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What are biotic and abiotic factors?
Biotic components are living organisms in an ecosystem. A biotic factor is a living
organism that affects another organism in its ecosystem. Examples include plants and
animals that the organism consumes as food, and animals that consume the organism.
The following video covers the biotic and abiotic factors that influence most
ecosystems, and introduces key vocabulary relevant to ecology:
This is a good SlideShare presentation that covers the definition and examples of biotic
and abiotic factors in an ecosystem:
Biology 01-2 Ecosystems - Biotic and Abiotic Factors
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Relevance
The scope of abiotic and biotic factors spans across the entire biosphere, or global sum
of all ecosystems. Such factors can have relevance for an individual within a species,
its community or an entire population. For instance, disease is a biotic factor affecting
the survival of an individual and its community. Temperature is an abiotic factor with the
same relevance.
Some factors have greater relevance for an entire ecosystem. Abiotic and biotic factors
combine to create a system or, more precisely, an ecosystem, meaning a community of
living and nonliving things considered as a unit. In this case, abiotic factors span as far
as the pH of the soil and water, types of nutrients available and even the length of the
day. Biotic factors such as the presence of autotrophs or self-nourishing organisms
such as plants, and the diversity of consumers also affect an entire ecosystem.
Influencing Factors
Abiotic factors affect the ability of organisms to survive and reproduce. Abiotic limiting
factors restrict the growth of populations. They help determine the types and numbers
of organisms able to exist within an environment.
Biotic factors are living things that directly or indirectly affect organisms within an
environment. This includes the organisms themselves, other organisms, interactions
between living organisms and even their waste. Other biotic factors include parasitism,
disease, and predation (the act of one animal eating another).
Interaction Examples
The significance of abiotic and biotic factors comes in their interaction with each other.
For a community or an ecosystem to survive, the correct interactions need to be in
place.
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Abiotic and Biotic Factors
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A simple example would be of abiotic interaction in plants. Water, sunlight and carbon
dioxide are necessary for plants to grow. The biotic interaction is that plants use water,
sunlight and carbon dioxide to create their own nourishment through a process called
photosynthesis.
On a larger scale, abiotic interactions refer to patterns such as climate and seasonality.
Factors such as temperature, humidity and the presence or absence of seasons affect
the ecosystem. For instance, some ecosystems experience cold winters with a lot of
snow. An animal such as a fox within this ecosystem adapts to these abiotic factors by
growing a thick, white-colored coat in the winter.
Decomposers such as bacteria and fungi are examples of biotic interactions on such a
scale. Decomposers function by breaking down dead organisms. This process returns
the basic components of the organisms to the soil, allowing them to be reused within
that ecosystem.
Explicación: