Nature

Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical 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, if not the only, part of science.
Although humans are part of nature, human activity is often understood as a separate category from other
natural phenomena.[1]

The word nature is borrowed from the Old French nature and is derived from the Latin word natura, or
"essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant "birth".[2] In ancient
philosophy, natura is mostly used as the Latin translation of the Greek word physis (φύσις), which
originally related to the intrinsic characteristics of plants, animals, and other features of the world to develop
of their own accord.[3][4] The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several
expansions of the original notion;[1] it began with certain core applications of the word φύσις by pre-
Socratic philosophers (though this word had a dynamic dimension then, especially for Heraclitus), and has
steadily gained currency ever since.

During the advent of modern scientific method in the last several centuries, nature became the passive
reality, organized and moved by divine laws.[5][6] With the Industrial revolution, nature increasingly
became seen as the part of reality deprived from intentional intervention: it was hence considered as sacred
by some traditions (Rousseau, American transcendentalism) or a mere decorum for divine providence or
human history (Hegel, Marx). However, a vitalist vision of nature, closer to the pre-Socratic one, got reborn
at the same time, especially after Charles Darwin.[1]

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 that 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.[1]

Earth
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 equatorial tropical to subtropical region.[7] Precipitation
varies widely with location, from several metres of water per year to less than a millimetre. 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.
Shaki Waterfall, Armenia
The atmospheric conditions have been significantly altered
from the original conditions by the presence of life-forms,[8]
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,[9] 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.[10][11]

Geology Bachalpsee in the Swiss Alps

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.
A winter landscape in Lapland, Finland

Geological evolution

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 Lightning strikes during the eruption of the
occur when sediments settle onto the surface of the Earth and Galunggung volcano, West Java, in 1982
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 Life in the abyssal oceans
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

Earth is estimated to have formed 4.54  billion years ago from the
solar nebula, along with the Sun and other planets.[12] The Moon South Penghu Marine National Park
formed roughly 20  million years later. Initially molten, the outer of Taiwan, showing the wonder of
layer of the Earth cooled, resulting in the solid crust. Outgassing nature
and volcanic activity produced the primordial atmosphere.
Condensing water vapor,
most or all of which came
from ice delivered by Nature timeline
comets, produced the 0 — ← Earliest apes / humans
oceans and other water Vertebrates ← Earliest mammals
sources. [13] The highly – ← Cambrian explosion
energetic chemistry is ← Earliest animals / plants
−1 — Multicellular
believed to have produced life
a self-replicating molecule – L ← Earliest fungi
i
around 4  billion years −2 — f ← Sexual reproduction
ago.[14] e
– ← Atmospheric oxygen
Photosynthesis
Continents formed, then
−3 —
broke up and reformed as
the surface of Earth – ← Earliest oxygen
reshaped over hundreds of Single-celled life
−4 — ← Earliest known life
millions of years, Water on Earth
occasionally combining to – ← Earth / Solar System
make a supercontinent. Accelerated expansion
−5 —
Roughly 750  million years
ago, the earliest known –
supercontinent Rodinia,
−6 —
began to break apart. The
continents later recombined – ← Alpha Centauri
to form Pannotia which ← NGC 188 star cluster
−7 —
broke apart about
540 million years ago, then –
finally Pangaea, which
−8 — Matter-dominated
broke apart about
era
180 million years ago.[16] –
← Milky Way spirals
During the Neoproterozoic −9 —
era, freezing temperatures –
covered much of the Earth
in glaciers and ice sheets. −10 — ← Andromeda Galaxy
This hypothesis has been –
termed the "Snowball
Earth", and it is of −11 —

← Omega Centauri
 – ← Omega Centauri
particular interest as it −12 —
precedes the Cambrian
explosion in which –
multicellular life forms −13 — Reionization ← Earliest quasar / black hole
began to proliferate about
← Earliest galaxy
530–540  million years Dark Ages ← Earliest stars
ago.[17] ← Earliest Universe
(billion years ago)

Since the Cambrian explosion there have been five distinctly

identifiable mass extinctions.[18] 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.[19]

The Blue Marble, which is a famous
view of the Earth, taken in 1972 by
the crew of Apollo 17
Several million years ago, a species of small African ape gained the
ability to stand upright.[15] 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,
the fastest ever to
have
occurred.[20][21]
Some, such as E.
O. Wilson of
Three types of geological plate tectonic An animation showing the
Harvard University,
boundaries movement of the continents from
predict that human
the separation of Pangaea until
destruction of the the present day
biosphere could
cause the extinction of one-half of all species in the next 100 years.[22]
The extent of the current extinction event is still being researched, debated and calculated by
biologists.[23][24][25]

Atmosphere, 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, Blue light is scattered more than
thereby reducing the daily other wavelengths by the gases in
temperature extremes. the atmosphere, giving the Earth a
Plankton inhabit oceans, seas and blue halo when seen from space
Terrestrial weather occurs
lakes, and have existed in various
almost exclusively in the
forms for at least 2 billion years[15]
lower part of the atmosphere, and serves as a convective system for
redistributing heat.[26] 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.

