere.

Perhaps these are the key concepts about the living environment that Vernadsky laid down in his teaching, although his works are global and need further comprehension, they are relevant to this day. They became the basis for the research of other scientists.

Conclusion

Summing up, it should be noted that life in the biosphere is distributed in different ways and unevenly. A large number of living organisms live on the earth's surface, be it aquatic or dry land. All creatures are in contact with water, minerals and the atmosphere, being in continuous communication with them. This is what provides optimal conditions for life (oxygen, water, light, heat, nutrients). The deeper into the ocean water or underground, the more monotonous life is. Living matter also spreads over the area, and it is worth noting the diversity of life forms throughout the earth's surface. To understand this life, we will need more than a dozen years, or even hundreds, but we need to appreciate the biosphere and protect it from our harmful, human, influence today.

Biosphere- part of the Earth's shell inhabited by living organisms. Includes the upper lithosphere, hydrosphere, troposphere, and lower stratosphere. The doctrine of the biosphere was developed by Acad. V.I. Vernadsky.

Noosphere (from the Latin "noo" -mind, "intelligent shell" of the Earth) is a part of the biosphere in which human activity is manifested, both positive and negative.

Biomass of the Earth - the totality of all living organisms (living matter) of the planet. It is expressed in units of mass or energy per unit area or volume. The biomass of the Earth is 2.423 1012 tons, of which 97% are plants, 3% are animals.

Surface biomass land-the totality of all living organisms - plants, animals, microorganisms that inhabit the land.

Soil biomass-population living organisms that live in the soil and play a leading role in the process of soil formation. Soil organisms include the most important chemical compounds in the cycle of substances in the biosphere.

Humus (from Lat. "humus" - perennial) - organic matter of the soil, formed due to the decomposition of plant and animal residues and products of their vital activity. The amount of humus serves as an indicator of soil fertility, since it contains all the main elements of plant nutrition (the humus horizon of chernozem soils contains up to 30% humus).

Biomass of the World Ocean.the totality of all living organisms inhabiting the main part of the Earth's hydrosphere. Its biomass is 1000 times less than the biomass of land. since the use of solar energy in water is 0.04%, on land - 0<1-0,3%.

Biological productivity-quantity organic matter Produced for a certain time by organisms that are part of a particular biogeocenosis (meadows, forests, fields. reservoir). It is measured in units of mass, time and area.

Living matter - a set of living organisms (biomass) of the biosphere. It is an open system characterized by growth. reproduction, distribution, metabolism and energy with the external environment.

Functions of living matter: a) gas - constant gas exchange with the environment during the respiration of plants and animals and photosynthesis of plants; b) concentration-biogenic migration of atoms, which are first concentrated in living organisms, and then, after their withering away and mineralization, pass into inanimate nature; c) redox - metabolism and energy with the external environment: during dissimilation, organic substances are oxidized, heat energy is released and the energy of chemical bonds is accumulated in ATP, during assimilation, chemical substances necessary for the body are formed due to the assimilation and conversion of nutrients in animals. photosynthesis in green plants, using the energy of ATP.

Biochemistry - a science that studies the chemical composition of organisms and the chemical transformations of substances and energy that form the basis of the life of organisms.

Geochemistry-a science that studies the chemical composition of the Earth, the chemical elements in it and their stable isotopes, the regularities of the distribution of chemical elements in various geospheres, the laws of their behavior, combination and migration (concentration and dispersion) in natural processes.

Biogeochemistry - branch of geochemistry, which studies the geochemical processes occurring in the biosphere with the participation of organisms. It examines the role of organisms in the process of migration, distribution, dispersion and concentration of chemical elements in the earth's crust.

Human impact on the biosphere - a process in which the migration of atoms in the biosphere is sharply accelerated in comparison with natural biogeochemical processes. The number of elements included in the cycle increases and increases the pressure on the inorganic environment: an artificial shell of the Earth is created - noosphere. Cognition of the laws of human relations with the biosphere, rational management of processes occurring in nature, regulation of human relations with nature is the main task of ecology on a global scale. Man is a part of the biosphere, without which he cannot exist.

The cycle of substances - natural cyclic processes of transformation and movement of chemical elements. 98.3% of substances are included in the air cycle, 1.7% in the water cycle. O2, H2, N, C, etc. pass through the gaseous phase, Na, Mg, F, S, Cl pass through the aqueous phase. K et al.

Biological circulation - biogenic migration of atoms, circulation of substances are two opposite processes - the accumulation of elements in living organisms and mineralization as a result of the decomposition of dead organisms. The formation of living matter predominates on the land surface, in the upper layers of the seas, its mineralization - in the soil and the depths of the seas.

The nitrogen cycle - biogeochemical process in the biosphere, which involves decomposing organisms, as well as nitrifying and nodule bacteria.

Ammonification - decomposition (putrefaction) of proteins with the formation of ammonia (mineralization of organic matter). Carried out by reducers.

Nitrification - the process of oxidation of ammonia salts into nitric acid salts (stage I is the conversion of ammonia to nitrites, stage II is the conversion of nitrites to nitrates). It is carried out by soil nitrifying bacteria (nitrosomonas, nitrosobacter).

Denitrification - decomposition of nitric acid salts to form nitrogen gas. It is carried out by soil denitrifying bacteria.

Nitrogen fixation - the formation of nitrogenous compounds by fixing atmospheric nitrogen by free-living soil bacteria (azotobacter) or bacteria living in symbiosis with the roots of legumes (rhizobium nodule bacteria).

Energy transformation -transformation of the energy of solar radiation entering the Earth into the energy of chemical bonds. Carried out by green plants in the process of photosynthesis. It is spent on the vital processes of all living organisms, either released in the form of heat, or preserved in the earth's crust in the form of deposits of coal, oil, peat.

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Introduction

1. Biosphere and man

Conclusion

List of references

Introduction

The biosphere is the shell of the Earth, inhabited by living organisms and transformed by them. The biosphere was formed 500 million years ago, when the first organisms began to appear on our planet. It penetrates into the entire hydrosphere, the upper part of the lithosphere and the lower part of the atmosphere, that is, it inhabits the ecosphere. The biosphere is a collection of all living organisms. It is home to more than 3,000,000 species of plants, animals, fungi, bacteria and insects. Man is also a part of the biosphere, his activity surpasses many natural processes and, as V. I. Vernadsky said, "man becomes a powerful geological force."

The term "biosphere" was introduced in biology by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck at the beginning of the 19th century, and in geology it was proposed by the Austrian geologist Eduard Suess in 1875.

A holistic doctrine of the biosphere was created by the biogeochemist and philosopher V. I. Vernadsky. He for the first time assigned living organisms the role of the main transforming force of the planet Earth, taking into account their activity not only at the present time, but also in the past.

There is another, broader definition: The biosphere is the area of \u200b\u200bthe spread of life on a cosmic body. While the existence of life on space objects other than Earth is still unknown, it is believed that the biosphere can spread to them in more hidden areas, for example, in lithospheric cavities or in the subglacial oceans. For example, the possibility of the existence of life in the ocean of Jupiter's satellite Europa is being considered.

