• What are biotic and abiotic factors?
• Biotic factors and examples
• food chains
• Abiotic factors and examples
• Relationship between biotic and abiotic factors

We explain what biotic and abiotic factors are, how they are related and various examples. Also, what are food chains.

Biotic and abiotic factors and their relationships constitute the environment.

What are biotic and abiotic factors?

The facts Biotics Y abiotic are two of the central elements studied by the ecology, that is, the scientific discipline that is dedicated to ecosystems To understand how relationships are built between life and the inert elements that surround it.

Thus, biotic factors are those living beings that inhabit an ecosystem, feeding on it, reproducing and in turn serving as sustenance for other species. On the contrary, abiotic factors are those that have their origin in inert matter, that is, they are the set of chemical materials and physical forces that constitute the ecosystem and that exert certain determined effects on living beings.

All ecosystems are composed of these two types of factors, between which more or less complex relationships are woven, which constitute the environment. The human being It is not exempt from this type of relationship, although it differs from the rest of the animals in that it has the psychic and technological tools to modify the environment, instead of irremediably adapting to it, as the others do. species in their habitats respective.

Biotic factors and examples

Biotic factors are characterized by their desire for survival.

The term “biotic factors” refers, in essence, to the Flora fauna and functions of an ecosystem, that is, the total of the species of floors, mushrooms Y animals. You can also include the microorganisms (microflora and microfauna), depending on the level of detail with which the ecosystem is studied.

These biotic factors are characterized by their desire for survival, that is, they are organisms that fight to preserve the internal order and continue to exist, and for their reproductive capacity, that is, their innate tendency to produce more new individuals of the species. In this way, the different species of living beings that share a habitat are in a continuous competition for the resources available for food and for the search for protection against natural elements (such as rain, cold or heat).

For that reason, many species make a continuous effort to control the necessary resources, whether it be food, territory, water or fertile females for breeding. reproduction, which are disputed both with other species (interspecific competition) and with other individuals of their own species (intraspecific competition).

At the same time, many species build bonds of cooperation and mutual aid, known as cooperative relationships (inter- and intraspecific): the mutualism, in which both individuals or species benefit; the commensalism, in which they share resources without particularly harming or benefiting each other; and the symbiosis, in which they cooperate so closely that they depend on each other for survival.

Examples of biotic factors are:

• Animals: reptiles, fish, birds, mammals, worms, sponges, echinoderms, among many others.
• The microorganisms both multicellular What unicellular, such as bacteria, arches and protozoa.
• The plankton of the seas: zooplankton (animal) and phytoplankton (vegetable).
• The mushrooms Y yeastsboth free-living and parasites.
• Plant species: trees, shrubs, plants, vines, grasses, algae, among many others.

food chains

Heterotrophic organisms can be herbivorous and feed on plants.

The competitive relationships between living beings are complex and lead to the exchange of Matter and energy between the different species. That is, the matter that makes up the body of a living being is assimilated by another when it feeds on it, as do predators by ingesting and digesting their prey. In addition, when the latter die, the matter of their bodies is assimilated by the decomposing species, thus returning to the circuit.

Depending on the place that a species occupies within this cycle of transmission of matter, also called food chain either food chain, we can distinguish between three sets of living beings:

• Producing organisms either autotrophs. Those who are capable of generating their own food from inorganic elements, such as water, sunlight or ground elements. In this group are plant species and a few other autotrophic organisms, which give rise to organic matter, transforming inorganic matter for their benefit.
• consumer organisms either heterotrophs. Those that cannot generate their food from inorganic elements, but must consume the organic matter of other living beings. Those that consume the organic matter of the producing organisms are known as herbivores or primary consumers; while those that consume the organic matter of primary consumers (and other types of consumers) are known as carnivores or secondary consumers. For example: A deer is a primary consumer, since it feeds on leaves and stems; while a panther feeds on deer and is therefore a secondary consumer. Between one and the other there may also be other intermediate consumers.
• decomposing organisms or detritophages.Those that feed on the organic matter of producers and consumers, but once they have died and their body begins the decomposition process. Detritophages are in charge of recycling organic matter back to the circuit of life, since they not only feed on the body of deceased beings, but also break it down into simpler substances that producers or autotrophs use for their benefit ( that is, organic fertilizer).

Abiotic factors and examples

Abiotic factors do not have a life of their own but are used by living beings.

The term "abiotic factors" encompasses a very diverse set of non-living components of an ecosystem, such as the Water, the air, sunlight, gases from the atmosphere or the mineral components of the soil. These elements do not have their own life, but they are essential for the existence of living beings, since they are used by producers to generate organic matter: plants, for example, use carbon dioxide, sunlight and water to produce molecules organic (sugars).

In addition, abiotic factors affect living beings in different ways, forcing them to adapt to their environment. The change of temperature in the seasons cold weather, for example, forces trees to lose their leaves to save water in times of low sunlight, and many animals to accumulate resources to hibernate during the worst weather period.

Abiotic factors can be classified according to their nature into two groups:

• chemical factors. Those that have to do with the constitution of matter, such as water, the gases of the air (oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, among others) and the mineral elements of the soil (calcium, iron, phosphates, among others).
• physical factors.Those that have to do with natural forces, movement and energy, such as sunlight, ambient temperature, meteorological phenomena (rain, hail, snow, among others) or the forms of the relief land.

Finally, are examples of abiotic factors:

• Solar radiation, which provides light and heat to the earth's surface.
• The different stages of water in its hydrological cycle: ice, liquid water, water steam in the atmosphere or water droplets in precipitation.
• The ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure, which determine the climate which changes cyclically throughout the year.
• The minerals of the soil, the rocks of different types and the accidents of the relief.
• The tides caused by the attraction of the Moon.

Relationship between biotic and abiotic factors

Abiotic factors condition the forms of adaptation of biotic factors.

Biotic and abiotic factors are continuously and closely related. On the one hand, the abiotic elements serve as a starting point so that the biotic ones can feed, as in the case of autotrophic nutrition, or for the breathing, process in which living beings ingest useful gases for their metabolism, like oxygen.

On the other hand, natural elements shape the forms of survival of living beings, promoting an adaptive response on their part, that is, forcing them to protect their survival in different ways or to take advantage of good times. Rain, for example, is essential for plant life and for cooling the environment, keeping the climate stable.

So, in a very dry season, living beings must compete for the available water, which may involve migrating to more humid geographies and, therefore, fighting for territory with other species. Something different happens in deserts, whose continuously dry environment favors the adaptation of creatures, which develop bodies and metabolisms over generations capable of minimizing water consumption or retaining reserves of this substance inside.