Nature is the most valuable thing we have. This sounds strange at first glance. What about our achievements? modern cars, technology, networks? Aren't they the most valuable to people? Try it, turn off the Internet on the entire planet, a great many disasters will happen! What if you remove everything that is called nature? Then we, the people, will no longer exist. Because we are also part of nature. To appreciate the importance of the relationship between man and everything that surrounds him, it is necessary to determine what nature is.

History of the word

Let's turn to the Old Russian language. The word “nature” consists of two parts “with” and “genus”, that is, everything that is with Rod. Rod is ancient god, patron of humanity. This means that the answer to the question of what is nature is: everything that surrounds a person. Of course, in ancient times there were no factories, high-rise buildings, or transport routes; people were surrounded only by forests, fields, mountains, and rivers.

This concept has survived to this day. But many creations of his hands appeared around man, which cannot be called nature. These are various buildings, industries, huge cities, factories, even satellites in orbit. They, of course, have nothing to do with nature. From here we can deduce the main difference between nature: it is everything that is not created by human hands.

Another translation of the word “nature” from Latin is the material world, its original sound is natura. This external world, which is unchanged for millions of years, which cannot be created by man, which is given to people from above. This is how ancient scientists interpreted the concept of “nature” in an intricate way.

Natural Sciences

There are sciences that study everything related to nature. This is natural science that studies the laws of nature, structure, phenomena, changes. These are biology, anatomy, botany and many others. Partially this includes physics and chemistry. Previously, philosophy and mathematics were classified as natural sciences, but with development these sciences became more and more distant from everything natural and have a purely industrial applied nature.

Natural phenomena

It is imperative to dwell on what a natural phenomenon is. These are various manifestations of weather - snow, rain, heat, wind. Everything that happens to natural objects is also a natural phenomenon. Leaf fall, flowering, frost pattern on glass, river flow, ice drift, full moon, starfall - all this is very beautiful phenomena nature, and this list can be continued endlessly.

There are also negative natural phenomena: tornadoes, floods, snow avalanches, giant waves tsunamis, whirlpools and others. We must not forget that in nature everything is harmonious and in balance. If negative phenomena exist, it means that they are also needed for some reason. The main thing is to look at the natural massif as if it were a big unified system, but like a small, separate piece of land.

Living and inanimate nature

It's very easy to explain what it is Live nature, even a child can do this. Animals that you can’t help but admire, plants that amaze with their harmonious beauty, fish, algae, bacteria, microbes, single-celled organisms, birds - this whole world is so diverse that no one can list everything. And you can talk endlessly about representatives of wildlife. It is also not difficult to guess what inanimate nature is. These are rivers, mountains, rocks, magma, volcanoes, lakes, oceans, glaciers, continents, islands and much more. Inanimate nature is no less beautiful. Many poets sang of mountains and simple boulders, waterfalls and the surface of the sea.

Nature is everything that surrounds us not created by human hands. The Earth's ecosystem, seas, lands, trees, animals, stars and the Universe are all understood under the general term "nature". The mysteries of nature and its incredible flexibility excite scientists, forcing them to puzzle over various phenomena - this is how science, in principle, appeared. With the development of human civilization, however, it became clear that terrible damage was being and was being done to nature, people were literally destroying it and choking it with exhaust fumes. Since nature abhors a vacuum and the Earth is a delicate ecosystem, a timely understanding of the fundamental processes of nature will not only prevent damage to it, but also closer interaction with it, symbiosis and the use of renewable resources.

A group of urban ecologists, one from Australia and one from Sweden, have outlined their vision for rethinking the modern lawn in a paper published in the journal Science. In their work, Maria Ignatieva and Markus Hedblom note that the natural advantages of green lawns are greatly outweighed by the negative ones environmental consequences, and therefore it is necessary to look for new types soil covers. The vast expanses of green grass that surround many homes and decorate parks are not as green as they appear.

Names everything living and nonliving created without his participation. This is all the world. In the article we will consider what nature is, what it consists of and what impact it has on human life.

Meaning of the word

In science, nature is usually called the material world located in the universe. It is the main subject of study and research natural sciences. The everyday meaning of the word “nature” is somewhat simplified and means natural environment a habitat.

