Difference between land-air and water environment.

The most important biological habitats of living organisms are land-air and water. What is their specificity?

What is the ground-air environment?

This environment is located directly on the surface of our planet, as well as in the lower layers of its atmosphere. It is inhabited by the main part of living organisms, which are:

  1. vertebrates;
  2. to insects and arachnids.

Within the ground-air environment some mollusks and worms also live.

When it comes to vegetation, the bulk of higher plants (those that have roots and stems) also live in the terrestrial-air environment. The same can be said about higher mushrooms.

The concentration of bacteria in the ground-air environment is relatively low. Algae (like lower plants) are also rarely found in the habitat under consideration.

The ground-air environment is characterized by the presence of a large percentage of oxygen and a significant difference in climate between regions located at a considerable distance from each other. The most comfortable living conditions for living organisms in the environment under consideration are areas located at a low altitude or directly terrestrial. The air becomes thinner and colder as it moves away from the ground.

The ground-air environment is closely related to the aquatic environment. Let's study its features.

What is the aquatic environment?

The aquatic environment, or the hydrosphere, is the totality of the planet's oceans, its seas, continental waters and glaciers. Sometimes researchers include underground waters, as well as ice and snow massifs in the Arctic and Antarctic. Most of the water on the planet is in the seas and oceans.

The water environment is about 71% of the Earth's surface. It is home to the bulk of living organisms related to:

  1. fish;
  2. to crustaceans;
  3. to shellfish;
  4. to algae (as lower plants).

Many birds and a significant proportion of mammals are highly dependent on the aquatic environment. Some of them are represented by famous animals - dolphins, whales, for which water is their main habitat. There are also many higher plants growing in water or on its surface.

The percentage of oxygen in the air dissolved in water is less than in the atmosphere, but sufficient to support the life of organisms that have gills.

Comparison

There is, of course, more than one difference between the ground-air environment and the water. They differ from each other, in particular:

  1. by the state of aggregation, which is obvious;
  2. by the composition of flora and fauna;
  3. according to the degree of accessibility of areas remote from those characterized by the highest frequency of occurrence of biological species.

Both types of air under consideration, as we noted above, are closely related. In nature, they almost always interact with each other, and in many cases their division is arbitrary. The vital activity of many organisms in the ground-air environment is possible only due to its interaction with the aquatic environment and vice versa.

Having determined what the difference between the ground-air and water environment is in principle, we will reflect the conclusions in a small table.

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Table

Ground-air environment Aquatic environment
What do they have in common?
Both environments interact with each other, the border between them is often arbitrary. The vital activity of many organisms of one environment is possible only if it interacts with another
What is the difference between them?
Is the main habitat for vertebrates, arachnids, higher plants, fungiIs the main habitat for fish, crustaceans, molluscs, algae
Contains few areas with difficult access for modern humans, is well studiedIt is largely poorly understood due to the difficulty of access to many sites - in particular, deep
.