Environment and Organisms

From the fungi that are distributed underground, the tiny viruses and bacterium that have went undetected for millennia, to the largest marine life in the oceans, the variety and amount of life on earth is incredible. Through every organism's life, from birth, reproduction, to death, its environment is formed and shaped. Ecological scientists research and study these organism-environment interactions all across ecosystems that can range from microbial communities to the earth itself in its entirety (Malmstrom, 2010). All environments are made up of three components: air, water, and soil. The environment depends as much on the organisms living in it as those organisms depend on their environment. Environmental ecosystems, in many cases, could not survive without the organisms that live within it (Malmstrom, 2010).

Each environment offers both resources and limitations that shape the different types of organisms that live within it, and assist in those organisms' development, survival, and reproduction. Some of the most extensive outlines of environmental variance take place because of how the planet orbits the sun and the end result of the sunlight's worldwide distribution (Chapin 2002). For example, solar radiation is plentiful in the tropics all year. With these sunny climates the plants have a bottomless supply of energy, allowing them to photosynthesize continuously. On the other hand, in the Polar Regions this solar radiation is not in abundance, and the organisms there are subject to extended periods that make photosynthesis come to an almost complete halt (Chapin, 2002). Organisms in these areas have evolved traits that guard against these extreme climates, and in many situations have even developed traits that allow these temperatures to work to their advantage. Plants like the arctic willow would never survive in the rainforest due to a lack of sunlight because of the enormous trees. However, in the arctic where it is too cold for trees to grow and the unfrozen section of soil is too thin for trees to root, this budding flower can get all the sunlight it needs and plenty of soil all to itself for nourishment.

All living organisms also require water to function. In the hotter climates, water may be scarce due to constant evaporation, or the water may freeze in the polar regions (Malmstrom, 2010). Again, organisms have developed ways to survive and even flourish in these climates, like having the ability to collect and retain water for long periods of time. Cacti have a unique root system that allows them to collect all the water they need during the rainy season, and then survive for long periods between rain falls.

The earth has a broad variety of physical conditions, and in turn generates a broad diversity of environments. Each environmental system and all of its inhabitants work together in unison to keep each other going. Every species is connected, directly