In natural science, there are several kingdoms of nature. Carl Linnaeus, a Swedish naturalist and physician, in his 1735 work System of Nature, identified the following kingdoms:

  • mineral, which covers inanimate nature: stones, water, sun;
  • vegetable, which includes all plants (studied by botany);
  • an animal that includes all living organisms (studied by zoology).

Dokuchaev V.V., geologist and soil scientist, believed that another kingdom should be distinguished - bioinert, which includes knowledge about soils, as he stated in 1883.

The word "nature" can also be considered in other meanings:

  • The set of conditions of the natural habitat: relief, climate, plants and animals. For example, tropical nature.
  • The set of properties and needs of the human body. For example, male and female nature.
  • The essence of something and its basic properties. For example, the nature of light.
  • In common parlance, “nature” is used to describe human qualities. For example, leisurely by nature, witty by nature.

The word “nature”: analysis and synonyms for it

The word "nature" is a feminine noun. According to new morphemic and word-formation dictionaries, it consists of two parts:

  • “nature” is the root and basis of the word;
  • "a" is the ending.

If we consider the word “nature” according to its etymology, then the composition consists of three parts:

  • “at” - prefix;
  • "genus" - root;
  • “a” - ending;
  • The basis of the word is “nature”.

Many consider the second option to be more correct. Because the word “nature” itself means everything that was in nature, that is, on Earth, where people lived - the race. Words with the same root are: homeland, people, relative, parents, spring and the like.

Synonyms for the word “nature”: essence, world, likeness, universe, fundamental principle, organism, nature, nature, substance, reality.

Usually the word we are considering is associated with the following concepts: trees, forest, plant air, security, love, sky, animals, plants, seasons, mountains, clouds and more.

Life on Planet Earth

Our planet today is the only one (at least according to official data) on which life and the existence of living matter have been recorded. Her natural features have been studied for many centuries by scientists and researchers.

Life on Earth is possible thanks to the nature of the planet: two polar regions and tropical region in the middle. Precipitation falling on the surface and the presence of the atmosphere make it possible for all living things to grow and feed. And soil is the basis for building and growing crops.

The planet is undergoing a constant evolution of geological and biological processes. The presence of water is the basis for the life of all organisms. It occupies approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. Thanks to climatic conditions An ecosystem has formed that includes many living organisms, including humans.

Live nature

Living nature includes everything that is capable of independently surviving, developing, eating, growing and reproducing: plants and animals, as well as humans.

The main signs of living nature are:

  • birth, development, growth - all life begins small: a seed grows into a tree, a baby into an adult;
  • reproduction - the ability to reproduce one's own kind;
  • food - any Living being should feed: trees on liquid, and animals on plants or other animals;
  • breathing and movement - living organisms are able to move independently, for which they need oxygen: animals walk with the help of their paws, and plants turn towards the sun;
  • dying - the end of the existence of an organism, after which it becomes an object inanimate nature: a tree is living nature, and a cut trunk is inanimate.

Biology distinguishes the following objects of living nature:

  • microorganisms are the very first forms of life on the planet;
  • plants - the world of flora, which is presented in rich diversity - from unicellular algae to huge trees;
  • animals are the most numerous group of living nature;
  • Man is considered the highest level of development of living nature.

What is inanimate nature and why is it called that? Let's look at it below.

In addition to vegetation and animals, a person is surrounded by other objects created without his participation. These are stones, clouds, rivers, mountains, wind, leaves, sun rays.

Inanimate nature is the primary source; it is from it and thanks to it that life appeared on the planet. All organisms use inanimate objects in the process of life.

Signs of objects of inanimate nature are:

  • resistance to weather conditions and other environmental changes;
  • low variability;
  • lack of the ability to breathe, eat, reproduce, grow, move and die.

The following sciences study such objects: physics, chemistry, hydrography, geology, astronomy and others.

Objects of inanimate nature are classified as follows:

  • solids - minerals, rocks, glaciers, stones, rocks, comets;
  • liquid bodies - dew, rain, clouds, lava, river;
  • gaseous bodies - steam, nebulae of the universe, some planets, air masses.

The lives of living and inanimate nature are closely interconnected and one is impossible without the other. Particularly necessary are soil, air, water, and sun.

The connection between nature and seasons

Nature dear to man planet is in constant movement. The main feature of life is its cyclical nature - successively changing seasons that set the rhythm of existence, the phases of sleep and awakening, the development and slowdown of processes.