Over time, the biosphere becomes more and more unstable. There are several premature changes in the state of the biosphere, tragic for humanity, some of them are associated with human activity.

1. Biosphere and man

The course of historical changes in the relationship between nature and man led both to changes in nature and to changes in the forms of management. The forms of management changed due to the difficulties that arose from changes in nature. In turn, changes in the economy caused chain reactions in nature. This constant relationship is called the boomerang law, or the law of feedback of interaction between man and the biosphere of P. Dajo, or the fourth law of B. Commoner: "nothing is given for free."

The inevitability of retribution for the displacement of natural living communities is emphasized by the law of the indispensability of the biosphere, which was formulated by many famous scientists in their own way.

Due to the fact that anthropogenic transformations of natural systems have fairly clear limitations, particular patterns are revealed. The first of these generalizations is the Turgot-Malthus law of diminishing returns. Its modern interpretation: an increase in the specific investment in the agricultural system does not give an adequate proportional increase in its productivity (yield). Now the fall in the energy efficiency of agricultural production has become common knowledge. At present, in contrast to the primary biosphere, there is also a new state of nature - the biotechnosphere. According to this concept, the person of the future must design and form a new natural and technical environment, therefore, his activities should be considered as an integral part of the biosphere.

With regard to forecasting the transformation of the biosphere into the technosphere in the scientific community, two approaches have been developed. Some believe that the modern biosphere, from the point of view of human needs, is imperfect and requires significant improvement on the basis of a radical transformation of nature (this is precisely the direction the concept of the technosphere corresponds to). Other scientists deny the possibility of replacing the systems of nature with any technical adaptations and call for careful use of the laws and forces of nature for the benefit of mankind, since the forces of nature cannot be replaced by human labor. The following arguments are cited as the main evidence:

Nature is too complex to be easily controlled by humanity, let alone replaced with technical devices.

If the biosphere changes dramatically qualitatively, then it will not correspond to the biological needs of people.

Simplification of nature to the possibility of technical control of it by man would lead to harmful irreversible consequences.

The biosphere as a self-regulating system with powerful feedbacks should theoretically resist anthropogenic changes.

Any technical devices age quickly. Their maintenance costs increase in direct proportion to the wear and tear of the equipment. Consequently, the technosphere in the traditional sense of the term would become a huge economic burden for society.

With regard to the path of further development of man and the biosphere as a whole, Vernadsky adhered to a different opinion: he saw a new stage in the evolution of life not in the form of biogenesis, but as a stage in the development of reason, that is, noogenesis. The corresponding development of the noosphere, the sphere of reason on the basis of the biosphere, is a completely natural and inevitable stage in the rational regulation of the relationship between man and nature.

We will illustrate the relationship and interaction between man and nature with examples.

Before the emergence of intensive systems of economic development of natural territories, humans also harmoniously fit into the general circulation of substances in the biosphere. With the development of more and more advanced management methods, problems began to appear:

The development of hunting has led to the disappearance of large herbivores: mammoths, bison, bison, steller cows in Kamchatka, etc .;

The development of cattle breeding entailed the desertification of large territories in the arid zones of the planet;

The modern development of agriculture has led, first, to a significant reduction in the territories of natural biogeocenoses and, accordingly, to a reduction in biodiversity, which ensures the ecological sustainability of the environment; secondly, a person in the form of agricultural products removes from the fields most of the mineral elements necessary for plants, which previously remained in these territories, that is, the circulation of substances in local biogeocenoses is disrupted, which leads to a noticeable widespread depletion of soils and the need to use a large amount of mineral fertilizers. Exported products, instead of returning to the ground with the help of decomposers along with other human waste products, ends up in rivers, reservoirs, seas, causing a secondary complex of environmental problems (water pollution, blooming of reservoirs, death of the most sensitive species of aquatic organisms, fish, etc. etc.);

The development of industrial production, in addition to the spatial impact on the biota (displacement, reduction of living space often to critical sizes), has created the prerequisites for a number of technogenic crises: the greenhouse effect, ozone holes, environmental pollution, filling the earth's surface with non-assimilable biosphere and sometimes catastrophically harmful to it with industrial waste.

Here are some figures. Man now consumes 15% to 40% of the primary biological production of land or 25% of the global primary production. At the current rate of population growth, in 35 years people will consume up to 80% of primary land production, or 50% of the global one. But already now, as a result of the withdrawal of primary production, the destruction of ecological niches and environmental pollution, from 5000 (optimistic estimates) to 150,000 (pessimistic estimates) species from about 5-30 million species existing on Earth disappear annually - 105-106 times faster than in prehistoric times. Such rates significantly exceed any catastrophic restructuring of the biota in the past. This happens because a person literally deprives many organisms of food, destroys ecological niches, while narrowing the areas of organisms, which leads to the decay of the genome of populations.

Thus, until recently, the popular slogan of the conquerors of nature that "one cannot expect favors from nature: it is our task to take them from her", in practice, has led humanity to an ecological crisis.

In order to correct human behavior in relation to nature, B. Commoner formulated four laws, which, from the point of view of Reimers, in fact, are not so much laws as aphorisms:

Everything is connected to everything. Since all living organisms are included in the cycle of substances in nature, many intertwining direct, reverse, and indirect connections are formed between individuals, species, classes of living beings and the environment. Therefore, any change in the environment (matter, energy, information, other qualities of the environment) inevitably leads to the development of natural chain reactions, leading to the neutralization of the change or the formation of new natural systems. Moreover, the process can become irreversible even with a slight shift in an individual factor. For example, a very small percentage change in the content of nitrogen and sulfur oxides in the atmosphere led to acid precipitation, forest degradation in Europe, and the disappearance of fish in the lakes of Scandinavia.

Everything has to go somewhere. Above, an example of a crisis caused by environmental pollution due to industrial production based on the extraction and synthesis of substances and chemical compounds incompatible with the biological cycle was considered - they are in the form of products, materials or things for some time in economic use, and then inevitably fall into the environment. an environment that cannot cope with them, that is, neutralize or return to its original inert state.

Nature knows best. Connections and relationships in nature have been developing for millions of years, a person who imagines himself to be the creator of nature now begins to realize the limitations of his knowledge and capabilities. It becomes obvious that the wrong ideological attitudes of the "conqueror of nature" have led to the beginning of an ecological crisis. An environmental catastrophe may follow, with the complete elimination of the factor that caused the imbalance (that is, the person himself).

Nothing is given for free. In an ecological sense, this rule means that any success in the development of the anthroposphere, any breakthrough in population growth, labor intensity, in the technosphere is carried out at the expense of the biosphere, an increase in the environmental load on the natural environment, destruction of natural biogeocenoses. At present, the limit of sustainability of the entire world ecosystem has been reached. And not so much because of the inability of the biosphere to feed the existing population (there may be enough food for a much larger number of people), but because of the technogenic saturation that provides all the great cultural needs of man: the need for modern housing, personal vehicles, communications, luxury goods - this is the simplest reasons. Then there are scientific and technical projects, including the most expensive ones - space, the arms race, etc. The fascination with fashion for disposable consumer goods further increases the specific environmental load on the environment for each person, where food occupies a rather modest place.

