abiotic and Biotic Factors in Ecosystems

Ecosystems contain both biotic and abiotic factors. The biological components of an environment include plants and animals. Abiotic factors include both natural forces like weather and geography as well as non-living components like minerals, gases, and chemicals. Both biotic and abiotic elements play a role in the health of an ecosystem.

biotic

The members of the food web, or biotic factors, are those that depend on other organisms for survival in an ecosystem. Producing, consuming, and decomposing organisms are all included in a list of biotic factors. The food is usually provided by the producers in the form of plant life. Consumers eat the producers, or in the case of carnivores, other consumers. At the end of an organism’s life cycle, decomposers transform the organism's remains into organic material that can be used to supply energy for a new generation of producers.

These living organisms affect each other and influence the health of the ecosystem. A healthy ecosystem contains a balance of biotic examples; a substantial increase or decrease in population of one species might effect many others. While abiotic variables are necessary to maintain life, biotic factors interact with and can more easily generate changes in the environment

A Balanced Ecosystem

A healthy balance of biotic and abiotic factors is necessary for an ecosystem to thrive. Planktonic algae are abundant enough in a balanced aquatic ecosystem to support a variety of zooplankton, which in turn provide food and shelter for aquatic animals like small fish and aquatic insects. These tiny fish and insects then serve as food for larger fish, which in turn consume even bigger fish or marine life in freshwater and the ocean, as well as creatures like raccoons, bears, and even people. The plant life in these ecosystems also provides a renewable source of oxygen, which is necessary to sustain animal life both in and out of the water.

While terrestrial ecosystems differ from aquatic ones in appearance, they too require a healthy food web. While less obvious than consumers, primary producers and decomposers are more numerous and productive. It is microscopic organisms that create new food sources for higher-level organisms through photosynthesis

Biotic Factors

Biotic factors include any living component of an ecosystem. Pathogens, the results of human influence, and diseases are just a few examples of related biological factors. The three categories of living components are as follows:

producers, transform abiotic elements into food. The most prevalent pathway is photosynthesis, which converts carbon dioxide, water, and solar energy into glucose and oxygen. Examples of producers include plants.

 consumers, get their energy from producers or other consumers. Most consumers are animals. Wolves and cattle are two instances of consumers. Consumers can also be divided into those who only consume producers (herbivores), those who only consume other consumers (carnivores), and those who devour both producers and consumers (omnivores). One example of a carnivore is the wolf.

Decomposers: Decomposers or detritivores break down compounds generated by producers and consumers into simpler molecules. Producers may use the products that decomposers produce. Decomposers include bacteria, earthworms, and fungi.

abiotic 

Abiotic Factors Abiotic factors are the non-living components of ecosystems that organisms or populations require for growth, maintenance, and reproduction. Examples of abiotic factors include sunlight, tides, water, temperature, pH, minerals, and events such as volcanic eruptions and storms. Abiotic factors usually affect other abiotic factors. For example, less sunlight can lower temperatures, which can affect wind and humidity 

abiotic factors have an impact on the distribution and number of species in an ecosystem. These are factors that are non-living.

These include:

Light is necessary for photosynthesis, and different plant species have evolved to grow best in the light conditions of their environment or habitat temperature:

Both plants and animals have developed to thrive at their ideal temperatures.

moisture levels:

Bog plants will be adapted to grow in these moist conditions because most plants are killed by waterlogging because they cannot breathe.

soil pH and mineral content:

many plants are sensitive to pH

plants such as heathers, thrive well on acidic soils

Alkaline soils are preferred by plants like lavender.

Wind speed and direction can increase the amount of carbon dioxide that plants receive, but they also lose more water as a result of increased transpiration.

wind can cause mechanical harm to plants

levels of carbon dioxide in plants:

carbon dioxide is essential for photosynthesis, hence increasing concentrations will enhance growth and yields some plant producers consequently raise the concentration of carbon dioxide in greenhouses for increased growth

Because some plants are pH-sensitive, carbon dioxide is an acidic gas, hence increasing plant yields while maintaining aquatic animals' oxygen levels is not a good idea:

Moving rivers and lakes have high oxygen levels while stationary and dirty waters frequently have low oxygen levels.

animals such as sludgeworms can withstand low oxygen levels some animals are bioindicator species because their existence or absence informs us about the quality of the habitat

Limiting Factors 

Limiting factors are features that limit the growth of an ecosystem. This concept is based on Liebig's law of the least. This law states that growth is driven not by the total amount of resources, but by the least. Limiting factors can be biotic or abiotic. The limiting factors in the ecosystem can change, but only one factor works at a time. An example of a limiting factor is the amount of sunlight in a rainforest. Plant growth  on the forest floor is limited by light availability. A limiting factor is also the competition between individual organisms. 

 Ecosystem Examples 

Any ecosystem, large or small, contains both biotic and abiotic factors. For example, a houseplant growing on your windowsill can be considered  a small ecosystem. Biological factors include plants, bacteria in the soil, and the care people take to keep plants alive. Abiotic factors include light, water, air,  temperature, soil and  pot. Ecologists may look for plant limiting factors, such as pot size, amount of sunlight available to the plant,  nutrients in the soil,  plant disease, or  other factors across the Earth's biosphere. For example, in larger ecosystems, accounting for all  biotic and abiotic factors becomes very complex.