Symbiosis
Symbiosis is a process that describes any interaction or relationship between two species. There are multiple types of symbiosis; they are based on whether the species are getting a benefit or not. Parasitism, commensalism, and mutualism are three basic kinds. In mutualism, both species benefit from each other, while in commensalism, one species benefit while the other neither benefits nor harms. Parasitism, however, is a symbiotic relationship in which one species is getting benefits, the parasite, while the other species is getting harmed, the host. Predation and competition are other examples of symbiosis. In predation, one organism preys on another organism before eating it, while in a competition, there is a contest between the species for the limited resources.
Data
Data is considered an oil of the modern world. Quantitative, related to numbers, and qualitative, related to qualities, are the two types of data. These types are further divided into ordinal, nominal, continuous, and discrete. Qualitative data cannot be counted or measured in terms of numbers; instead, it is sorted by categories such as gender or ethnicity. Nominal data is, however, used to label variables without any quantitative value or order, e.g., one hair color cannot be compared to another hair color, and ordinal data has to be used. Ordinal data is a kind of qualitative data in which values have certain relative positions, for example, when a service provider asks for a review on a scale of 1-5 or a class grading system of A, B, C, and D. This ordinal data is giving the meaning of a particular level or order without any number. Consider a good service provider having a five-star rating and a bad provider having a one-star rating. Quantitative or numerical data, on the other hand, involves countable numbers and statistical data analysis. For instance, the price of cars or the information about height and weight. Quantitative data is further classified into discrete data and continuous data. The discrete data cannot be broken into fractions or decimals. For example, the number of rooms in a house. Continuous data, on the other hand, appears in the form of fractional numbers, e.g., a height of a person or a version of the software.
Pollution
Human activities are the primary sources of pollution. There are different types of pollution: water pollution, air pollution, land pollution, thermal pollution, noise pollution, and radioactive pollution. Air pollution is caused by harmful substances released into the atmosphere. It might lead to various human and environmental conditions, e.g., diseases and global warming. Water pollution occurs when harmful contaminants are released into the oceans, lakes, or rivers. Water pollution causes cholera and is harmful to fish and marine life. The destruction of the earth’s surface is land pollution – groundwater and soil contamination results from the deposition of solid and liquid wastes. Land pollution causes the loss of soil nutrients destroying flora and fauna. Noise pollution is associated with excessive noise disturbance, typically caused by human activity, e.g., transportation, construction, household noises, and natural disasters, e.g., volcanoes. It might lead to hearing loss, tinnitus, high blood pressure, and sleeping disorders.
Fossils and Minerals
The preserved traces of animals and plants submerged in sediments such as mud and sand beneath ancient seas, lakes, and rivers are known as fossils. Most fossils are created when organisms die and preserve due to sediments. Scientists who study fossils are called paleontologists. The study of fossils gives us information about organisms and their lives that lived thousands or millions of years ago. Molds, petrified fossils, casts, trace fossils, and carbon films are some of the fossils found in rocks. Other fossils were created when organisms’ remains were preserved in ice, tar, or amber. Petrified fossils are formed when minerals swap all or some parts of a dead organism. A mold is a fossil formed in a hollow area of sediment, which is an exact impression of a dead animal. A cast is a mineralized sediment shaped in the form of an animal remain. In comparison, a carbon film is a thin covering of carbon in the shape of the organism present on the rock.
Water Cycle
The water cycle is water circulation on, above, or below the Earth’s surface. During the process, the overall quantity of water particles does not change. The first step is evaporation when Sun is the primary energy source. Evaporation typically occurs below the boiling point of water which is 100 °C. Sublimation is when a solid converts directly into vapors without coming into a liquid state. It is shown in the water cycle when ice or snow converts directly into water vapors without becoming liquid water. Low humidity and dry winds are its major factors. On mountain tops, the low air pressure aids in the sublimation. Sublimation and evaporation are followed by condensation. In condensation, water vapors accumulate in the atmosphere and gradually cool down as the temperature is lower. These drops of water gather to form clouds. Finally, these water droplets merge during precipitation and fall as rain on the ground. Rain water gets absorbed into the ground by the infiltration process.
Extinct and Endangered
When formerly existing animal and plant species vanish entirely from the earth, they are called extinct species. Extinct species do not exist and, unfortunately, may never reappear. Certain changes on earth, such as volcanic eruptions and human colonization, deforestation, and hunting, have contributed to the extinction of numerous species. Endangered species are those species of plants and animals which have become rare and are on the brink of extinction. Pollution is a major cause of the rise in endangered species. The excessive use of a pesticide named DDT, for instance, polluted the lakes and poisoned fish, killing bald eagles who had eaten that poisonous fish. Later an official ban on DDT usage helped to save bald eagles, and now they are no longer on the endangered list. Threatened species is the term used for those animal and plant species prone to becoming endangered soon.