As one of the examples of unproductive and irrational use of natural resources, leading to an unjustified load on the environment, we present the following situation. When the apartments have both hot and cold water, in order to brush our teeth, we turn on the tap, and while we are brushing our teeth, almost a bucket of water flows away. When there is no water in the tap, you can bring from a column, a spring, pour one glass of water from the reserves, and it will be enough for the same operation. This means that every day almost every resident spends one or two buckets of excess heated water. On a national scale, hundreds of factories work, spend electricity and fuel in order to pump this excess water, purify, disinfect, produce chemical reagents for all this, heat it up, and pass it through treatment facilities after use. These factories are served by a small army of transport, road services, repairmen, bureaucrats, etc. These processes require a territory taken from the biota. All this is accompanied by the release of pollutants and production wastes into the environment.

There is another example of the deliberate policy of many consumer goods manufacturing firms for the programmed fragility, disposability of their products - an increase in consumer demand or artificial acceleration of the processes of changing fashion for clothes and luxury goods, which also leads to an increase in the production of goods for landfills.

2. The current state of the natural environment

The global processes of formation and movement of living matter in the biosphere are connected and accompanied by the circulation of matter and energy. In contrast to purely geological processes, biogeochemical cycles with the participation of living matter have significantly higher intensity, speed and amount of matter involved in circulation.

With the emergence and development of mankind, the process of evolution has noticeably changed. In the early stages of civilization, deforestation and burning of forests for agriculture, cattle grazing, hunting and hunting for wild animals, wars devastated entire regions, led to the destruction of plant communities, the extermination of certain animal species. With the development of civilization, especially after the industrial revolution at the end of the Middle Ages, mankind acquired ever greater power, an ever greater ability to involve and use huge masses of matter - both organic, living, and mineral, inert to satisfy its growing needs.

The real shifts in biospheric processes began in the 20th century as a result of another industrial revolution. The rapid development of energy, mechanical engineering, chemistry, transport has led to the fact that human activity has become comparable in scale with natural energy and material processes occurring in the biosphere. The intensity of human consumption of energy and material resources grows in proportion to the size of the population and even outstrips its growth. VI Vernadsky wrote: "Man becomes a geological force capable of changing the face of the Earth." This warning was prophetically justified.

The consequences of anthropogenic (man-made) activities are manifested in the depletion of natural resources, pollution of the biosphere with industrial waste, destruction of natural ecosystems, changes in the structure of the Earth's surface, and climate change. Anthropogenic impacts lead to the disruption of almost all natural biogeochemical cycles.

biosphere atmosphere soil pollution

3. The atmosphere is the outer shell of the biosphere. Air pollution

The mass of the atmosphere of our planet is negligible - only one millionth of the mass of the Earth. However, its role in the natural processes of the biosphere is enormous: it determines the general thermal regime of the surface of our planet, protects it from the harmful effects of cosmic and ultraviolet radiation. The circulation of the atmosphere affects the local climatic conditions, and through them - on the regime of rivers, soil and vegetation cover, and relief formation processes.

The modern composition of the atmosphere is the result of a long historical development of the globe. The composition of the atmosphere is oxygen, nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide and inert gases.

In the course of his activities, a person pollutes the environment. Above cities and industrial areas, the concentration of gases in the atmosphere increases, which are usually found in very small quantities in rural areas or are completely absent. Polluted air is harmful to health. In addition, harmful gases, combining with atmospheric moisture and falling out in the form of acid rain, deteriorate the quality of the soil and reduce the yield.

According to scientists, every year in the world as a result of human activity, 25.5 billion tons of carbon oxides, 190 million tons of sulfur oxides, 65 million tons of nitrogen oxides, 1.4 million tons of freons, organic lead compounds, hydrocarbons, including carcinogenic, a large amount of solid particles (dust, soot, soot).

Global air pollution affects the state of natural ecosystems, especially the green cover of our planet.

Acid rains, mainly caused by sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, cause enormous damage to forest biocenoses. Forests, especially conifers, suffer from them.

The main cause of air pollution is the combustion of fossil fuels and metallurgical production. If in the 19th and early 20th centuries the combustion products of coal and liquid fuel entering the environment were almost completely assimilated by the vegetation of the Earth, now the content of combustion products is steadily increasing. A number of pollutants are released into the air from stoves, furnaces, and car exhaust pipes. Sulfurous anhydride stands out among them - a poisonous gas easily soluble in water. The concentration of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere is especially high in the vicinity of copper smelters. It causes the destruction of chlorophyll, underdevelopment of pollen grains, drying and falling of leaves and needles.

As a result of burning various fuels, about 20 billion tons of carbon dioxide are emitted into the atmosphere annually. Anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide exceed natural emissions and currently account for a large share of its amount, violate the transparency of the atmosphere, and therefore its heat balance. Half of the carbon dioxide from fossil fuels is absorbed by the ocean and green plants, and half is left in the air. The content of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is gradually increasing and has increased by more than 10% over the past 100 years. Carbon dioxide prevents thermal radiation into outer space, creating the so-called "greenhouse effect" there. an increase in the average temperature of the atmosphere by several degrees, which can cause melting of the glaciers of the polar regions, an increase in the level of the World Ocean, a change in its salinity, temperature and other adverse consequences. Thus, changes in the content of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere significantly affect the Earth's climate.

4. Water is the basis of life processes in the biosphere. Pollution of natural waters

Water is the most abundant inorganic compound on the planet; water is the basis of all life processes, the only source of oxygen in the main driving process on Earth - photosynthesis.

With the advent of life on Earth, the water cycle has become relatively complex. to the simple phenomenon of evaporation, more complex processes associated with the vital activity of living organisms, especially humans, were added.

The constant increase in water consumption on the planet leads to the danger of "water hunger", which necessitates the development of measures for the cost-effective use of water resources.

In addition to the high flow rate, water shortage is caused by its growing pollution due to the discharge of industrial wastes into rivers, and especially chemical production and communication wastewater. Bacterial contamination and toxic chemicals (such as phenol) lead to the death of water bodies. Harmful substances entering the water: oil, oil products (as a result of oil production, transportation, processing, use of oil as fuel and industrial raw materials), toxic synthetic substances (used in industry, transport, in public utilities), metals (mercury , lead, zinc, copper, chromium, tin, manganese). Mole rafting along rivers, which is often accompanied by congestion, also has harmful consequences.

5. Soil is an important component of the biosphere. Soil pollution

Soil - the top layer of land, formed under the influence of plants, animals, microorganisms and climate from the parent rocks on which it is located. It is an important and complex component of the biosphere, closely related to its other parts.

Under normal natural conditions, all processes occurring in the soil are in balance. But often a person is guilty of disturbing the equilibrium state of the soil. As a result of the development of human economic activity, pollution, changes in the composition of the soil and even its destruction occur.