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

Lightning
factors are known to influence the climate, including ocean
currents, surface albedo, greenhouse gases, 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.

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 A tornado in central Oklahoma
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.[27] Overall, two things are happening worldwide: (1)
temperature is increasing on the average; and (2) regional climates have been undergoing noticeable
changes.[28]

Water on the Earth

Water is a chemical substance that is composed of
hydrogen and oxygen (H2O) and is vital for all
known forms of life.[29] 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.[30] On Earth, it is found mostly in The Iguazu Falls on the border between Brazil and
oceans and other large bodies of water, with 1.6% of Argentina
water below ground in aquifers and 0.001% in the air
as vapor, clouds, and precipitation.[31][32] 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

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
A view of the Atlantic Ocean from
generally recognized as several 'separate' oceans, these waters
Leblon, Rio de Janeiro
comprise one global, interconnected body of salt water often
referred to as the World Ocean or global ocean.[33][34] 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.[35]

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

A lake (from Latin word 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.[36][37] 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 Lake Mapourika, New Zealand
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

A pond is a body of standing water, either natural or human-made,

that is usually smaller than a lake. A wide variety of human-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 The Westborough Reservoir (Mill
other aquatic terrain features, such as stream pools and tide pools. Pond) in Westborough,
Massachusetts

Rivers

A river is a natural watercourse,[38] usually freshwater, flowing

towards 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
The Nile river in Cairo, Egypt's
always the case, due to vagueness in the language.[39] A river is
capital city
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

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
A rocky stream in Hawaii

Ecosystems are composed

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.[40]
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
species are ecologically dependent on each other, as well as with the abiotic constituents of their
biotope.[44]
of a variety of biotic and
abiotic components that function in an interrelated way.[41] 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.
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."[42] Within the
ecosystem, species are
connected and dependent
upon one another in the
food chain, and exchange
An aerial view of a human
energy and matter between ecosystem. Pictured is the city of
themselves as well as with Chicago
their environment. [43] The
human ecosystem concept
is based on the human/nature dichotomy and the idea that all

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.[45]

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
Old growth European Beech forest in
Peñas Blancas, part of the Bosawás even in urban areas along
Biogradska Gora National Park,
Biosphere Reserve. Located rivers, gulches, or
Montenegro
northeast of the city of Jinotega in otherwise undeveloped
Northeastern Nicaragua areas. Wilderness areas and
protected parks are
considered important for the survival of certain species, ecological
studies, conservation, and solitude. Some nature writers believe wilderness areas are vital for the human
spirit and creativity,[46] 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 or impossible to recreate in zoos,
arboretums, or laboratories.

Life
Although there is no
universal agreement on the Life timeline
definition of life, scientists 0 — ← Quaternary ice age*
← Earliest apes / humans
generally accept that the P   Flowers Birds Primates
   
–h Mammals
biological manifestation of —a   Dinosaurs
life is characterized by n P ← Karoo ice age*
–e l Arthropods Molluscs   ← Earliest tetrapods
organization, metabolism, r a ← Andean glaciation*
growth, adaptation, −500 — o n ← Cambrian explosion
– z t Ediacaran biota
response to stimuli, and s ←
← Cryogenian ice age*
o
reproduction.[47] Life may —i ← Earliest animals
c  
also be said to be simply – ← Earliest plants
the characteristic state of −1000 —
organisms.   Multicellular life
–
—
Properties common to
terrestrial organisms –P
(plants, animals, fungi, −1500 — r ← Earliest fungi
o ← Earliest multicellular life
protists, archaea, and –t
bacteria) are that they are —e  
r
cellular, carbon-and-water- –o Eukaryotes
based with complex z
−2000 — o   ← Sexual reproduction
organization, having a
metabolism, a capacity to –i
c
grow, respond to stimuli, —   ← Huronian glaciation*
← Atmospheric oxygen
and reproduce. An entity –
with these properties is −2500 —
generally considered life. –

