Nature

Hopetoun Falls, Australia

Lightning strikes during the eruption of the Galunggung volcano, West

Java, in 1982

Roads in  kerala

Nature, in the broadest sense, is the natural, physical, or material world

or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world,
and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large part of science.
Although humans are part of nature, human activity is often
understood as a separate category from other natural phenomena.
The word nature is derived from the Latin word natura, or "essential
qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant
"birth".[1] Natura is a Latin translation of the Greek word physis (φύσις),
which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics that plants,
animals, and other features of the world develop of their own accord. [2]
[3]
 the concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of
several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core
applications of the word φύσις by pre-Socratic philosophers, and has
steadily gained currency ever since. This usage continued during the
advent of modern scientific method in the last several centuries.[4] [5]
Within the various uses of the word today, "nature" often refers to
geology and wildlife. Nature can refer to the general realm of living
plants and animals, and in some cases to the processes associated with
inanimate objects–the way that particular types of things exist and
change of their own accord, such as the weather and geology of
the Earth. It is often taken to mean the "natural environment"
or wilderness–wild animals, rocks, forest, and in general those things
that have not been substantially altered by human intervention, or
which persist despite human intervention. For example, manufactured
objects and human interaction generally are not considered part of
nature, unless qualified as, for example, "human nature" or "the whole
of nature". This more traditional concept of natural things which can
still be found today implies a distinction between the natural and the
artificial, with the artificial being understood as that which has been
brought into being by a human consciousness or a human mind.
Depending on the particular context, the term "natural" might also be
distinguished from the unnatural or the supernatural.

Contents
  [Hide] 
  1Earth
o 1.1Geology
 1.1.1Geological evolution
o 1.2Historical perspective
 2Atmosphere, climate, and weather
 3Water on Earth
o 3.1Oceans
o 3.2Lakes
 3.2.1Ponds
o 3.3Rivers
o 3.4Streams
 4Ecosystems
o 4.1Wilderness
 5Life
o 5.1Evolution
o 5.2Microbes
o 5.3Plants and animals
 6Human interrelationship
o 6.1Aesthetics and beauty
 7Matter and energy
 8Beyond Earth
 9See also
 10Notes and references
 11External links

Earth [edit]
Nature timeline

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Cosmic expansion
Earliest light
Cosmic speed-up
Solar System
Water
Single-celled life
Photosynthesis
Multicellular
life
Land life
Earliest gravity
Dark energy
Dark matter
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Earliest universe (−13.80)
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Earliest galaxy
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Earliest quasar
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Omega Centauri forms
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Andromeda Galaxy forms
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Milky Way Galaxy
spiral arms form
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Alpha Centauri forms
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Earliest Earth (−4.54)
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Earliest life
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Earliest oxygen
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Atmospheric oxygen
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Earliest sexual reproduction
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Cambrian explosion
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Earliest humans
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Axis scale: billions of years.
Also see: Human timeline and Life timeline

Main articles:  Earth  and  Earth science

View of the Earth, taken in 1972 by the crew of Apollo 17.

Earth is the only planet known to support life, and its natural features

are the subject of many fields of scientific research. Within the solar
system, it is third closest to the sun; it is the largest terrestrial
planet and the fifth largest overall. Its most prominent climatic features
are its two large polar regions, two relatively narrow temperate zones,
and a wide equatorialtropical to subtropical region.
[6]
 Precipitation varies widely with location, from several metres of water
per year to less than a millimeter. 71 percent of the Earth's surface is
covered by salt-water oceans. The remainder consists of continents and
islands, with most of the inhabited land in the Northern Hemisphere.
Earth has evolved through geological and biological processes that
have left traces of the original conditions. The outer surface is divided
into several gradually migrating tectonic plates. The interior remains
active, with a thick layer of plastic mantle and an iron-filled core that
generates a magnetic field. This iron core is composed of a solid inner
phase, and a fluid outer phase. Convective motion in the core
generates electric currents through dynamo action, and these, in turn,
generate the geomagnetic field.
The atmospheric conditions have been significantly altered from the
original conditions by the presence of life-forms, [7] which create an
ecological balance that stabilizes the surface conditions. Despite the
wide regional variations in climate by latitude and other geographic
factors, the long-term average global climate is quite stable during
interglacial periods,[8] and variations of a degree or two of average
global temperature have historically had major effects on the
ecological balance, and on the actual geography of the Earth. [9] [10]
Geology [edit]
Main article:  Geology
Geology is the science and study of the solid and liquid matter that
constitutes the Earth. The field of geology encompasses the study of
the composition, structure, physical properties, dynamics,
and history of Earth materials, and the processes by which they are
formed, moved, and changed. The field is a major academic discipline,
and is also important for mineral and hydrocarbon extraction,
knowledge about and mitigation of natural hazards, some Geotechnical
engineering fields, and understanding past climates and environments.
Geological evolution [edit]

Three types of geological plate tectonic boundaries.