The fertile soil layer takes a very long time to form. At the same time, tens of millions of tons of nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus - the main components of plant nutrition - are removed from the soil annually along with the harvest. The main factor of soil fertility - humus (humus) is contained in chernozems in an amount of less than 5% of the mass of the arable layer. On poor soils, humus is even less.

In the absence of replenishment of soils with nitrogen compounds, its reserve can be used up in 50-100 years. This does not happen, since the culture of agriculture provides for the introduction of organic and inorganic (mineral) fertilizers into the soil.

Contamination of the soil cover with mercury (with pesticides and industrial waste), lead (during lead smelting and from vehicles), iron, copper, zinc, manganese, nickel, aluminum and other metals (near large centers of ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy), radioactive elements (in as a result of precipitation from atomic explosions or during the disposal of liquid and solid waste from industrial enterprises, nuclear power plants or research institutes associated with the study and use of atomic energy), persistent organic compounds used as pesticides. They accumulate in soil and water and, most importantly, are included in ecological food chains: they pass from soil and water into plants, animals, and eventually pass into the human body with food. Unskillful and uncontrolled use of any fertilizers and pesticides leads to disruption of the circulation of substances in the biosphere.

Anthropogenic changes in soils include erosion (from the Latin erosio - to eat away). The destruction of forests and natural grass cover, repeated plowing of the land without observing the rules of agricultural technology lead to soil erosion - the destruction and washout of the fertile layer by water and wind. The most destructive water erosion is also widespread. It occurs on slopes and develops with improper tillage. Together with melt and rainwater, millions of tons of soil are annually carried away from the fields to rivers and seas.

6. The influence of man on flora and fauna

Human impact on wildlife consists of direct impact and indirect changes in the natural environment. One of the forms of direct impact on plants and animals is logging. Finding themselves suddenly in an open habitat, the plants of the lower layers of the forest are adversely affected by direct sunlight. In thermophilic plants of herbaceous and shrub layers, chlorophyll is destroyed, growth is inhibited, and some species disappear. Light-loving plants that are resistant to high temperatures and lack of moisture are settled in the felling sites. The fauna is also changing: species associated with the stand disappear or migrate to other places.

Massive visits to forests by vacationers and tourists have a tangible effect on the state of the vegetation cover. In these cases, the harmful effect consists in trampling, compaction of the soil and its pollution.

Woody plants dry up. The direct influence of man on the animal world consists in the extermination of species that are food or other material benefits for him.

The disappearance of a relatively small number of animal and plant species may not seem very significant. However, the main value of living species is not their only meaning.

Each species occupies a certain place in the biocenosis, in the food chain, and no one can replace it. The disappearance of a particular species leads to a decrease in the stability of biocenoses.

Conclusion

Mankind, in its striving to improve the conditions of existence, is constantly increasing the rate of material production, without thinking about the consequences. For example, modern man has increased the volume of pollution habitual to nature so much that it does not have time to process them. Moreover, he began to generate such pollution, for the processing of which there are no corresponding species in nature, and for some pollution, for example, radioactive, they will never appear. Therefore, the "refusal" of the biosphere to process the fruits of human activity will inevitably act as an increasingly growing ultimatum factor in relation to man. Therefore, the future of man as a biological species is predictable: an ecological crisis and a decline in numbers.

List of references

1. Kriksunov E.A., Pasechnik V.V., Sidorin A.P., Ecology, M., Publishing House "Drofa", 2008.

2. General biology. Reference materials. M., Bustard, 2005.

3. General biology. Textbook for secondary specialized educational institutions. S.G. Mamontov, V.B. Zakharov, M., High School 2007

4. Chernova NM, Bylova AM, Ecology. Textbook for pedagogical institutes, M., Education, 2006.

5. Man and ecology: [Collection / Ed. N. Filippovsky]. - M .: Knowledge, 2006 .-- 96 p.

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Biosphere and noosphere

The biosphere consists of two components:

biotic or living;
abiotic or inanimate.

Living and nonliving matter of the biosphere circulate substances and influence each other. Thanks to geochemical and climatic factors, life originated on Earth. At the same time, living organisms have an impact on inanimate matter, changing the relief, geological layers, and the atmosphere. Humanity also has an impact on living organisms and inanimate nature.

Vladimir Vernadsky, who created the doctrine of the biosphere, singled out the appearance and activity of man into a separate sphere - the noosphere. Literally, the term is translated as "the sphere of the mind." Vernadsky believed that the noosphere is a part of the biosphere, transformed by human labor and mind. Conscious human activity has become a factor in the development of the biosphere.

Humanity and the biosphere

The interaction between man and the biosphere has two sides:

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biological;
social.

From a biological point of view, the relationship between man and nature does not go beyond energy consumption. Humanity, despite the developed mind, like all living organisms, needs main natural resources:

water;
air;
food.

For the implementation of metabolism, water, oxygen, nutrients are needed every day. As heterotrophs, people directly affect the number of living organisms and the cycle of substances in nature.

Unlike other living things, mankind needs specific resources to help live in society.
For industry and production are used:

oil;
ore;
wood.

With the help of the biosphere, mankind builds cities, lays roads, sews clothes, designs vehicles. However, with the increase in the number of people, natural resources are proportionally depleted. That is why humanity is looking for alternative fuels, synthesizing chemicals, cultivating animals and plants. Without the development of economic activity, mankind was doomed to extinction, because human needs outstrip the capabilities of the biosphere.

Figure: 1. Interaction between man and the biosphere.

In order not to depend on the state of the biosphere, humanity has established its own production. However, with the development of industry, the products of human activity began to accumulate in the environment and affect the state of the biosphere as a whole, which affects human life and health.

Influence - Pros and Cons

Despite the fact that humanity came out of nature and still needs basic natural resources, the human influence on the biosphere is more negative than positive. The desire for independence and a better life negatively affects ecological systems and, in one way or another, affects human life.

The negative impact of human activity:

changing the landscape in the course of mining, construction of cities, factories;
pollution of soil, water, atmosphere with pesticides and waste products of society (plastic, metal, rubber);
violation of the ecological balance, which leads to a change in the natural community (forests turn into deserts);
destruction of the animal world (pest control, destruction of natural habitats);
climate change due to the accumulation of gases in the atmosphere;
radioactive, oil, chemical pollution.

Figure: 2. The negative impact of man on nature.

Awareness of the scale of the negative impact helped to create ecology - the science of preserving natural resources and the role of humanity in the development of the biosphere. Ecology studies the interaction of living organisms with each other and with the environment.

Human activity within the framework of ecology is positive.
Environmentalists are engaged in:

planting forests and plants;
water purification;
restoration of soil fertility;
preservation of endangered species due to the fault of mankind.

Environmental Protection

Nature is of great importance in human life. The state of the environment affects the health and duration of human life. Therefore, humanity needs to decide two tasks:

to establish rational nature management;
learn to manage the biosphere without harming oneself and other organisms.

One of the examples of nature restoration is the creation of protected areas. However, this is not enough to put the biosphere in order, because for a long time mankind did not think about the consequences of its activities. Environmentalists have yet to solve problems with landfills, chemical pollution, climate change.