Photosynthesis Pongola glaciation*

 — otosy t es s ← Pongola glaciation*
However, not every –
definition of life considers −3000 —
all of these properties to be –
essential. Human-made —A
analogs of life may also be r
–c
considered to be life. h
−3500 — e ← Earliest oxygen
The biosphere is the part of a
–n
Earth's outer shell— — Single-celled life
including land, surface – ← LHB meteorites
rocks, water, air and the
−4000 — ← Earliest fossils
atmosphere—within which H
–a
life occurs, and which Water
biotic processes in turn alter —d
e ← LUCA
or transform. From the –a ← Earliest water
n
broadest geophysiological −4500 — ← Earth formed
point of view, the biosphere (million years ago) *Ice Ages
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.[48]

Female mallard and
ducklings – reproduction is
essential for continuing life
Over nine-tenths of the total biomass on Earth is plant life, on which animal
life depends very heavily for its existence.[49] More than 2 million species
of plant and animal life have been identified to date,[50] and estimates of the
actual number of existing species range from several million to well over
50 million.[51][52][53] 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.[54][55] The total number of species is in rapid
decline.[56][57][58]

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,[61][62][63] during the
hadean or archean eons on a primordial Earth that had a
substantially different environment than is found at present.[64]
These life forms possessed the basic traits of self-replication and
An area of the Amazon Rainforest
inheritable traits. Once life had appeared, the process of evolution
shared between Colombia and Brazil.
by natural selection resulted in the development of ever-more
The tropical rainforests of South
diverse life forms.
America contain the largest diversity
[59][60]
Species that were unable to adapt to the changing environment and of species on Earth
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.[64]
When basic forms of plant life developed the process of photosynthesis the sun's energy could be harvested
to create conditions which allowed for more complex life forms.[65] 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.[66] 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

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.[67] 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.[68] Their reproduction
is both rapid and profuse. The combination of a high mutation rate and a
horizontal gene transfer[69] ability makes them highly adaptable, and able
to survive in new environments, including outer space.[70] They form an
A microscopic mite Lorryia
essential part of the planetary ecosystem. However, some microorganisms formosa
are pathogenic and can post health risk to other organisms.

Plants and animals

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
A selection of diverse plant species A selection of diverse animal species
often considered plants in
many contexts. Bacterial
life is sometimes included
in flora, [71][72] 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 fungi by
lacking cell walls.

With a few exceptions—most notably the two phyla consisting of sponges and placozoans—animals have
bodies that are differentiated into tissues. 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

Human impact Hominin timeline

0 — Modern humans
←
←
Although humans comprise Homo sapiens ← Earliest clothes
P Denisovans Earliest rock art
only a minuscule – l Neanderthals
proportion of the total e H. heidelbergensis
i
living biomass on Earth, −1 — s
the human effect on nature t
is disproportionately large. o H. erectus
–c
Because of the extent of e ← Earliest fire / cooking
human influence, the n
−2 — e
boundaries between what H. habilis ← Dispersal beyond Africa
humans regard as nature
–
and "made environments"
is not clear cut except at the
−3 — Australopithecus
extremes. Even at the
extremes, the amount of ← Earliest stone tools
natural environment that is –
free of discernible human
−4
 −4 —
influence is diminishing at
an increasingly rapid pace. Ardipithecus H
–
A 2020 study published in P o
Nature found that l
anthropogenic mass −5 — i m
o Hominini
(human-made materials) c
–e i
outweighs all living
n
biomass on earth, with e n
−6 — Orrorin
plastic alone exceeding the
mass of all land and marine i
animals combined.[73] And – d
according to a 2021 study
M Sahelanthropus s ← Earliest bipedal
published in Frontiers in −7 — i
Forests and Global o
Change, only about 3% of –c
e
the planet's terrestrial n
surface is ecologically and −8 — e Oreopithecus
faunally intact, with a low
human footprint and – ← Chimpanzee split
healthy populations of
native animal −9 — Ouranopithecus ← Gorilla split
species.[74][75]
–
The development of
Nakalipithecus
technology by the human
−10 — ← Earlier apes
race has allowed the greater
(million years ago)
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.[76] 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,[77] with roughly 1 million species
Despite their natural beauty, the threatened with extinction within decades.[78] The loss of
secluded valleys along the Na Pali biodiversity and ecosystem functions over the last half century have
Coast in Hawaii are heavily modified impacted the extent that nature can contribute to human quality of
by introduced invasive species such life,[79] and continued declines could pose a major threat to the
as She-oak continued existence of human civilization, unless a rapid course
correction is made.[80] The value of natural resources to human
society is not reflected in market prices because mostly natural
resources are available free of charge. This distorts market pricing of natural resources and at the same time
leads to underinvestment in our natural assets. The annual global cost of public subsidies that damage
nature is conservatively estimated at $4–$6 trillion (million million). Institutional protections of these natural
goods, such as the oceans and rainforests, are lacking. Governments have not prevented these economic
externalities.[81][82]
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.[83][84] 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,[85] 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.[86]