The geology of an area evolves through time as rock units are

deposited and inserted and deformational processes change their
shapes and locations.
Rock units are first emplaced either by deposition onto the surface or
intrude into the overlying rock. Deposition can occur
when sediments settle onto the surface of the Earth and
later lithify into sedimentary rock, or when as volcanic material such
as volcanic ash or lava flows, blanket the surface.
Igneous intrusions such as batholiths, laccoliths, dikes, and sills, push
upwards into the overlying rock, and crystallize as they intrude.
After the initial sequence of rocks has been deposited, the rock units
can be deformed and/or metamorphosed. Deformation typically occurs
as a result of horizontal shortening, horizontal extension, or side-to-
side (strike-slip) motion. These structural regimes broadly relate
to convergent boundaries, divergent boundaries, and transform
boundaries, respectively, between tectonic plates.
Historical perspective [edit]
Main articles:  History of the Earth  and  Evolution

An animation showing the movement of the continents from the

separation of Pangaea until the present day.

Earth is estimated to have formed 4.54 billion years ago from the solar

nebula, along with the Sun and other planets.[11] The moon formed
roughly 20 million years later. Initially molten, the outer layer of the
Earth cooled, resulting in the solid crust. Out gassing
and volcanic activity produced the primordial atmosphere.
Condensing water vapor, most or all of which came from ice delivered
by comets, oceans and other water sources.[12] The highly energetic
chemistry is believed to have produced a self-replicating molecule
around 4 billion years ago.[13]
Plankton inhabits oceans, seas and lakes, and has existed in various
forms for at least 2 billion years.[14]

Continents formed, then broke up and reformed as the surface of Earth

reshaped over hundreds of millions of years, occasionally combining to
make a supercontinent. Roughly 750 million years ago, the earliest
known supercontinent Rodinia, began to break apart. The continents
later recombined to form Pannotiawhich broke apart about 540 million
years ago, then finally Pangaea, which broke apart about 180 million
years ago.[15]
During the Neoproterozoic era covered much of the Earth
in glaciers and ice sheets. This hypothesis has been termed the
"Snowball Earth", and it is of particular interest as it precedes
the Cambrian explosion in which multicellular life forms began to
proliferate about 530–540 million years ago.[16]
Since the Cambrian explosion there have been five distinctly
identifiable mass extinctions.[17] The last mass extinction occurred some
66 million years ago, when a meteorite collision probably triggered the
extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs and other large reptiles, but
spared small animals such as mammals. Over the past 66 million years,
mammalian life diversified.[18]
Several million years ago, a species of small African ape gained the
ability to stand upright.[14] The subsequent advent of human life, and
the development of agriculture and further civilization allowed humans
to affect the Earth more rapidly than any previous life form, affecting
both the nature and quantity of other organisms as well as global
climate. By comparison, the Great Oxygenation Event, produced by the
proliferation of algae during the Siderian period, required about
300 million years to culminate.
The present era is classified as part of a mass extinction event,
the Holocene extinction event, and the fastest ever to have occurred.[19]
[20]
 Some, such as E. O. Wilson of Harvard University, predict that human
destruction of the biosphere could cause the extinction of one-half of
all species in the next 100 years.[21] The extent of the current extinction
event is still being researched, debated and calculated by biologists. [22]
[23] [24]

Atmosphere, climate, and weather [edit]

Blue light is scattered more than other wavelengths by the gases in

the atmosphere, giving the Earth a blue halo when seen from space

Main articles:  Atmosphere of Earth,  Climate, and  Weather

The Earth's atmosphere is a key factor in sustaining the ecosystem. The
thin layer of gases that envelops the Earth is held in place by gravity.
Air is mostly nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor, with much smaller amounts
of carbon dioxide, argon, etc. The atmospheric pressure declines
steadily with altitude. The ozone layer plays an important role in
depleting the amount of ultraviolet (UV) radiation that reaches the
surface. As DNA is readily damaged by UV light, this serves to protect
life at the surface. The atmosphere also retains heat during the night,
thereby reducing the daily temperature extremes.
Terrestrial weather occurs almost exclusively in the lower part of the
atmosphere, and serves as a convective system for redistributing heat.
[25]
 Ocean currents are another important factor in determining climate,
particularly the major underwater thermohaline circulation which
distributes heat energy from the equatorial oceans to the Polar
Regions. These currents help to moderate the differences in
temperature between winter and summer in the temperate zones. Also,
without the redistributions of heat energy by the ocean currents and
atmosphere, the tropics would be much hotter, and the polar
regions much colder.

