Organism and its Environment- Abiotic Factors, Responses to Abiotic Factors, and Adaptation

Organism and its Environment: We live in a beautiful world filled with mountains, rivers, valleys, oceans, and even deserts. If we look closely the entire world is made up of two main components, the Living or biotic component, also called organism and the non-living or abiotic component. Have you ever wondered how different kinds of organisms survive together in the same environment? That has been possible due to a crucial process called adaptation.

Adaptation acclimatizes an organism to survive and reproduce in a harsh environment. Sum total of all the biotic and abiotic factors that surround and influence an organism in it is called environment.  And the branch of science that deals with the relationship between organisms & their physical & biological environment are called ecology.  In this broad wide environment, every organism has its functional role to play, which is referred to as its ecological niche. The relationship between organism and environment can be understood at different levels of organizations.

What are Organisms? 

Organisms are an individual form of life that is composed of one or many cells. An organism refers to a living organism with an organized structure that can grow, reproduce,  react to stimuli, and adapt. An organism can be unicellular to multicellular. All living things are made of cells. Cells are then organized into tissues. A tissue is a group of similar cells that work together to perform a specific function. Different kinds of tissue form organ and organism, organisms of the same kind form population. Now population along with environment forms community, interacting communities form an ecosystem, different ecosystems in a large geographical area forms biome and entire biome form biosphere earth.

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Fig: Level of Organization

Major Biomes of India

Our beautiful earth has different climate zones, that is due to the rotation of the Earth and the tilted axis. It causes seasonal and annual variations in temperature and precipitation and creates different habitats for different kinds of organisms. The entire biosphere can be divided into 2 major biomes: Terrestrial and aquatic. Terrestrial biomes include Arctic & Alpine Tundra, Coniferous Forest, Temperate Forests, Grassland, Tropical Forest, and Desert.

Fig: 6 Major Terrestrial Biome

Aquatic biomes include freshwater like lakes, ponds, etc., while marine biomes include coastal wetland, coral reef, ocean, etc. In India, there are 11 kinds of biomes, including both terrestrial and aquatic biomes. They are as follows:

1. Tropical Rainforest Biome
2. Tropical Deciduous Forest Biome
3. Temperate Forest Biome
4. Boreal Coniferous Forest Biome
5. Temperate Grassland Biome
6. Tundra Biomes
7. Temperate and Tropical Desert Biomes
8. Tropical Savanna and Grassland Biomes
9. Wetland Biomes
10. Freshwater Biomes
11. Marine Biome.

 Each of these biomes has different climatic conditions due to variations in different abiotic factors. 

Major Abiotic Factors

Temperature: It is the ecologically most important Factor affecting climatic zones as it decreases progressively from the equator towards poles and from plane to hilly regions. The significance of temperature with living organisms is that it affects the kinetics of the enzymes and basal metabolism along with the physiological function of an organism. Different organisms can survive a different range of temperatures based on their tolerance, and the levels of thermal tolerance of different species determine to a large extent their geographical distribution.

Fig: Eurythermal and Stenothermal

Water: Life originated in water. It plays a major role in the survival of plants and animals. Freshwater animals cannot live in seawater, and marine animals cannot survive in freshwater due to osmolarity. Similarly, the productivity and distribution of plants depend broadly on water salinity.

Fig: Euryhaline and Stenohaline

Light: Sunlight is the ultimate source of energy on earth.  Plants depend on sunlight for photosynthesis. Light affects life by intensity, duration, and spectrum. Tall plants generally canopy small plants, and they have adapted to performing photosynthesis at low light conditions, whereas tall plants need high-intensity sunlight.

Fig: Different Levels of Canopy

Similarly, different kinds of plants depend on photoperiod for flowering, aging, and Reproductive purposes. Some animal’s migratory activities depend on seasonal variation in light intensity. While the UV spectrum is harmful to organisms, the visible spectrum is very important. Phytoplankton and zooplankton at different depths receive a different spectral range of sunlight.
Soil – Soil is the basis of life. Types of vegetation in an area depend upon the types of soil. Now the soil can be of different types. The types of soil depend upon the climate, the weathering process, whether the soil is transported or if it is sedimentary. It also depends on the process of soil development. Soil composition, grain size, and aggregation are the characteristics that determine the percolation and water holding capacity of the soils. Apart from these pH, mineral composition and topography are some other characteristics that determine the kind of flora and fauna of an area.

Response to Abiotic Factors

We have learned now that abiotic factors are constantly changing and range from harsh to mild to consistently changing. Nature has given the different abilities to organisms to cope up and survive in stressful environments. Ideally, an organism tries to maintain internal body temperature through homeostasis, but not all organisms possess this ability and depend upon different survival methods. Let’s learn what those are:

Regulate: These organisms possess the ability to maintain homeostasis by ensuring constant body temperature or thermoregulation and constant osmolarity or osmoregulation. They are referred to as regulators. Examples: Mammals. The unique ability of homeostasis allows mammals to survive in almost every climatic zone. Humans maintain their body temperature in heat by sweating and in winter by shivering.