Aesthetics and beauty

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 Aesthetically pleasing flowers
characteristics that many philosophers agree about to explain what
is seen as beautiful, the opinions are virtually endless.[87] 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.[88] 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 Rothenburg writes, "The beautiful is the root of science and the goal of art, the
highest possibility that humanity can ever hope to see".[89]: 2 81 

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.[90] The exact arrangement of these components is still unknown and is under intensive
investigation by physicists.
The behaviour 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[91] that appear to
be static across the observable universe.[92] The values of these
constants have been carefully measured, but the reason for their
specific values remains a mystery.

Beyond Earth The first few hydrogen atom electron

orbitals shown as cross-sections
with color-coded probability density

Planets of the Solar System (Sizes to scale,

distances and illumination not to scale)

Outer space, also simply called space, refers to the relatively empty NGC 4414 is a spiral galaxy in the
regions of the Universe outside the atmospheres of celestial bodies. constellation Coma Berenices about
Outer space is used to distinguish it from airspace (and terrestrial 56,000 light-years in diameter and
locations). There is no discrete boundary between Earth's approximately 60 million light-years
atmosphere and space, as the atmosphere gradually attenuates with from Earth
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 crewed and uncrewed launches which are a potential hazard to
spacecraft. Some of this debris re-enters the atmosphere periodically.

Although Earth is the only body within the Solar System known to support life, evidence suggests that in
the distant past the planet Mars possessed bodies of liquid water on the surface.[93] 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.[94]

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.[95]
Astronomers have started to discover extrasolar Earth analogs – planets that lie in the habitable zone of
space surrounding a star, and therefore could possibly host life as we know it.[96]

See also
Astronomy portal
Earth sciences
portal
Ecology portal
Environment
portal
Science portal

Biology portal

Animals portal

Weather portal

World portal

Force of nature Natural science

Human nature Natural theology
Natural history Nature reserve
Naturalism Nature versus nurture
Natural landscape Nature worship
Natural law Naturism
Natural resource Rewilding

Media:

National Wildlife, a publication of the National Wildlife Federation

Natural History, by Pliny the Elder
Natural World (TV series)
Nature, by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Nature, a prominent scientific journal
Nature (TV series)
The World We Live In (Life magazine)

Organizations:

Nature Detectives
The Nature Conservancy

Philosophy:

Balance of nature (biological fallacy), a discredited concept of natural equilibrium in

predator–prey dynamics
Mother Nature
 Naturalism, any of several philosophical stances, typically those descended from
materialism and pragmatism that do not distinguish the supernatural from nature;[97] 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
Nature (philosophy)

Notes and references

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Further reading
Droz, Layna; et al. (May 31, 2022). "Exploring the diversity of conceptualizations of nature in
 East and South-East Asia" (https://doi.org/10.1057%2Fs41599-022-01186-5). Humanities
and Social Sciences Communications. 9 (1): 1–12. doi:10.1057/s41599-022-01186-5 (http
s://doi.org/10.1057%2Fs41599-022-01186-5). ISSN 2662-9992 (https://www.worldcat.org/iss
n/2662-9992).
Ducarme, Frédéric; Couvet, Denis (2020). "What does 'nature' mean?" (https://doi.org/10.10
57%2Fs41599-020-0390-y). Palgrave Communications. Springer Nature. 6 (14).
doi:10.1057/s41599-020-0390-y (https://doi.org/10.1057%2Fs41599-020-0390-y).
Emerson, Ralph W. (1836). Nature. Boston: James Munroe & Co.
Farber, Paul Lawrence (2000), Finding Order in Nature: The Naturalist Tradition from
Linnaeus to E. O. Wilson. Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore.
Naddaf, Gerard (2006). The Greek Concept of Nature. Albany: SUNY Press.
Piccolo, John J.; Taylor, Bron; Washington, Haydn; Kopnina, Helen; Gray, Joe; Alberro,
Heather; Orlikowska, Ewa (2022). " "Nature's contributions to people" and peoples' moral
obligations to nature" (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.biocon.2022.109572). Biological
Conservation. 270: 109572. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109572 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.
biocon.2022.109572). S2CID 248769087 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:248769
087).
Worster, D. (1994). Nature's Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

External links
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (iucnredlist.org) (http://www.iucnredlist.org/)
Ducarme, Frédéric (January 3, 2021). "What is nature?" (https://www.encyclopedie-environn
ement.org/en/life/what-is-nature/). Encyclopedia of the Environment.

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