Lightning

Weather can have both beneficial and harmful effects. Extremes in

weather, such as tornadoes or hurricanes and cyclones, can expend
large amounts of energy along their paths, and produce devastation.
Surface vegetation has evolved a dependence on the seasonal variation
of the weather, and sudden changes lasting only a few years can have a
dramatic effect, both on the vegetation and on the animals which
depend on its growth for their food.
Climate is a measure of the long-term trends in the weather. Various
factors are known to influence the climate, including ocean currents,
surface albedo, greenhouse gases, and variations in the solar
luminosity, and changes to the Earth's orbit. Based on historical
records, the Earth is known to have undergone drastic climate changes
in the past, including ice ages.
A tornado in central Oklahoma

The climate of a region depends on a number of factors,

especially latitude. A latitudinal band of the surface with similar climatic
attributes forms a climate region. There are a number of such regions,
ranging from the tropical climate at the equator to the polar climate in
the northern and southern extremes. Weather is also influenced by the
seasons, which result from the Earth's axis being tilted relative to
its orbital plane. Thus, at any given time during the summer or winter,
one part of the Earth is more directly exposed to the rays of the sun.
This exposure alternates as the Earth revolves in its orbit. At any given
time, regardless of season, the northern and southern hemispheres
experience opposite seasons.
Weather is a chaotic system that is readily modified by small changes
to the environment, so accurate weather forecasting is limited to only a
few days.[citation needed] Overall, two things are happening worldwide: (1)
temperature is increasing on the average; and (2) regional climates
have been undergoing noticeable changes.[26]

Water on Earth [edit]

The Iguazu Falls on the border between Brazil and Argentina

Main article:  Water

Water is a chemical substance that is composed
of hydrogen and oxygen and is vital for all known forms of life.[27] In
typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or state, but the
substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor,
or steam. Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface.[28] On Earth, it is
found mostly in oceans and other large water bodies, with 1.6% of
water below ground in aquifers and 0.001% in the air as vapor, clouds,
and precipitation.[29][30] Oceans hold 97% of surface water, glaciers, and
polar ice caps 2.4%, and other land surface water such as rivers, lakes,
and ponds 0.6%. Additionally, a minute amount of the Earth's water is
contained within biological bodies and manufactured products.
Oceans[edit]

A view of the Atlantic Ocean from Leblon, Rio de Janeiro.

Main article:  Ocean

An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of
the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface (an area of
some 361 million square kilometers) is covered by ocean, a continuous
body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans
and smaller seas. More than half of this area is over 3,000 meters (9,800
feet) deep. Average oceanic salinity is around 35 parts per
thousand (ppt) (3.5%), and nearly all seawater has a salinity in the
range of 30 to 38 ppt. Though generally recognized as several
'separate' oceans, these waters comprise one global, interconnected
body of salt water often referred to as the World Ocean or global
ocean.[31] [32] this concept of a global ocean as a continuous body of
water with relatively free interchange among its parts is of fundamental
importance to oceanography.[33]
The major oceanic divisions are defined in part by the continents,
various archipelagos, and other criteria: these divisions are (in
descending order of size) the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the
Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and the Arctic Ocean. Smaller
regions of the oceans are called seas, gulfs, bays and other names.
There are also salt lakes, which are smaller bodies of landlocked
saltwater that are not interconnected with the World Ocean. Two
notable examples of salt lakes are the Aral Sea and the Great Salt Lake.
Lakes [edit]

Lake Mapourika, New Zealand

Main article:  Lake

A lake (from Latin lacus) is a terrain feature (or physical feature), a body
of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom
of basin (another type of landform or terrain feature; that is, it is not
global) and moves slowly if it moves at all. On Earth, a body of water is
considered a lake when it is inland, not part of the ocean, is larger and
deeper than a pond, and is fed by a river.[34] [35] the only world other
than Earth known to harbor lakes is Titan, Saturn's largest moon, which
has lakes of ethane, most likely mixed with methane. It is not known if
Titan's lakes are fed by rivers, though Titan's surface is carved by
numerous river beds. Natural lakes on Earth are generally found in
mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing or
recent glaciation. Other lakes are found in endorheic basins or along
the courses of mature rivers. In some parts of the world, there are
many lakes because of chaotic drainage patterns left over from the
last Ice Age. All lakes are temporary over geologic time scales, as they
will slowly fill in with sediments or spill out of the basin containing
them.
Ponds [edit]

The Westborough Reservoir (Mill Pond) in Westborough,

Massachusetts.