Conform: These organisms lack the ability of homeostasis like regulators, and their internal body temperature changes with alteration in environmental temperature; hence they are called conformers. The conformers can not maintain internal temperature, and they engage in behaviour to regulate their temperature, such as basking in the sun for warmth or retreating underground or into the water to cool—examples: Snake, frog. 

Have you ever wondered why only large animals like polar bears are found in the polar region and not little bunnies? That is because Allen’s rule suggests that heat loss or heat gain is a function of surface area. Animals lose heat through the exposed surface area. Small animals have a large surface area compared to the body volume; hence they tend to lose body heat easily, and that is the reason we don’t see smaller animals in polar regions, and we only observe large animals with small appendages.

Migrate: These animals move from unfavorable habitat to a hospitable area temporarily and then return when a favorable period returns. E.g., Siberian Crane: Travel from Siberia to Rajasthan.

Fig: Organism Response to Abiotic Factors

Suspend: These are mostly lower organisms. These organisms develop a unique mechanism to deal with stress. For example, some bacteria and fungus form thick-walled spores at the onset of the unfavorable period and remain in suspended form till the favorable period approaches. Angiosperms develop seeds that remain dormant till provided a favorable period. Hibernation ( winter sleep) in Bears and Aestivation (summer sleep) in snails are some unique examples of suspenders.

Diapause: As the name suggests, few organisms go into the pause of their developmental stage and remain this way until a return of favorable period. These mechanisms are seen in parasites and some lower animals, and zooplanktons.

Adaptation of Organism to the Environment

Some organisms are able to respond through certain physiological adjustments, while other organisms respond to changing environmental conditions behaviourally (migrating temporarily to a less stressful habitat). It is an ability of an organism to survive in a constantly changing environment. This ability can be morphological, or behavioral, or even physiological. It takes a long time for an animal or species to develop adaptation. These adaptations are constant. A list of some of the adaptations is given below:

Name	Adaptation	Examples
kangaroo rat: North American deserts	It can survive without water by fat oxidation that produces water and release concentrated urine to save water
Desert lizards	Bask in the sun to absorb heat when cold and move to shade when hot. Some species burrow into the soil and escape from the above-ground heat
Cold climate mammals	Short ears and limbs to minimize heat loss
People living at high altitude	Increased RBC production and increased breathing rate
Desert plants	Thick cuticle, stomata in deep pits to minimize transpiration and special photosynthetic pathway (CAM)
Seal: aquatic mammal	Slander body shape,  small appendages, a thick layer of fat (blubber) are present below the skin that acts as an insulator and reduces loss of body heat

Summary

Organisms are an individual form of life that is composed of one or many cells. The environment consists of both abiotic and biotic components. Abiotic components include light, water, temperature, and soil. These abiotic factors are distributed unevenly throughout the earth, creating different kinds of biomes. The rotation and tilted axis of the earth causes climatic changes. Each climatic change requires a different set of modifications for survival. These attributes are referred to as adaptations.
Adaptation develops in the long term and is fixed. Organisms respond to climatic change by different means. Some have the ability to regulate their body temperature(regulators while some confirm (conformers), some microbes show suspension, and some show diapause.  These continuous interactions lead to various changes and develop unique abilities in fauna and flora, making the world diverse and beautiful.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) from Organism and Environment

Q.1. How is an organism related to the environment?
Ans: Every living organism depends on the environment for survival. They need air, water, food, shelter, which are abiotic factors of the environment. Apart from the changing environment cause different adaptations in the environment. Every physical, morphological, physiological, or behavioral aspect of an organism is designed based on the environment it lives in.

Q.2. What is the study of the organism and its environment?
Ans: Study of organisms and the environment is called Ecology. Eugene Odum is referred to as the father of ecology

Q.3. Why are organisms important in the environment?
Ans: Different types of organisms like producers, consumers, and decomposers are important for the balance of the ecosystem. Every organism has its own role to play in everything in the environment, depending on each other.

Q.4. What are the biotic and abiotic components of the environment?
Ans: There are 3 major functions of the ecosystem, according to Pacala & Kinzig 2002. They are:
1. Productivity
2. Flow of energy
3. Decomposition

Q.5. What makes a healthy ecosystem?
Ans: A healthy ecosystem is a balanced one. It consists of native fauna and flora in interaction with abiotic factors based on the climatic zone. A healthy ecosystem has producers, consumers, and decomposers.

Q.6. What makes a healthy ecosystem?
Ans: A healthy ecosystem is a balanced one. It consists of native fauna and flora in interaction with abiotic factors based on the climatic zone. A healthy ecosystem has producers, consumers, and decomposers.

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