Abiotic And Biotic Factors
Abiotic Factors
Abiotic factors are the non-living factors that affect living organisms, and so affect communities. These factors do not work in isolation – they combine to produce unique environments which support distinct types of animals and plants.
Abiotic factors include:
Light intensity: limited light will limit photosynthesis. This will affect the distribution of plants, and therefore the distribution of animals that eat plants. Some plants adapt to low light, usually by developing bigger leaves to optimse photosynthesis.
Temperature: temperature is a limiting factor for photosynthesis – and low temperature therefore limits growth of plants. In cold climates, the number of plants is usually low – which limits the number of herbivores that can live there.
Moisture levels: life needs water! Plants and animals are rare in deserts.
Soil pH and mineral content: plants need mineral ions like nitrates to grow. Where they are limited in the soil, plants struggle to grow – unless they get them by trapping animals and digesting the minerals from their decaying bodies. Low pH in soil slows down the rate of decay, and therefore slows down the relase of mineral ions back into the soil. This inhibits new plant growth.
Wind intensity and direction: the shape and height of plants is severly affected in areas of high wind – and the rate of transpiration is also increased in high winds.
Memorising abiotic factors
Are Harmful Gases Abiotic Or Biotic Factors In Our Environment
As we all know, harmful gases play a negative role in our society and our environment. Are these gases playing as abiotic or biotic factors in our lives?
- 1$\begingroup$Isn’t definition of biotic a living thing? gasses are not living harmful or non-harmful, or am I missing something? . If so, could you clarify the question? If you mean whether bionics can use harmful gasses, then it depends on the species. e.g. plants can use CO2 but mammals can’t.$\endgroup$ Behzad RowshanravanJun 17 ’14 at 21:27
- $\begingroup$I’m voting to close this question as off-topic because it is about the English language rather than Biology.$\endgroup$
Bez is correct, biotic and abiotic refer to the nature of the agent performing the stress.
- biotic = living thing
- abiotic = non-animated
Now the example “shade” is trickier because it depends on the perspective you choose.
There’s always a context. Does the element creating the shade matter in your context? If so, and this element happens to be animated/living: stress = biotic .
If it doesn’t matter what object generates the stress since you are only interested in the effect of the shade on a system: shade = abiotic
Pipeline: Analyze the context, choose and communicate your choice of perspective/angle and then remember what biotic and abiotic literally mean.
I don’t know of an example where Carbon Monoxide is produced by living things.
How Do Abiotic Factors Affect Population Size
The carrying capacity depends on biotic and abiotic factors. If these factors improve, the carrying capacity increases. If the factors become less plentiful, the carrying capacity drops. If resources are being used faster than they are being replenished, then the species has exceeded its carrying capacity.
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Human Activity Affecting The Ecosystem
Case study: Pollution and the Peppered Moth
At the beginning of the 19th century, there were two types of moths in the United Kingdom. At that time, the white-bodied peppered moth was common, whose black-speckled white body allowed it to blend in with the tree bark to avoid being eaten by birds. However, during the Industrial Revolution, coal-burning factories produced lots of ash, which settled on the tree barks. Thus, the white-bodied moths were now distinguishable from the dark tree trunks. On the other hand, the black-bodied moths, which were uncommon back then, could now hide more effectively.
Later, it was discovered that black-bodied moths were dominant near the industrial areas, whereas the white-bodied moths were restricted to the soot-free forests and the rural areas.
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Abiotic factors are non-living factors that are crucial to the functioning of a terrestrial biome. Some examples of abiotic factors include– oxygen availability, sunlight, water, minerals, soil, temperature. Some of these abiotic factors can be limiting factors because if something is in short supply in a terrestrial biome, it can have an effect on the type of species that can thrive there. For instance, water, a very important abiotic factor, is a limiting factor in a desert biome. Because of that, only certain plant species adapted to a dry climate such as cacti and sagebrush will be found there, but trees with broad leaves would not. A tree with broad leaves and much surface area, would have many pore spaces through which water could be lost, via transpiration. However, a cactus with needles, rather than leaves has a much reduced surface area and water loss is prevented. Therefore, in regards to abiotic factors determining a terrestrial biome, if there is little water and much sunlight and warm temperatures during the daylight hours, one would expect to find a desert biome. However, if a biome had rainfall on a daily basis, warm temperatures and soil poor in nutrients, one would expect to find a tropical rainforest. A biome in turn has particular organisms adapted to the specific conditions found there.
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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:
Abiotic Factors Versus Biotic Factors
There are various differences between biotic and abiotic factors, but both have profound effects on the balance of an ecosystem.
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Inorganic Nutrients And Soil
Inorganic nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, are important in the distribution and the abundance of living things. Plants obtain these inorganic nutrients from the soil when water moves into the plant through the roots. Therefore, soil structure , soil pH, and soil nutrient content play an important role in the distribution of plants. Animals obtain inorganic nutrients from the food they consume. Therefore, animal distributions are related to the distribution of what they eat. In some cases, animals will follow their food resource as it moves through the environment.