Main article:  Pond

A pond is a body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is
usually smaller than a lake. A wide variety of man-made bodies of
water are classified as ponds, including water gardens designed for
aesthetic ornamentation, fish ponds designed for commercial fish
breeding, and solar ponds designed to store thermal energy. Ponds
and lakes are distinguished from streams via current speed. While
currents in streams are easily observed, ponds and lakes possess
thermally driven micro-currents and moderate wind driven currents.
These features distinguish a pond from many other aquatic terrain
features, such as stream pools and tide pools.
Rivers[edit]
The Nile river in Cairo, Egypt's capital city

Main article:  River

A river is a natural watercourse,[36] usually freshwater, flowing toward an
ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows
into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body
of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names,
including stream, creek, brook, rivulet, and rill; there is no general rule
that defines what can be called a river. Many names for small rivers are
specific to geographic location; one example is Burn in Scotland and
North-east England. Sometimes a river is said to be larger than a creek,
but this is not always the case, due to vagueness in the language. [37] A
river is part of the hydrological cycle. Water within a river is generally
collected from precipitation through surface
runoff, groundwater recharge, springs, and the release of stored water
in natural ice and snowpacks (i.e., from glaciers).
Streams[edit]

A rocky stream in Hawaii

Main article:  Stream
A stream is a flowing body of water with a current, confined within
a bed and stream banks. In the United States, a stream is classified as a
watercourse less than 60 feet (18 metres) wide. Streams are important
as conduits in the water cycle, instruments in groundwater recharge,
and they serve as corridors for fish and wildlife migration. The
biological habitat in the immediate vicinity of a stream is called
a riparian zone. Given the status of the ongoing Holocene extinction,
streams play an important corridor role in connecting fragmented
habitats and thus in conserving biodiversity. The study of streams and
waterways in general involves many branches of inter-disciplinary
natural science and engineering, including hydrology, fluvial
geomorphology, aquatic ecology, fish biology, riparian ecology, and
others.

Ecosystems[edit]

Loch Lomond in Scotland forms a relatively isolated ecosystem. The

fish community of this lake has remained unchanged over a very long
period of time.[38]
Lush green Aravalli Mountain Range in the Desert country-Rajasthan,
India. A wonder how such greenery can exist in hot Rajasthan, a place
well known for its Thar Desert

An aerial view of a human ecosystem. Pictured is the city of Chicago

Main articles:  Ecology  and  Ecosystem

Ecosystems are composed of a variety
of abiotic and biotic components that function in an interrelated way.
[39]
 The structure and composition is determined by various
environmental factors that are interrelated. Variations of these factors
will initiate dynamic modifications to the ecosystem. Some of the more
important components are: soil, atmosphere, radiation from the sun,
water, and living organisms.

Peñas Blancas, part of the Bosawás Biosphere Reserve. Located

northeast of the city of Jinotega in Northeastern Nicaragua.

Central to the ecosystem concept is the idea that living

organisms interact with every other element in their local environment.
Eugene Odum, a founder of ecology, stated: "Any unit that includes all
of the organisms (ie: the "community") in a given area interacting with
the physical environment so that a flow of energy leads to clearly
defined trophic structure, biotic diversity, and material cycles (i.e.:
exchange of materials between living and nonliving parts) within the
system is an ecosystem."[40] Within the ecosystem, species are
connected and dependent upon one another in the food chain, and
exchange energy and matter between themselves as well as with their
environment.[41] The human ecosystem concept is grounded in the
deconstruction of the human/nature dichotomy and the premise that
all species are ecologically integrated with each other, as well as with
the abiotic constituents of their biotope.[citation needed]
A smaller unit of size is called a microecosystem. For example, a
microsystem can be a stone and all the life under it.
A macroecosystem might involve a whole ecoregion, with its drainage
basin.[42]
Wilderness[edit]

Old growth European Beech forest in Biogradska Gora National

Park, Montenegro.

Main article:  Wilderness

Wilderness is generally defined as areas that have not been
significantly modified by human activity. Wilderness areas can be found
in preserves, estates, farms, conservation preserves, ranches, national
forests, national parks, and even in urban areas along rivers, gulches, or
otherwise undeveloped areas. Wilderness areas and
protected parks are considered important for the survival of
certain species, ecological studies, conservation, solitude,
and recreation. Some nature writers believe wilderness areas are vital
for the human spirit and creativity,[43] and some ecologists consider
wilderness areas to be an integral part of the Earth's self-sustaining
natural ecosystem (the biosphere). They may also preserve
historic genetic traits and that they provide habitat for
wild flora and fauna that may be difficult to recreate
in zoos, arboretums, or laboratories.