Figure: 3. Restoration of the biosphere.

What have we learned?

We briefly learned about the biosphere and the noosphere, the interaction of humanity and the environment, the dependence of human life on the biosphere, as well as the positive and negative impact of humanity on nature.

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Man is part of the biosphere. The role of humans in the biosphere

Biosphere- part of the Earth's shell inhabited by living organisms. Includes the upper lithosphere, hydrosphere, troposphere and lower stratosphere. The doctrine of the biosphere was developed by Acad. V.I. Vernadsky.
Human impact on the biosphere - a process in which the migration of atoms in the biosphere is sharply accelerated in comparison with natural biogeochemical processes. The number of elements included in the cycle increases and increases the pressure on the inorganic environment: an artificial shell of the Earth is created - noosphere. Cognition of the laws of human relations with the biosphere, reasonable management of processes occurring in nature, regulation of human relations with nature is the main task of ecology on a global scale. Man is a part of the biosphere, without which he cannot exist.

Biosphere, its structure and functions. About 60 years ago, the outstanding Russian scientist Academician V.I. Vernadsky developed the doctrine of the biosphere - the shell of the Earth inhabited by living organisms. IN AND. Vernadsky extended the concept of the biosphere not only to organisms, but also to the environment. He revealed the geological role of living organisms and showed that their activity is the most important factor in the transformation of the mineral shells of the planet. He wrote: "On the earth's surface there is no chemical force that is more permanently acting, and therefore more powerful in its ultimate consequences than living organisms taken as a whole." It is more correct, therefore, to define the biosphere as the shell of the Earth, which is inhabited and transformed by living beings. The biosphere consists of: - living substance formed by a set of organisms; -biogenic substance, which is created in the process of vital activity of organisms (atmospheric gases, coal, limestone, etc.); - stranded matter, formed without the participation of living organisms (basic rocks, volcanic lava, meteorites); - bioinert substance, which is a joint result of the vital activity of organisms and abiogenic processes (soil). The evolution of the biosphere is due to three closely interconnected groups of factors: the development of our planet as a cosmic body and the chemical transformations taking place in its depths, the biological evolution of living organisms and the development of human society.

WORKS OF VERNADSKY

Central to this concept is the concept of living matter, which V.I. Vernadsky defines it as a collection of living organisms. In addition to plants and animals, V.I. Vernadsky also includes humanity, whose influence on geochemical processes differs from the influence of other living beings, firstly, in its intensity, which increases with the course of geological time; secondly, by the effect that human activity has on the rest of living matter. This impact affects primarily the creation of numerous new species of cultivated plants and domestic animals. Such species did not exist before and without human help either die or turn into wild breeds. Therefore, Vernadsky considers the geochemical work of living matter in the inextricable connection of the animal, vegetable kingdom and cultural humanity as the work of a single whole. Since living matter is a defining component of the biosphere, it can be argued that it can exist and develop only within the framework of an integral biosphere system. It is no coincidence that V.I. Vernadsky believes that living organisms are a function of the biosphere and are closely connected materially and energetically with it, are a huge geological force that determines it. Despite some contradictions, Vernadsky's doctrine of the biosphere represents a new major step in understanding not only living nature, but also its inseparable connection with the historical activity of mankind.

ANTHROPOGENIC FACTORS

In the modern era, human activities have a huge impact on the natural conditions of the entire planet. The flora and fauna of the land have been especially changed. Many species of animals are completely destroyed by humans, and even more species are under threat of extinction.

The vegetation cover on most of the surface of the continents has undergone tremendous changes. In vast areas, wild vegetation has been destroyed and replaced by agricultural fields, the forests that have survived to this day are largely secondary, that is, they are greatly modified as a result of human impact in comparison with the natural vegetation cover. Large changes have also taken place in the vegetation cover of many areas of the steppes and savannahs due to the intensive grazing of livestock. Human impact on the natural vegetation cover had a noticeable effect on the process of soil formation in accordance with the regions and led to a change in the physical and chemical properties of soils. The soils in agricultural fields changed even more due to their systematic cultivation, the use of fertilizers and the removal of a significant part of the biomass of growing plants. In many areas, tillage has led to increased erosion, as a result of which the soil cover over large areas has been destroyed.

The influence of human activity on the hydrological regime of the land is growing rapidly. The runoff of not only small, but also many large rivers has been significantly changed as a result of the creation of hydraulic structures. A significant part of the river runoff water is withdrawn to meet the needs of industry and the urban population, irrigation of agricultural fields. The creation of large reservoirs, the area of \u200b\u200bwhich in many cases is comparable to the area of \u200b\u200blarge natural lakes, dramatically changes the regime of evaporation and runoff over vast territories.

Human pollution of the atmosphere, waters of continents and oceans is gaining increasing proportions.

Although many of the above changes in the nature of conditions have an adverse effect on human life and activities, the question of whether such changes can be considered manifestations of an ecological crisis is far from simple.

The ecological crisis for the era of the existence of human society is defined as an irreparable deterioration of the human environment, that is, such a change in it that cannot be established by man in more or less short examples of environmental crises of the past.

The question of the extent to which modern adverse changes in natural conditions are irreparable deserves much attention. Leaving aside for the time being anthropogenic climate changes, we note that the experience of recent decades confirms the fundamental possibility, using modern achievements of science and technology, to eliminate many of the changes in the natural environment that have now arisen unfavorable for humans.

Reforestation and other natural vegetation cover is widely rehabilitated in many countries. Sometimes this task is successfully solved by simple means, for example, by limiting the grazing of livestock. In other cases, more expensive measures are required, which, however, are usually available even for economically less developed countries.

RELATIONSHIP OF NATURE AND SOCIETY

The elementary structural unit of the biospheric level of organization of life on Earth is the biogeocenosis. A biogeocenosis is an area of \u200b\u200bthe earth's surface (together with soil, water components of the environment and the surrounding atmosphere) occupied by a biocenosis - a collection of plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms interconnected and forming a “life community”. Biogeosenoses are elementary components of the Earth's biosphere. Biogeocenosis is an energetically open system. Taken together, biogeocenoses form the Earth's biosphere. In it (biosphere) people are one of the links of the entire system, therefore its integrity and stable functioning is a necessary condition for the existence of mankind. The immediate benefits that animals and plants bring to humans cannot be overstated. In addition, they occupy a significant place in the spiritual life of man - art, science, communication between man and nature. Therefore, the flora and fauna must be preserved with all changes in the appearance of the Earth, in the conditions of constant growth of industry and an increase in population. By extracting and processing metal ores, burning fossil fuels for energy, raising domestic animals and agricultural plants for food, a person significantly changes the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the planetary cycle of substances. The volume of substances and energy involved in anthropogenic or technological exchange is constantly increasing, hence the influence of society on nature is growing. Natural resources processed in the course of anthropogenic exchange give products that are used by humans and waste - mostly compounds alien to nature, which are not included in natural cycles, that is, they do not decompose, as, for example, products made of polymer materials. Even 30… .40 years ago, the volume and toxicity of technogenic emissions as a whole did not exceed the biosphere's ability to absorb and neutralize them. Today, they reach the limit of the self-purification capabilities of biogeocenoses. For example, the amount of oil that gets into the oceans and seas when leaking out during extraction, transportation, processing and use is many times higher than its natural leakage into the hydrosphere; almost half of gaseous sulfur compounds are brought into the atmosphere by industry. The absolute amount of radioactive elements, mercury, lead, pesticides, synthetic detergents, freons, etc. entering the biosphere with production wastes is still small, but they are very poisonous, capable of accumulating in living organisms and gradually accumulating in the environment. The extermination of many species of animals and plants, deflation and erosion of soil, pollution of water and air - all these are the changes that accompany the disturbance of the balanced cycle of substances and the flow of energy in nature caused by the production activities of people. Therefore, concrete transformations aimed at bringing technological exchange to a certain state with natural biochemical cycles of migration of substances have become urgent. In other words, it is necessary to learn how to apply technology in all branches of material production that will ensure optimal relations between nature and society.