The change of seasons during the year is usually called the seasons - these are winter, spring, summer and autumn. This natural phenomenon attracts scientists and influences artists.

Poets and artists have dedicated many works to the seasons. They praise the beauty of nature. And medical scientists associate many processes occurring in the human body with the change of seasons.

Nature in art

What is nature in art? This is an image that is often endowed with human qualities: will, desire or opposition.

The theme of nature began to be revealed most widely from the era of romanticism. It was described as an instinctive principle, something opposed to man. Nature in art is perceived as the beginning of all living things, which is why it is often called pure and virgin, as well as mother. When a person gets tired of civilization, he finds peace in nature.

Since the 20th century, the personified image has been endowed with vengeance. Nature is described as the Earth's response to human activities in the form of natural disasters and cataclysms. Natural phenomena are complex and diverse, they speak of nature’s ability to teach humanity.

Nature and human life

Man is an integral part of nature. He exists only thanks to her - atmospheric pressure, liquids, oxygen, soil. If you remove just one component, a person will not be able to exist.

People create luxury goods for themselves, and satisfy their primary needs with the help of nature. It is she who provides protection, resources, food. Humanity has long stopped living in caves and hunting; instead, people build houses and shops.

For humans, nature is an inexhaustible source of information. Thanks to knowledge, scientists analyze the past and try to predict the future.

But with the rapid development of scientific and technological progress, humanity ceases to take nature into account. IN modern world exist global problems- warming, lack of forests, extermination of animals... All this throws the ecosystem out of balance. Governments are drawing up projects to restore nature, planting areas and more carefully analyzing the remaining resources.

Instead of an afterword

To the question: “What is nature?” you can answer in different ways, because it is so ambiguous, incomprehensible and limitless. But one thing can be stated: man calls himself the king of nature, but in fact he is only a part of it, a component of something larger, a grain of sand in the ocean of the universe.

Often we say the word "nature" when we are going to relax outside the city or are trying to characterize our habitat.


Sometimes we regret that humanity cannot conquer nature, or we rejoice, realizing that it has not yet been completely destroyed. What does this word mean? There are many definitions for it. The simplest statement is that nature is the object of study of the natural sciences. But it does not reveal the essence of the concept at all. So what is nature?

What does the word "nature" mean?

Term "nature" has ancient Russian roots. In fact, the concept consists of two words - the prefix “at” and the root “rod”, which means “at the Rode”. Rod is a deity in ancient Russian mythology, acting as the embodiment of the gens, the unity of descendants from a common ancestor. It was from the name of this god that such concepts as “to be born”, “newborn”, “woman in labor” originated.

Some historians associate the term with the Latin word natūra, indicating birth or world order, that is, the external world, which exists for many millions of years and cannot change as a result human activity.

Modern interpretation The word “nature” implies the natural human habitat or the Earth’s biosphere, that is, the shell of our planet, engulfed in life. In other words, nature is everything that surrounds us, with the exception of things created by human hands.


It includes forests, seas, fields, river beds, flowers and, ultimately, the person himself. There are many sciences that study everything related to nature. This includes geography, biology, and even physics and chemistry.

What is nature made of?

Nature can include any phenomena and objects not created by man. First of all, Earth. Today, Earth is the only known planet on which life exists. Appearing 4.54 billion years ago, it underwent significant evolution, turning from a gas and dust cloud into living planet with its own atmosphere, aquatic environment and the solid shell of the earth, consisting of tectonic plates. Biological and geological processes that took place on Earth and shaped the nature that we know today.

Integral components of nature are weather and climate, which vary depending on the region and altitude above the surface of the planet. Water belongs to nature - chemical compound, without which no living creature can exist. Water fills lakes, seas, oceans, flows in rivers and streams, covers mountain slopes in a solid state, and is contained in the atmosphere in a vapor state.


In addition, nature is soil, plant and animal world, near-Earth space, deserts, mountains, atmospheric air and many other components that together create the most optimal conditions for the existence of life on Earth.

What is living and inanimate nature?

All non-man-made phenomena on our planet are divided into living and non-living nature. The first includes living beings, that is, flora and fauna. The concept of living nature includes humans, animals, insects, fungi, viruses and bacteria, plants of all types and genera.