Life[edit]
Life timeline

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Single-celled
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Eukaryotes
 Multicellular
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Mammals
Flowers
 
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Quaternary
Axis scale: millions of years.
Orange labels: known ice ages.
Also see: Human timeline and Nature timeline

Female mallard and ducklings – reproduction is essential for continuing

life

Main articles:  Life,  Biology, and  Biosphere

Although there is no universal agreement on the definition of life,
scientists generally accept that the biological manifestation of life is
characterized by organization, metabolism, growth, adaptation,
response to stimuli, and reproduction.[44] Life may also be said to be
simply the characteristic state of organisms.
Properties common to terrestrial organisms (plants,
animals, fungi, protists, archaea, and bacteria) are that they are cellular,
carbon-and-water-based with complex organization, having a
metabolism, a capacity to grow, respond to stimuli, and reproduce. An
entity with these properties is generally considered life. However, not
every definition of life considers all of these properties to be essential.
Human-made analogs of life may also be considered to be life.
The biosphere is the part of Earth's outer shell – including land, surface
rocks, water, air and the atmosphere – within which life occurs, and
which biotic processes in turn alter or transform. From the
broadest geophysiological point of view, the biosphere is the global
ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships,
including their interaction with the elements of
the lithosphere (rocks), hydrosphere (water), and atmosphere (air). The
entire Earth contains over 75 billion tons (150 trillion pounds or about
6.8×1013 kilograms) of biomass (life), which lives within various
environments within the biosphere.[45]
Over nine-tenths of the total biomass on Earth is plant life, on which
animal life depends very heavily for its existence.[46] More than 2 million
species of plant and animal life have been identified to date, [47] and
estimates of the actual number of existing species range from several
million to well over 50 million.[48][49][50] The number of individual species
of life is constantly in some degree of flux, with new species appearing
and others ceasing to exist on a continual basis.[51][52] The total number
of species is in rapid decline.[53][54][55]
Evolution[edit]

An area of the Amazon Rainforest shared between Colombia and Brazil.

The tropical rainforests of South America contain the
largest diversity of species on Earth.[56][57]

Main article:  Evolution

The origin of life on Earth is not well understood, but it is known to
have occurred at least 3.5 billion years ago,[58][59][60] during
the hadean or archean eons on a primordial Earth that had a
substantially different environment than is found at present. [61] These
life forms possessed the basic traits of self-replication and inheritable
traits. Once life had appeared, the process of evolution by natural
selection resulted in the development of ever-more diverse life forms.
Species that were unable to adapt to the changing environment and
competition from other life forms became extinct. However,
the fossil record retains evidence of many of these older species.
Current fossil and DNA evidence shows that all existing species can
trace a continual ancestry back to the first primitive life forms. [61]
The advent of photosynthesis in very basic forms of plant life
worldwide allowed the sun's energy to be harvested to create
conditions allowing for more complex life.[citation needed] The
resultant oxygen accumulated in the atmosphere and gave rise to
the ozone layer. The incorporation of smaller cells within larger ones
resulted in the development of yet more complex
cells called eukaryotes.[62] Cells within colonies became increasingly
specialized, resulting in true multicellular organisms. With the ozone
layer absorbing harmful ultraviolet radiation, life colonized the surface
of Earth.
Microbes[edit]

A microscopic mite Lorryia formosa.

Main article:  Microbe

The first form of life to develop on the Earth were microbes, and they
remained the only form of life until about a billion years ago when
multi-cellular organisms began to appear.[63] Microorganisms are
single-celled organisms that are generally microscopic, and smaller
than the human eye can see. They include Bacteria, Fungi, Archaea,
and Protista.
These life forms are found in almost every location on the Earth where
there is liquid water, including in the Earth's interior. [64] Their
reproduction is both rapid and profuse. The combination of a high
mutation rate and a horizontal gene transfer[65] ability makes them
highly adaptable, and able to survive in new environments,
including outer space.[66] They form an essential part of the planetary
ecosystem. However, some microorganisms are pathogenic and can
post health risk to other organisms.
Plants and animals[edit]
Main articles:  Plant  and  animal