Biosphere and man

Modern man was formed about 30-40 thousand years ago. Since that time, a new factor, anthropogenic, began to act in the evolution of the biosphere. The first culture created by man, the Paleolithic (Stone Age), lasted approximately 20-30 thousand years; it coincided with a long period of rejuvenation. The economic basis for the life of human society was the hunt for large animals: red deer and reindeer, woolly rhinoceros, donkey, horse, mammoth, tur. Numerous bones of wild animals are found at the sites of a Stone Age man - evidence of a successful hunt. The intensive extermination of large herbivores led to a relatively rapid decline in their numbers and the extinction of many species. If small herbivores could compensate for the losses from pursuit by hunters due to the high birth rate, then large animals, due to evolutionary history, were deprived of this opportunity. Additional difficulties for herbivores arose due to changes in natural conditions at the end of the Paleolithic. 10-13 thousand years ago, there was a sharp warming, the glacier retreated, forests spread to Europe, large animals died out. This created new living conditions, destroyed the existing economic base of human society. The period of its development, characterized only by the use of food, has ended, i.e. purely consumer attitude towards the environment. In the next era - the Neolithic - along with hunting (for a horse, wild sheep, red deer, wild boar, bison, etc.), fishing and gathering (shellfish, nuts, berries, fruits), the process of food production becomes increasingly important. ... The first attempts at domestication of animals and plant breeding were made, and the production of ceramics was born. Already 9-10 thousand years ago there were settlements, among the remains of which wheat, barley, lentils, bones of domestic animals - goats, sheep, pigs are found. The rudiments of an agricultural and cattle-breeding economy are developing in different parts of Western and Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Southern Europe. Fire is widely used - both for the destruction of vegetation in conditions of slash farming, and as a means of hunting. The development of mineral resources began, metallurgy was born. Population growth, a qualitative leap in the development of science and technology over the past two centuries, especially today, have led to the fact that human activity has become a factor on a planetary scale, a directing force for the further evolution of the biosphere. IN AND. Vernadsky believed that the influence of scientific thought and human labor caused the transition of the biosphere to a new state - the noosphere (the sphere of reason). The sphere of interaction between society and nature, within which intelligent activity appears to be the main determining factor in the development of the biosphere and humanity, is called the noosphere. For the first time the term "noosphere" in 1926 - 1927. French scientists E. Lecroix (1870 - 1954) and P. Teilhard de Chardin (1881 - 1955) used the meaning of "new cover", "thinking layer", which, having originated at the end of the Tertiary period, unfolds outside the biosphere over the world of plants and animals ... In their view, the noosphere is an ideal, spiritual ("thinking") shell of the Earth, which arose with the emergence and development of human consciousness. The merit of filling this concept with materialistic content belongs to Academician V.I. Vernadsky (1965, 1978). In the view of V.I. Vernadsky, man is a part of living matter, subject to the general law of organization of the biosphere, outside of which it cannot exist. Man is part of the biosphere, the eminent scientist argued. The goal of social development should be to preserve the organization of the biosphere. However, the preservation of its primary organization - "untouched nature" - does not carry the creative principle into a powerful geological force. “And before him, before his thought and work, there is a question of restructuring the biosphere in the interests of free-thinking mankind as a whole. This new state of the biosphere, to which we are approaching without noticing it, is the“ noosphere. ”The noosphere is a qualitatively new stage the evolution of the biosphere, in which new forms of its organization are created as a new unity arising as a result of the interaction of nature and society, where the laws of nature are closely intertwined with the socio-economic laws of the development of society, forming the highest material integrity of “humanized nature.” V. I. Vernadsky , who foresaw the onset of the era of the scientific and technological revolution in the XX century, considered scientific thought to be the main prerequisite for the transition of the biosphere into the noosphere. Its material expression in the biosphere transformed by man is labor. The unity of thought and labor not only creates a new social essence of man, but also predetermines the transition of the biosphere into noosphere. "Science is maximum power with the creation of the noosphere "- this is the main position of VI Vernadsky in the doctrine of the biosphere, which calls for transforming and not destroying the oecumene.

