20 scientific curiosities about the environment

We want to start this article on the environment by clarifying what it is. The environment is the environment in which living beings inhabit , but also natural elements such as water, soil or air. Living beings that inhabit the environment include plants, animals, humans, and soil microorganisms. These are the biotic elements of the environment. Abiotic elements of the environment include rivers, soil, water, air, climate, or geology. Likewise, the environment also includes the relationships that are established between biotic and abiotic elements.

Apart from these environmental components, there are also cultural and socioeconomic factors that shape the complete structure of a habitat, among which are urbanization, work activity and the different conflicts and social solutions that take place in the environment.

The conservation of our environment is a fundamental activity for life on our planet, not only because it is home to terrestrial biodiversity, but also because it is a very important source of resources for life on our planet to flourish.

In this other AgroCorrn article we talk in more depth about What is the environment: definition and summary .

There are some scientific curiosities about the environment that not everyone knows. Some of these are:

1. The eucalyptus is the fastest growing tree and can reach 10 meters in just one year, so its species has one of the records of the tallest tree in the world, as one of them reached 150 meters in height, although generally the tallest species are redwoods .
2. The baobab is a desert tree that can collect up to 1000 liters of water in its trunk.
3. The largest tree that we can find in the world is a giant California sequoia. It is about 85 meters high and has a trunk diameter of 29 meters.
4. One of the oldest living trees is found in California, in the Inyo National Forest, and is a 4,850-year-old pine named ‘Methuselah’.
5. However, the oldest tree in the world that continues to grow is in Sweden, in the Fulufjället National Park, and is already more than 9,550 years old. It is known as Old Tjikko is a Norway spruce or Picea abies . In the image below you can see it.
6. Between 20 and 30 volcanoes can erupt each year, but most are underwater.
7. The White Sea in Russia is the one with the lowest temperature with about -2ºC and the Persian Gulf, the warmest with 36ºC. Learn more about it in the article Why the White Sea is called like that .
8. Lake Bosumtwi in Ghana was created by the impact of a large meteorite.
9. The Scottish Highlands are home to some of the oldest mountains in the world, dating back around 400 million years.
10. In 1934, a gust of wind reached 372 km per hour on a mountain in Washington, USA.
11. The fresh water of the Amazon River reaches up to 180 km in the sea.
12. The Antarctic ice sheet varies between 3 and 5 km thick, covers about 18 million square miles and has temperatures of -70 ° C.
13. A fish of the genus Notothenia lives in Antarctica . This fish possesses an antifreeze protein in its blood that stops the fish around it from freezing in the frozen sea.
14. The large amount of oxygen in the atmosphere comes from the consumption of carbon dioxide in plants during photosynthesis, so life would not be possible without plants.
15. The damaging effects of climate change are largely irreversible.
16. Ecosystems are networks so intricate that it is difficult to know what happens when a species dies. For example, computer simulations have revealed that the disappearance of a freshwater fish affects the availability of some nutrients in the food web, potentially causing other extinctions.
17. For every ton of recycled paper we save more than 1,400 liters of oil.
18. More species of ants are found in one tree or shrub in Peru than in all the British Isles.
19. Currently, more than half of the tropical forests have already been lost.
20. Cloud or cloud forests are one of the types of rainforests, specifically those that are more than 3,000 meters above sea level and that are usually covered with fog due to these conditions. Get to know them better in this other AgroCorrn article about Cloud Forests: what they are and their characteristics .

After introducing you to these curious facts about the environment , we want to explain how you can take care of the environment .

Caring for the environment is essential for the survival of our species and of all the biodiversity that inhabits the earth. Currently, the rate of destruction of the environment is being very accelerated due to various human activities. However, there are ways to help take care of the environment. Some are:

• Use public transport, as car trips account for almost half of the transport sector’s CO2 emissions.
• Consume organic certified products.
• Eat seasonal foods.
• Turn off the light in the rooms where we are not.
• Use the dishwasher.
• Recycle.
• Composting organic waste.
• Be up to date with the news about the environment.

If you liked this article on scientific curiosities about the environment, we also recommend this other one that deals with scientific curiosities about the atmosphere .