Biotic and abiotic factors

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The terms "biotic and abiotic factors" often appear in natural history books or journals. But what is the meaning behind these technical terms? You can easily understand the two terms even without a biological background knowledge.

Biotic factors include, for example, predator-prey relationships.
Biotic factors include, for example, predator-prey relationships.

These are abiotic factors

  • Biotic and abiotic factors can easily be distinguished from one another. Both terms describe the present living conditions of an organism, being abiotic the chemical and physical conditions of life are counted among the biotic living conditions have to.
  • Abiotic factors are, for example, the effects of light and temperature on plants and animals. For example, the intensity and duration of solar radiation influences the height of plants, while the temperature also influences development and activity.
  • The condition of the soil is also of particular importance for plants. The growth behavior is influenced, among other things, by the graininess of the soil, the pH value and the mineral content.
  • Air humidity and wind speed also play a major role as abiotic factors.

Biotic factors - easy to understand

  • Conspecifics play a major role as biotic factors. For example, intraspecific competition develops in living beings of the same species.
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  • But there is also competitive behavior between the species. Biologists speak of interspecific competition here.
  • In this context, the predator-prey relationship also plays a major role. For example, the cat represents a typical predator who chooses mice or birds as prey. This process is also one of the biotic factors.
  • The biotic living conditions also include influences from parasites and pathogens.
  • For the basic distinction between the two terms, please note: Biotic means "animate", abiotic means "inanimate".

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