How Does Biotic And Abiotic Factors Affect Population Growth
The carrying capacity depends on biotic and abiotic factors. If these factors improve, the carrying capacity increases. If resources are being used faster than they are being replenished, then the species has exceeded its carrying capacity. If this occurs, the population will then decrease in size.
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Abiotic Factors Affecting Sensitivity
Many abiotic factors influence the effect of a given amount of N on terrestrial biodiversity. The relative importance of each of these factors depends on which of the four dominant mechanisms is driving changes in biodiversity. For systems in which eutrophication and competitive exclusion is the dominant mechanism, abiotic factors include the presence and strength of nitrogen limitation, the availability of open spaces for invasion by new species or expansion by existing species, and the availability and timing of other potentially limiting resources. For example, drier systems in the western US prairie tend to respond more weakly than wetter systems in the eastern plains . Presumably, this occurs because the western plains are strongly colimited by nitrogen and water, whereas the eastern plains are primarily limited by nitrogen and therefore are better able to respond after N increases. Deserts have also been found to be less sensitive to N induced species declines in some but not all cases.
In systems where secondary stress dominates the ecosystem response to nitrogen deposition , many of the same abiotic factors already mentioned above operate to influence ecosystem sensitivity.
T.E. Pasco, D.M. Baltz, in, 2011
Measuring The Ph And Moisture Of The Soil
Soil moisture and soil pH meters are also available. Both are used by simply pushing the probe into the soil and reading the meter.
Errors can be made when measuring pH and soil moisture when probes are not cleaned between readings. The reliability of the results can be checked by taking many samples.
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What Is A Biotic Factor
A biotic factor is any living thing that has an effect on an ecosystem.
Biotic means pertaining to life. A factor is something that influences another thing. So, a biotic factor, put simply, is a living thing that affects other things.
A biotic factor is also called a biotic component. Be careful not to confuse biotic factor with abiotic factor. Abiotic factors are nonliving entities that affect ecosystems .
What Does Physical Or Abiotic Factors Mean
Any environmental factor not caused by living organisms is referred to as an abiotic or physical factor. The term is usually applied in the studies of ecology or biology to refer to the resources that organisms use in order to grow, maintain themselves and reproduce. Thus, factors including sunshine, temperature, humidity, soil and the availability of water would be classified as physical or abiotic.
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What Are Abiotic Factors
The term abiotic is derived from a meaning without and bio meaning life. The non-living part of an environment is called the abiotic factor. All physical and chemical aspects of an ecosystem are included within it. The abiotic factors support survival and reproduction, thus contributing to the continuity of life on earth. The factors may be present in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere.
Energy Flow In Ecosystem:
A. Energy flow from one trophic level to another trophic level is termed as energy flow and this flow of energy is always unidirectional in nature. This means flow of energy takes place in sequential order i.e from producers——primary consumers——- secondary Consumers—–decomposers——detritus. Due to this reason energy cannot be reversed back.
B. At the end of energy flow it gets converted into minerals and that can be used again and again.
C. Only 10% of total energy is used at each trophic level. Due to this Autotrophic organism gets the highest amount of energy in comparison to heterotrophs, decomposers, etc. As they directly feed on producers. This 10% law was given by Lindeman .
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Key Takeaways: Biotic And Abiotic Factors
- An ecosystem consists of biotic and abiotic factors.
- Biotic factors are the living organisms in an ecosystem. Examples include people, plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria.
- Abiotic factors are the nonliving components of an ecosystem. Examples include soil, water, weather, and temperature.
- The limiting factor is the single component that limits the growth, distribution, or abundance of an organism or population.
How Do Abiotic Factors Affect Organisms In An Ecosystem 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. A simple example would be of abiotic interaction in plants. Water, sunlight and carbon dioxide are necessary for plants to grow.
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Abiotic Factors In Other Ecosystems
The biomes described above are not the only ecosystems impacted by abiotic factors. Ecosystems make up the entirety of the earths surface, and abiotic factors impact all the living things within them. For example, abiotic factors also shape the features of the following ecosystems:
- Temperate rainforests, sometimes called temperate broad-leaved forests, are characterized by mild, seasonal climates. They are less dense than tropical rainforest due to the milder weather but still play host to rich biomes.
- Freshwater ecosystems represent the non-marine aquatic ecosystems, including rivers, ponds, lakes, springs, and wetlands. Abiotic factors affecting these ecosystems include temperature, light penetration, and pH of the water.
- Grasslands are ecosystems primarily dominated by grass, lacking the abundance of trees required to be considered a forest. These ecosystems are defined by the rainfall: there is too much to be considered a desert, but not enough to support a forest ecosystem.