A selection of diverse plant species

A selection of diverse animal species

Originally Aristotle divided all living things between plants, which

generally do not move fast enough for humans to notice, and animals.
In Linnaeus' system, these became
the kingdoms Vegetabilia (later Plantae) and Animalia. Since then, it
has become clear that the Plantae as originally defined included several
unrelated groups, and the fungi and several groups of algae were
removed to new kingdoms. However, these are still often considered
plants in many contexts. Bacterial life is sometimes included in flora, [67]
[68]
and some classifications use the term bacterial flora separately
from plant flora.
Among the many ways of classifying plants are by regional floras,
which, depending on the purpose of study, can also include fossil flora,
remnants
of plant life from a previous era. People in many regions and countries
take great pride in their individual arrays of characteristic flora, which
can vary widely across the globe due to differences in climate
and terrain.
Regional floras commonly are divided into categories such as native
flora and agricultural and garden flora, the lastly mentioned of which
are intentionally grown and cultivated. Some types of "native flora"
actually have been introduced centuries ago by people migrating from
one region or continent to another, and become an integral part of the
native, or natural flora of the place to which they were introduced. This
is an example of how human interaction with nature can blur the
boundary of what is considered nature.
Another category of plant has historically been carved out for weeds.
Though the term has fallen into disfavor among botanists as a formal
way to categorize "useless" plants, the informal use of the word
"weeds" to describe those plants that are deemed worthy of
elimination is illustrative of the general tendency of people and
societies to seek to alter or shape the course of nature. Similarly,
animals are often categorized in ways such as domestic, farm
animals, wild animals, pests, etc. according to their relationship to
human life.
Animals as a category have several characteristics that generally set
them apart from other living things. Animals are eukaryotic and
usually multicellular (although see Myxozoa), which separates them
from bacteria, archaea, and most protists. They are heterotrophic,
generally digesting food in an internal chamber, which separates them
from plants and algae. They are also distinguished from plants, algae,
and fungiby lacking cell walls.
With a few exceptions, most notably the sponges (Phylum Porifera),
[citation needed]
 animals have bodies differentiated into separate tissues.
[69]
 These include muscles, which are able to contract and control
locomotion, and a nervous system, which sends and processes signals.
There is also typically an internal digestive chamber. The eukaryotic
cells possessed by all animals are surrounded by a characteristic
extracellular matrix composed of collagen and elastic glycoproteins.
This may be calcified to form structures like shells, bones, and spicules,
a framework upon which cells can move about and be reorganized
during development and maturation, and which supports the complex
anatomy required for mobility.

Human interrelationship[edit]
Human timeline

view • discuss • edit
-10 —
–
-9 —
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-8 —
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-6 —
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-5 —
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-4 —
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-3 —
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-2 —
–
-1 —
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0 —
Human-like
apes
Nakalipithecus
Ouranopithecus
Sahelanthropus
Orrorin
Ardipithecus
 Australopithecus
Homo habilis
Homo erectus
Neanderthal
Homo sapiens
←
Earlier apes
←
Separation from gorillas
←
Possibly bipedal
←
Separation from chimpanzees
←
Earliest bipedal
←
Earliest stone tools
←
Earliest exit from Africa
←
Earliest fire use
←
Earliest in Europe
←
Earliest cooking
←
Earliest clothes
←
Modern speech
←
Modern humans

P
l
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t
o
c
e
n
e

P
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o
c
e
n
e

M
i
o
c
e
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i
 d

s
Axis scale: millions of years.
Also see: Life timeline and Nature timeline

Despite their natural beauty, the secluded valleys along the Na Pali
Coast in Hawaii are heavily modified by introduced invasive
species such as She-oak.

Although humans comprise only a minuscule proportion of the total

living biomass on Earth, the human effect on nature is
disproportionately large. Because of the extent of human influence, the
boundaries between what humans regard as nature and "made
environments" is not clear cut except at the extremes. Even at the
extremes, the amount of natural environment that is free of discernible
human influence is diminishing at an increasingly rapid pace.
The development of technology by the human race has allowed the
greater exploitation of natural resources and has helped to alleviate
some of the risk from natural hazards. In spite of this progress,
however, the fate of human civilization remains closely linked to
changes in the environment. There exists a highly complex feedback
loop between the use of advanced technology and changes to the
environment that are only slowly becoming understood. [70] Man-made
threats to the Earth's natural environment include
pollution, deforestation, and disasters such as oil spills. Humans have
contributed to the extinction of many plants and animals.
Humans employ nature for both leisure and economic activities. The
acquisition of natural resources for industrial use remains a sizable
component of the world's economic system.[71][72]Some activities, such
as hunting and fishing, are used for both sustenance and leisure, often
by different people. Agriculture was first adopted around the 9th
millennium BCE. Ranging from food production to energy, nature
influences economic wealth.
Although early humans gathered uncultivated plant materials for food
and employed the medicinal properties of vegetation for healing,
[73]
 most modern human use of plants is through agriculture. The
clearance of large tracts of land for crop growth has led to a significant
reduction in the amount available of forestation and wetlands,
resulting in the loss of habitat for many plant and animal species as
well as increased erosion.[74]
Aesthetics and beauty[edit]