Inanimate nature refers to all kinds of substances and fields endowed with energy. It is represented by a number of organizational levels - from elementary particles to the planets and the Universe as a whole. On Earth, this concept can include stones, water, volcanoes, glaciers, islands, continents and much more.

An important difference between living and inanimate nature is that objects of the former have short term life, are unstable and changeable, while objects of the second can exist for billions of years, while changing very slowly.

What are natural phenomena?

All natural objects on Earth are subject to certain phenomena, which are also called natural. Rain, snow, wind, flow of water in a river, solar eclipse or starfalls - these events belong to natural phenomena, and their listing can be continued indefinitely. They can be both positive and quite negative, causing significant damage and destruction.


Among the latter are tornadoes, floods, volcanic eruptions, avalanches, earthquakes, and tsunamis. But regardless of their manifestation, in nature everything is in harmony and balance.

Nature- this is the material world, which is the main object of study of science. Most often, “nature” is used to describe the natural human environment. This is the Universe, everything that surrounds a person, with the exception of man-made things. Nature is a collection natural conditions the existence of man and the society in which he is. Nature can be divided into categories and definitions: living and non-living, wild and cultivated, natural and artificial, etc. The Russian term “nature” partly comes from the Latin natura (material world). Encyclopedic value this word defines it as everything that exists in in a broad sense. That is, the whole world in the diversity of its forms. Often used in conjunction with the concepts: universe, matter, Universe. Nature is an object of natural science. Human and social activities have a significant impact on nature, both negative and positive. These factors require the establishment of harmonious interaction between nature and. Constituting a single link, man and nature cannot do without each other. It is quite difficult to express the concept of “nature” in words, since it is something unsolved and immense. On the other hand, nature created us, it surrounds us. Nature- this is everything that our planet is filled and populated with: forests, mountains, seas, oceans, flora, people... It’s not that man is helpless in front of nature, but he is capable of destroying it. The state of nature depends to a great extent on human attitudes towards it. If modern, wittingly or unwittingly, there is a natural harmony, then you shouldn’t be surprised later global disasters And natural disasters. Everything in the world is interconnected. A person should treat it more carefully so as not to harm himself. He is quite capable of this.

Related article

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  • how to spell nature

While taking a walk in the forest or relaxing on the river bank, you can see a variety of plants and amazing trees. Moreover, the lush vegetation in the forests of the Moscow region differs sharply from the traditional trees and dead wood of the steppe area. The wild animals inhabiting different natural habitats. All plant and animal species are called the “flora and fauna” of a particular region.

Flora and vegetation

Today, flora in botany represents all subspecies of plants that grow or previously grew in a strictly defined area. You can confuse the concepts of “vegetation” and “flora”, perceiving them as synonyms, although they are different things. For example, you can talk about flora Kursk region, Kola Peninsula or the flora of Primorye. Moreover, what larger size region, the richer its flora is represented.

So the flora of everything Stavropol Territory has approximately 1,200 species of plants, and the flora of Russia is already more than 18 thousand, including gymnosperms, ferns, horsetails and ground cover plants. Greenhouse and houseplants do not belong to flora.

The definition of “vegetation of a certain territory” is understood as the totality of plants growing in this region. For example, the Moscow region is characterized by different kinds forests, swamps and meadows. But the vegetation of the entire territory of Russia will be much richer and more diverse. It includes significantly more plant communities, incl. mountain, tundra, forest-steppe, desert, etc.

The phrase “flora and” is also used in the study of all microorganisms that are characteristic of a specific human organ. Like, for example, the flora of the larynx.

Representatives of fauna

The concept of fauna means the totality of all species of animals that lived or still live in a given area. Animals in zoos and pets are not included in the fauna. The main characteristic of each fauna is ecological nature species included in its composition. Yes, fauna tropical forest characterized by the presence large quantity animals adapted to living in trees. These are various climbing mammals, reptiles, birds, many insects and other animals that are accustomed to eating the fruits of trees or living off destroyed wood.

Using various methods of analysis, botanists can confidently talk about the origin of a particular fauna, as well as its relationships with distant and nearby faunas. Based on the results of these analyses, animal species with similar distributions are combined into certain groups according to their habitat, for example, the fauna of the island of Madagascar. In addition, the exact location of a particular animal in the corresponding section of the fauna is recorded. Thus, it refers to the entomofauna or insect fauna.