- Taiga ecosystems are cold forest regions found in the subarctic. They are characterized by the presence of evergreen trees, and other plants that can survive the cold such as mosses and mushrooms. The animals include moose, bear, deer, and lynx.
Which Is Not An Example Of Abiotic Factor In The Environment
Environment Education
Plants are not an example of an abiotic factors. Explanation: Our environment comprises of two factors namely biotic factors and abiotic factors. Biotic factors are those in ecosystem that consists of all living organisms such as plants, trees, humans, insects, animals, birds, etc.
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Cyanobacteria And Life On Earth
Scientists believe that the earliest widespread form of life on Earth was cyanobacteria. These fairly simple cells, which made food and organic materials from sunlight, played a massively important role in creating all of Earths modern ecosystems.
Prior to the success of cyanobacteria, Earth did not have an oxygen atmosphere. That meant that aerobic respiration was not possible and also meant that it was impossible, or very difficult, for any organisms to live on land because of the DNA-destroying ultraviolet radiation from our sun.
However, cyanobacteria developed a method for storing the energy of sunlight in organic molecules. For this they needed to take molecules of carbon from inorganic sources, such as carbon dioxide in the air, and turn them into carbon-based organic compounds such as sugars, proteins, and lipids.
To achieve this, cyanobacteria took in the inorganic gas CO2, and released a new gas, O2.
O2, or molecular oxygen turned out to be the perfect fuel for the most powerful type of heterotroph metabolism: aerobic respiration. Molecules of O2 also reacted with ultraviolet light in the upper atmosphere to form, O3 a molecule also known as ozone, which absorbed ultraviolet light in the upper atmosphere and made it safe for life forms to colonize land.
As biotic factors, cyanobacteria and its modern descendants supplied not only energy and organic compounds, but also oxygen, to all of Earths ecosystems!
Examples Of Biotic Factors:
As biotic factors are in living form so there examples are also in living form. Some of the examples of biotic factors are listed below.
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Producer
A. Producers: are the organism which can make their own food by photosynthesis process. Like: plants, algae, bacteria.
B. They obtain their source of energy from abiotic factors like sunlight, humidity, water, etc. As all these factors are important for proper synthesis of food.
C. Chlorophyll present in procedure and they absorb all these abiotic factors for synthesis of food. Part of synthesized food is utilised by producers only for their proper functioning and growth.
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Consumers
A. Organisms that feed on producers are known as consumers.
B. Consumers are further divided into three or more types.
1. Primary Consumers: One who directly feeds on procedures are primary consumers. Example: cow, goat, etc.
2. Secondary consumers: Consumers one who feed on primary consumers are known as secondary consumers. Example: lion, tiger, etc.
A. Living organism one who break dead bodies of plants and animals are known as decomposers.
B. They are heterotrophic in nature.
C. Example: fungi, bacteria, etc.
D. Decomposers secrete enzymes of decaying process due to this reason they are known as reducers.
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Detritivores
A. An Organism who feeds on dead and decaying organisms are known as detritivores.
B. They get the least amount of energy after feeding.
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What Is Abiotic And Biotic Factors
What is abiotic and biotic factors? Description. Biotic and abiotic factors are what make up ecosystems. Biotic factors are living things within an ecosystem such as plants, animals, and bacteria, while abiotic are non-living components such as water, soil and atmosphere. The way these components interact is critical in an ecosystem.
What is meant by abiotic factor? An abiotic factor is a non-living part of an ecosystem that shapes its environment. In a terrestrial ecosystem, examples might include temperature, light, and water. In a marine ecosystem, abiotic factors would include salinity and ocean currents.
What is an abiotic and biotic factor? Abiotic factors refer to non-living physical and chemical elements in the ecosystem. Abiotic resources are usually obtained from the lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere. Examples of abiotic factors are water, air, soil, sunlight, and minerals. Biotic factors are living or once-living organisms in the ecosystem.
What are 4 examples of abiotic factors? Wind. Rain. Salinity
This Problem Has Been Solved
Take a minute and travel back in time 3.8 billion years ago.What crucial biological event was taking place at that time?Briefly discuss the abiotic factors that were available then andhow they affected organisms in the short and in the long term. Doyou consider that biotic factors were important variables ofenvironmental change? Include at least three relevant abioticfactors in your answer.
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Five Different Types Of Abiotic Factors
An abiotic factor is a non-living component in the environment. This can be either a chemical or physical presence. Abiotic factors fall into three basic categories: climatic, edaphic and social. Climatic factors include humidity, sunlight and factors involving the climate. Edaphic refers to soil conditions, so edaphic abiotic factors include soil and geography of the land. Social factors include how the land is being used and water resources in the area. Five common abiotic factors are atmosphere, chemical elements, sunlight/temperature, wind and water.