Natural resources and their use. Now man uses for his needs more and more of the planet's territory and more and more mineral resources. Biological, including food, resources of the planet determine the possibilities of human life on Earth, and mineral and energy resources serve as the basis of material production of human society. Among the natural resources of the planet, there are inexhaustible and exhaustible resources. Inexhaustible resources. Inexhaustible natural resources are subdivided into space, climatic and water resources. This is the energy of solar radiation, sea waves, wind. Taking into account the huge mass of the air and water environment of the planet, atmospheric air and water are considered inexhaustible. The selection is relative. For example, fresh water can be considered as an exhaustible resource, since in many regions of the world there is an acute shortage of water. We are already talking about the unevenness of its distribution, and the impossibility of its use due to pollution. The oxygen of the atmosphere is conventionally considered an inexhaustible resource. Modern environmental scientists believe that with the current level of technology for using air and water, these resources can be considered as inexhaustible only when developing and implementing large-scale programs aimed at their restoration. Exhaustible resources. They are divided into renewable and non-renewable. Renewable includes flora and fauna, soil fertility. Non-renewable resources include minerals. Their use by humans began in the Neolithic era. The first metals to be used were native gold and copper. They knew how to mine and smelt ores containing copper, as well as tin, silver, lead, already 4 thousand years before our era. At present, man has drawn into the sphere of his industrial activity the majority of the known mineral ores, coal, oil and gas. Scientific and technological progress opens up ever new areas of application of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, various non-metallic raw materials. As a result, the development of poor ores is expanding, and oil production from the seabed is increasing. More and more territories are involved in the economic turnover, the use of timber and game animals is growing. Significant land areas are being cultivated in order to grow plant food and create a forage base for animal husbandry. In modern conditions, a significant part of the Earth's surface is plowed up or is fully or partially cultivated pastures for domestic animals. The development of industry and agriculture required large areas for the construction of cities, industrial enterprises, the development of minerals, the construction of communications. In total, thus, about 20% of the land has been transformed by human activity. Significant areas of the land surface are excluded from human economic activity due to the accumulation of industrial waste on it and the impossibility of using areas where the development and extraction of minerals is carried out. On the adjacent territories, quarries are created, waste heaps - earthen cones, sinkhole craters that arise in places of voids underground. Of the renewable natural resources, forests play an important role in human life. The forest is of great importance as a geographical and ecological factor. Forests prevent soil erosion, retain surface water, i.e. serve as moisture accumulators, help maintain the level of groundwater. The forests are inhabited by animals of material and aesthetic value for humans: hoofed animals, fur animals and other game. In our country, forests occupy about 760 million hectares, or 33% of all its land, and are one of the main natural resources. Despite the long history of cultivated agriculture, wildlife continues to serve as an essential source of food for humans. First of all, this is fishing. Vitamins are obtained from fish, fodder meal for livestock, low-value fish varieties are processed into fertilizer for fields. The bulk of fish wealth is concentrated in the seas. An important object of marine fishing is aquatic mammals. The whale harvest is several tens of thousands of individuals per year. The value of wild plants and animals for humans is not limited to nutritional value. The overwhelming majority of them are necessary as mandatory components of biocenoses (biocenosis is an integral group of populations with a common habitat that differs from other neighboring territories in the chemical composition of soil, water and a number of other physical indicators: climate, humidity, etc.), without them the concept of “ nature ”simply loses its meaning. Plants, such as medicinal plants, bring tangible benefits to humans. Wild species are still the starting material for breeding. Among wild animals there are species that are promising for domestication. The organic world for a person is the basis for satisfying his nutritional needs, as well as partly satisfying raw material needs in his daily economic activities. Unfortunately, a number of species of organisms have partially or completely lost their significance due to predatory farming. Extinct species of animals and plants cannot be restored. Now we are still able to preserve those species of animals and plants that are on the verge of complete destruction: hunting for certain species is prohibited, the natural habitat of such organisms is preserved (reserves, protected zones, etc.). For food and raw material needs, new, previously unused species of organisms are involved, especially those inhabiting the oceans. Thus, humanity intensively consumes both living and mineral natural resources. However, this use of the environment has its negative consequences. Consequences of human economic activity for the environment. In accordance with population density, the degree of human impact on the environment also changes. However, at the current level of development of the productive forces, the activity of human society affects the biosphere as a whole. Humanity with its social laws of development and powerful technology is quite capable of influencing the secular course of biospheric processes. Air pollution ... In the course of his activity, a person pollutes the air. Over cities and industrial areas, the concentration of gases in the atmosphere increases, which in rural areas are contained in very small quantities or are completely absent. Polluted air is harmful to health. In addition, harmful gases, combining with atmospheric moisture and falling out in the form of acid rains, deteriorate the quality of the soil and reduce the yield. The main causes of air pollution are the combustion of fossil fuels and metallurgical production. If in the 19th century the products of combustion of coal and liquid fuel entering the environment were almost completely assimilated by the vegetation of the Earth, then now the content of harmful combustion products is steadily increasing. A number of pollutants are released into the air from stoves, furnaces, and car exhaust pipes. Among them, sulfurous anhydride, a poisonous gas, readily soluble in water, stands out. The concentration of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere is especially high in the vicinity of copper smelters. Solutions of sulfurous and sulfuric acids, falling with rains on the Earth's surface, harm living organisms and destroy buildings. The soil becomes acidic, humus (humus) is washed out of it - an organic substance containing components necessary for plant development. In addition, the amount of calcium, magnesium, potassium salts decreases in it. In acidic soils, the number of animal species living in it also decreases, the rate of decomposition of litter is slowed down. All this creates unfavorable conditions for plant growth. Billions of tons of CO2 are released into the atmosphere each year from fuel combustion. Half of the carbon dioxide from fossil fuels is absorbed by the ocean and green plants, and half is left in the air. CO2 prevents thermal radiation into space, creating the so-called "greenhouse effect". Changes in atmospheric CO2 have a significant impact on the Earth's climate. Industrial enterprises and automobiles cause many toxic compounds to enter the atmosphere - nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, lead compounds, various hydrocarbons - acetylene, ethylene, methane, propane, etc. Together with water droplets they form a poisonous fog - smog, which has a harmful effect on the human body, on urban vegetation. Liquid and solid particles (dust) suspended in the air reduce the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface. Freshwater pollution ... The use of water resources is rapidly increasing. This is due to the growth of the population and the improvement of the sanitary and hygienic conditions of human life, the development of industry and irrigated agriculture. A huge amount of water is used in industry. More water is needed for irrigation. The constant increase in water consumption on the planet leads to the danger of "water hunger", which necessitates the development of measures for the rational use of water resources. In addition to the high flow rate, water shortage is caused by its growing pollution due to the discharge of industrial and especially chemical waste into rivers. Bacterial contamination and toxic chemicals (such as phenol) lead to the death of water bodies. Rafting of forests along rivers, which is often accompanied by congestion, also has harmful consequences. With a long stay of wood in water, it loses its business qualities, and substances washed out from it have a detrimental effect on fish. Rivers and lakes also receive mineral fertilizers washed out from the soil by rains - nitrates and phosphates, which in high concentrations can dramatically change the species composition of water bodies, as well as various pesticides - pesticides used in agriculture to combat insect pests. For aerobic organisms living in fresh waters, the discharge of warm waters by enterprises is also an unfavorable factor. Oxygen is poorly soluble in warm water and its deficiency can lead to death of many organisms. World ocean pollution ... The waters of the seas and oceans are subject to significant pollution. With river runoff, as well as from sea transport, disease-causing waste, oil products, salts of heavy metals, toxic organic compounds, including pesticides, enter the seas. The pollution of the seas and oceans reaches such proportions that in some cases the fish and shellfish caught are unsuitable for human consumption. Anthropogenic changes in soil ... The fertile soil layer takes a very long time to form. At the same time, together with the harvest, tens of millions of tons of nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus - the main components of