environment (redirected from environmental)

environment

A particular configuration of hardware or software. "The environment" refers to a hardware platform and the operating system that is used in it. A programming environment would include the compiler and associated development tools.

Environment is used in other ways to express a type of configuration, such as a networking environment, database environment, transaction processing environment, batch environment, interactive environment and so on. See platform.

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environment

1. Ecology the external surroundings in which a plant or animal lives, which tend to influence its development and behaviour

2. Computing an operating system, program, or integrated suite of programs that provides all the facilities necessary for a particular application
www.conservation.org
www.doc.mmu.ac.uk/aric/eae/english.html
http://personal.cmich.edu/~franc1m/homepage.htm

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environment [in′vī·ərn·məntorin′vī·rən·ment]

(computer science)

The computer system in which an applications program is running, including the hardware and system software.

(ecology)

The sum of all external conditions and influences affecting the development and life of organisms.

(engineering)

The aggregate of all natural, operational, or other conditions that affect the operation of equipment or components.

(physics)

The aggregate of all the conditions and the influences that determine the behavior of a physical system.

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Environment

The sum of all external factors, both biotic (living) and abiotic (nonliving), to which an organism is exposed. Biotic factors include influences by members of the same and other species on the development and survival of the individual. Primary abiotic factors are light, temperature, water, atmospheric gases, and ionizing radiation, influencing the form and function of the individual.

For each environmental factor, an organism has a tolerance range, in which it is able to survive. The intercept of these ranges constitutes the ecological niche of the organism. Different individuals or species have different tolerance ranges for particular environmental factors—this variation represents the adaptation of the organism to its environment. The ability of an organism to modify its tolerance of certain environmental factors in response to a change in them represents the plasticity of that organism. Alterations in environmental tolerance are termed acclimation. Exposure to environmental conditions at the limit of an individual's tolerance range represents environmental stress. See Adaptation (biology), Ecology, Physiological ecology (animal), Physiological ecology (plant)

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environment - environment variable