Components of Environment

The components of environment includes both living and non-living creatures present on the earth. The air or atmosphere, rocks and soil or lithosphere, water or hydrosphere and the other biological component of the environment or biosphere are the basic components of environment.

Biotic Components

All the living organisms in an environment like plants and animals is responsible to form biotic components. Biotic components depend on how they nourish themselves and on the basis of this living things can be splited into three groups, i.e, producers, consumers and decomposers. These are as follows:

1. Producers: The green plants who makes their own food with the help of photosynthesis are known to be producers. Green plants are well known to adapt and utilize solar energy. Few elements are essential for the formation of food in the process of photosynthesis such as water, minerals, sunlight and carbon dioxide.
2. Consumers: This category is dependent on producers and other organisms for the food. Consumers are further divided into two types on the basis of their food taking criteria and they are primary and secondary consumers. Primary consumers includes snails, rabbits, etc. And secondary consumers include snakes, frogs, small fish, etc.
3. Decomposers: Decomposers are the microorganisms that feed themselves by living on dead and decaying matter. It has a saprophytic nature. Examples of decomposers are bacteria and fungi.

Abiotic Components

The abiotic components or abiotic factors of the environment are those which are non-living chemical and physical parts of the environment that somehow affects the functioning of ecosystems and the living organisms. Examples of abiotic components are sunlight, water, air, soil, etcetera. Biotic factors have to depend on abiotic components for their survival and existence on the planet.

Types of environments include man-made and geographical environments. Both categories have a significant meaning. Environment is a term that means a surrounding area where all living and non-living creatures co-exist. The word environment is derived from the French word “environ” which means each and everything that surrounds us. It can indicate the natural, social, or man-made nature. Thomas Carlyle coined the terminology ‘environment’. He named it in the Lowlands of Scotland in 1828. The terminology “ecosystem” and “surroundings” are commonly used as the synonyms for the word “environment”.