plant nutrition - are removed from the soil annually. Humus, the main factor of soil fertility, is contained in chernozems in an amount of less than 5% of the mass of the arable layer. On poor soils, humus is even less. In the absence of replenishment of soils with nitrogen compounds, its reserve can be used up in 50-100 years. This does not happen, since cultural agriculture involves the introduction of organic and inorganic (mineral) fertilizers into the soil. Nitrogen fertilizers applied to the soil are used by plants by 40-50%. The rest is reduced by microorganisms to gaseous substances, escapes into the atmosphere or is washed out from the soil. Thus, mineral nitrogen fertilizers are quickly consumed, so they have to be applied annually. With insufficient use of organic and inorganic fertilizers, the soil is depleted and yields fall. Unfavorable changes in the soil also occur as a result of incorrect crop rotations, that is, the annual sowing of the same crops, for example, potatoes. Anthropogenic soil changes include erosion (corrosion). Erosion is the destruction and demolition of the soil cover by water currents or wind. Water erosion is widespread and most destructive. It occurs on slopes and develops with improper tillage. Together with melt and rainwater, millions of tons of soil are annually carried away from the fields to rivers and seas. If nothing prevents erosion, shallow gullies turn into deeper ones and, finally, into ravines. Wind erosion occurs in areas with dry, bare soil and sparse vegetation. Overgrazing in steppes and semi-deserts contributes to wind erosion and rapid destruction of the grass cover. Consequently, dust storms bring irreparable loss of the fertile soil layer. Significant areas with formed soils are withdrawn from agricultural use due to the open-pit mining of minerals that lie at a shallow depth. Dug deep quarries and dumps of soil destroy not only the lands to be developed, but also the surrounding territories, while the hydrological regime of the area is violated, water, soil and atmosphere are polluted, and the yield of agricultural crops is reduced. Human influence on flora and fauna ... Human impact on wildlife consists of direct impact and indirect changes in the natural environment. One of the forms of direct impact on plants and animals is logging. Selective and sanitary cuttings, which regulate the composition and quality of the forest and are necessary for the removal of damaged and diseased trees, do not significantly affect the species composition of forest biocenoses. Clear felling of the stand is another matter. Massive visits to forests by vacationers and tourists have a tangible effect on the state of the vegetation cover. In these cases, the harmful effect consists in trampling, compaction of the soil and its pollution. The direct influence of man on the animal world consists in the extermination of species that are food or other material benefits for him. It is believed that since 1600 more than 160 species and subspecies of birds and at least 100 species of mammals have been exterminated by humans. The long list of extinct species includes a tour - a wild bull that lived throughout Europe. In the 18th century. was exterminated, described by the Russian naturalist G.V. Steller sea cow (Steller cow). A little more than a hundred years ago, the wild horse tarpan, which lived in the south of Russia, disappeared. Many species of animals are on the verge of extinction or have survived only in reserves. Such is the fate of the bisons, who inhabited the prairies of North America in tens of millions, and the bison, which were formerly widespread in the forests of Europe. In the Far East, sika deer have been almost completely exterminated. Intensive hunting for cetaceans has brought several species of whales to the brink of destruction: gray, bowhead, blue. The number of animals is also influenced by human economic activities that are not related to fishing. The number of the Ussuri tiger has sharply decreased. This happened as a result of the development of territories within its range and a reduction in the food supply. In the Pacific Ocean, several tens of thousands of dolphins die every year: during the fishing period, they fall into the nets and cannot get out of them. Until recently, before the adoption of special measures by fishermen, the number of dolphins dying in nets reached hundreds of thousands. The impact of water pollution is very negative for marine mammals. In such cases, the ban on trapping of animals is ineffective. For example, after the ban on catching dolphins in the Black Sea, their numbers are not restored. The reason is that a lot of toxic substances enter the Black Sea with river water and through the straits from the Mediterranean Sea. These substances are especially harmful to baby dolphins, whose high mortality rates prevent the growth of these cetaceans. The disappearance of a relatively small number of animal and plant species may not seem very significant. Each species occupies a certain place in the biocenosis, in the chain, and no one can replace it. The disappearance of one or another species leads to a decrease in the stability of biocenoses. More importantly, each species has unique, inherent properties. The loss of genes that determine these properties and have been selected in the course of a long evolution deprives a person of the opportunity in the future to use them for their practical purposes (for example, for selection). Radioactive contamination of the biosphere ... The problem of radioactive contamination arose in 1945 after the explosion of atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nuclear weapons tests carried out before 1963 in the atmosphere caused global radioactive contamination. When atomic bombs explode, very strong ionizing radiation is generated, radioactive particles are scattered over long distances, infecting soil, water bodies, and living organisms. Many radioactive isotopes have long half-lives, remaining hazardous throughout their lifetime. All these isotopes are included in the circulation of substances, enter living organisms and have a destructive effect on cells. Nuclear weapons tests (and even more so when these weapons are used for military purposes) have another negative side. In a nuclear explosion, a huge amount of fine dust is formed, which is kept in the atmosphere and absorbs a significant part of the solar radiation. Calculations of scientists from different countries of the world show that even with a limited, local use of nuclear weapons, the resulting dust will retain most of the solar radiation. A prolonged cold snap ("nuclear winter") will come, which will inevitably lead to the death of all life on Earth. At present, almost any territory of the planet from the Arctic to Antarctica is subject to a variety of anthropogenic influences. The consequences of the destruction of natural biocenoses and environmental pollution have become very serious. The entire biosphere is under the ever-increasing pressure of human activities, therefore environmental protection measures are becoming an urgent task. Acid atmospheric attacks on land. One of the most acute global problems of our time and the foreseeable future is the problem of the increasing acidity of atmospheric precipitation and soil cover. Areas of acidic soils do not experience droughts, but their natural fertility is low and unstable; they are quickly depleted and yields are low. Acid rains cause not only acidification of surface waters and upper soil horizons. Acidity with downdrafts of water spreads over the entire soil profile and causes significant acidification of groundwater. Acid rain occurs as a result of human economic activity, accompanied by the emission of colossal amounts of oxides of sulfur, nitrogen, carbon. These oxides, entering the atmosphere, are transported over long distances, interact with water and turn into solutions of a mixture of sulfurous, sulfuric, nitrous, nitric and carbonic acids, which fall in the form of "acid rains" on land, interacting with plants, soils, and waters. The main sources in the atmosphere are the combustion of shale, oil, coal, gas in industry, agriculture, and at home. Human economic activity has almost doubled the release of sulfur oxides, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and carbon monoxide into the atmosphere. Naturally, this affected an increase in the acidity of atmospheric precipitation, ground and ground waters. To solve this problem, it is necessary to increase the volume of systematic representative measurements of compounds of air pollutants over large areas. Nature protection and perspectives of rational use of natural resources. Nowadays, the consumer attitude to nature, the expenditure of its resources without the implementation of measures for their restoration are a thing of the past. The problem of the rational use of natural resources, the protection of nature from the destructive consequences of human economic activity have acquired enormous state significance. In the interests of present and future generations, society takes the necessary measures for the protection and scientifically grounded, rational use of the land and its subsoil, water resources, flora and fauna, to maintain clean air and water, ensure the reproduction of natural resources and improve the human environment. Nature protection and rational use of natural resources is a complex problem, and its solution depends both on the consistent implementation of state measures and on the expansion of scientific knowledge. Mankind, in its striving to improve the conditions of existence, is constantly increasing the rate of material production, without thinking about the consequences. For example, modern man has increased the volume of pollution habitual to nature so much that it does not have time to process them. Moreover, he began to generate such pollution, for the processing of which there are no corresponding species in nature, and for some pollution, for example, radioactive, they will never appear. Therefore, the “refusal” of the biosphere to process the fruits of human activity will inevitably act as an increasingly growing ultimatum factor in relation to man. Therefore, the future of man as a biological species is predictable: an ecological crisis and a decline in numbers.

Man post as part of the biosphere. Biosphere of earth

Biosphere composition

The value of the biosphere

Human influence on the biosphere

The material composition of the biosphere

Biosphere layers

The relationship of the biosphere with other shells of the Earth

The value of the biosphere in nature

Role of Vernadsky in the study of the biosphere

Conclusion

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