Pinguicula grand flora, commonly known as a Butterwort

Beauty in nature has historically been a prevalent theme in art and

books, filling large sections of libraries and bookstores. That nature has
been depicted and celebrated by so much art, photography, poetry,
and other literature shows the strength with which many people
associate nature and beauty. Reasons why this association exists, and
what the association consists of, are studied by the branch of
philosophy called aesthetics. Beyond certain basic characteristics that
many philosophers agree about to explain what is seen as beautiful,
the opinions are virtually endless.[75] Nature and wildness have been
important subjects in various eras of world history. An early tradition
of landscape art began in China during the Tang Dynasty (618–907).
The tradition of representing nature as it is became one of the aims
of Chinese painting and was a significant influence in Asian art.
Although natural wonders are celebrated in the Psalms and the Book of
Job, wilderness portrayals in art became more prevalent in the 1800s,
especially in the works of the Romantic movement. British artists John
Constable and J. M. W. Turner turned their attention to capturing the
beauty of the natural world in their paintings. Before that, paintings
had been primarily of religious scenes or of human beings. William
Wordsworth's poetry described the wonder of the natural world, which
had formerly been viewed as a threatening place. Increasingly the
valuing of nature became an aspect of Western culture. [76] This artistic
movement also coincided with the Transcendentalist movement in the
Western world. A common classical idea of beautiful art involves the
word mimesis, the imitation of nature. Also in the realm of ideas about
beauty in nature is that the perfect is implied through perfect
mathematical forms and more generally by patterns in nature. As David
Rothenberg writes, "The beautiful is the root of science and the goal of
art, the highest possibility that humanity can ever hope to see". [77]:281

Matter and energy[edit]

The first few atom electron shown as cross-sections with color-coded

probability density
Main articles:  Matter  and  Energy
Some fields of science see nature as matter in motion, obeying certain
laws of nature which science seeks to understand. For this reason the
most fundamental science is generally understood to be "physics" – the
name for which is still recognizable as meaning that it is the study of
nature.
Matter is commonly defined as the substance of which physical objects
are composed. It constitutes the observable universe. The visible
components of the universe are now believed to compose only 4.9
percent of the total mass. The remainder is believed to consist of 26.8
percent cold dark matter and 68.3 percent dark energy.[78] The exact
arrangement of these components is still unknown and is under
intensive investigation by physicists.
The behavior of matter and energy throughout the observable universe
appears to follow well-defined physical laws. These laws have been
employed to produce cosmological models that successfully explain
the structure and the evolution of the universe we can observe. The
mathematical expressions of the laws of physics employ a set of
twenty physical constants[79] that appear to be static across the
observable universe.[80] The values of these constants have been
carefully measured, but the reason for their specific values remains a
mystery.

Beyond Earth[edit]

Planets of the Solar System (Sizes to scale, distances and illumination

not to scale)
NGC 4414 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Bernice’s about
56,000 light-years in diameter and approximately 60 million light-years
from Earth

Main articles:  Outer space,  Universe, and  Extraterrestrial life

Outer space, also simply called space, refers to the relatively empty
regions of the universe outside the atmospheres of celestial
bodies. Outer space is used to distinguish it from airspace (and
terrestrial locations). There is no discrete boundary between the Earth's
atmosphere and space, as the atmosphere gradually attenuates with
increasing altitude. Outer space within the Solar System is
called interplanetary space, which passes over into interstellar space at
what is known as the heliopause.
Outer space is sparsely filled with several dozen types
of organic molecules discovered to date by microwave
spectroscopy, blackbody radiation left over from the big bang and the
origin of the universe, and cosmic rays, which include ionized atomic
nuclei and various subatomic particles. There is also some
gas, plasma and dust, and small meteors. Additionally, there are signs
of human life in outer space today, such as material left over from
previous manned and unmanned launches which are a potential hazard
to spacecraft. Some of this debris re-enters the atmosphere
periodically.
Although the Earth is the only body within the solar system known to
support life, evidence suggests that in the distant past the
planet Marspossessed bodies of liquid water on the surface.[81] For a
brief period in Mars' history, it may have also been capable of forming
life. At present though, most of the water remaining on Mars is frozen.
If life exists at all on Mars, it is most likely to be located underground
where liquid water can still exist.[82]
Conditions on the other terrestrial planets, Mercury and Venus, appear
to be too harsh to support life as we know it. But it has been
conjectured that Europa, the fourth-largest moon of Jupiter, may
possess a sub-surface ocean of liquid water and could potentially host
life.[83]
Astronomers have started to discover extra solar Earth analogs –
planets that lie in the habitable zone of space surrounding a star, and
therefore could possibly host life as we know it.[84]

See also[edit]
 Book:
Nature

 Force of nature
 Human nature
 Natural history
 Naturalism
 Natural law
 Natural philosophy
 Natural resource
 Natural science
 Natural theology
 Nature reserve
 Nature timeline
 Nature versus nurture
 Nature worship
 Naturism
 Physical law
 Universe
Media:

 Natural History, by Pliny the Elder

 Nature, by Ralph Waldo Emerson
 Nature, a prominent scientific journal
 National Wildlife, a publication of the
National Wildlife Federation
 Nature (TV series)
 Natural World (TV series)
Organizations:

 The Nature Conservancy

 Nature Detectives
Science:

 Natural history
 Natural landscape
Philosophy:

 Mother Nature
 Nature (philosophy)
 Naturalism, any of several philosophical
stances, typically those descended
from materialism and pragmatism that do
not distinguish the supernatural from
nature;[citation needed]this includes
the methodological naturalism of natural
science, which makes
the methodological assumption
that observable events in nature are
explained only by natural causes, without
assuming either the existence or non-
existence of the supernatural
  Balance of nature (biological fallacy), a
discredited concept of natural equilibrium
in predator–prey dynamics

Notes and references[edit]

1. Jump up^ Harper,
Douglas.  "nature".  Online Etymology
Dictionary. Retrieved  2006-09-23.
2. Jump up^ An account of the pre-
Socratic use of the concept of φύσις
may be found in Naddaf, Gerard
(2006) The Greek Concept of Nature,
SUNY Press. The word φύσις, while first
used in connection with a plant in
Homer, occurs very early in Greek
philosophy, and in several senses.
Generally, these senses match rather
well the current senses in which the
English word nature is used, as
confirmed by Guthrie, W.K.C. Pre-
Socratic Tradition from Parmenides to
Democritus (volume 2 of his History of
Greek Philosophy), Cambridge UP,
1965.
3. Jump up^ The first known use
of physic was by Homer in reference to
the intrinsic qualities of a plant: ὣς ἄρα
φωνήσας πόρε φάρμακον ἀργεϊφόντης ἐκ
γαίης ἐρύσας, καί μοι φύσιν αὐτοῦ ἔδειξε.
(So saying, Argeiphontes [=Hermes]
gave me the herb, drawing it from the
ground, and showed me
its nature.) Odyssey 10.302-3 (ed. A.T.
Murray). (The word is dealt with
 thoroughly in Liddell and Scott's Greek
Lexicon.) For later but still very early
Greek uses of the term, see earlier
note.
4. Jump up^ Isaac
Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis
Principia Mathematica (1687), for
example, is translated "Mathematical
Principles of Natural Philosophy", and
reflects the then-current use of the
words "natural philosophy", akin to
"systematic study of nature"
5. Jump up^ The etymology of the word
"physical" shows its use as a synonym
for "natural" in about the mid-15th
century: Harper,
Douglas.  "physical".  Online Etymology
Dictionary. Retrieved  2006-09-20.
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21. Jump up^ Wick, Lucia; Moll, Adrian
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22. Jump up^ The Holocene Extinction.
Park.org. Retrieved on 2016-11-03.
23. Jump up^ Mass Extinctions Of The
Phanerozoic Menu. Park.org. Retrieved
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24. Jump up^ Patterns of Extinction.
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27. Jump up^ "Water for Life". Un.org.
March 22, 2005. Retrieved  2011-05-14.
28. Jump up^ "World".  CIA – The world
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29. Jump up^ Water Vapor in the Climate
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30. Jump up^ Vital Water. UNEP.
31. Jump up^ "Ocean". The Columbia
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33. Jump up^ Spilhaus, Athelstan F
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(physical feature)". Retrieved  2008-06-
25.  [a Lake is] any relatively large body
of slowly moving or standing water
that occupies an inland basin of
appreciable size. Definitions that
precisely distinguish lakes, ponds,
swamps, and even rivers and other
bodies of no oceanic water are not
well established. It may be said,
however, that rivers and streams are
relatively fast moving; marshes and
swamps contain relatively large
quantities of grasses, trees, or shrubs;
and ponds are relatively small in
comparison to lakes. Geologically
defined, lakes are temporary bodies of
water.
35. Jump up^ "Lake
Definition".  Dictionary.com.
Retrieved  6 September  2016.
36. Jump up^ River {definition} from
Merriam-Webster. Accessed February
2010.
37. Jump up^ USGS – U.S. Geological
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and creek?
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45. Jump up^ The figure "about one-half
of one percent" takes into account the
following (See, e.g., Lecky, Stephen
(1999).  "How Meat-centered Eating
Patterns Affect Food Security and the
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Ottawa: International Development
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Assuming 60–70 kg to be the average
human mass (approximately 130–
150 lb on the average), an
approximation of total global human
mass of between 390 billion (390×109)
and 455 billion kg (between 845 billion
and 975 billion lb, or about
423 million–488 million short tons).
The total biomass of all kinds on earth
is estimated to be in excess of
6.8 x 1013 kg (75 billion short tons). By
these calculations, the portion of total
biomass accounted for by humans
would be very roughly 0.6%.
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