- Introduction
- Meaning
- Comparison chart
- Key differences
- Conclusion
Introduction (biotic and abiotic factors)
All living beings that are available in our surroundings involve biotic and abiotic factors of the environment in which living things are considered as biotic and all nonliving things are consist of some abiotic factors.
Both the biotic and abiotic factors are very important to maintain the balance in our environment and they are equally responsible for giving shape to our ecosystem. These factors do impact the survival of the species and the phenomena of their reproduction in this universe as they depend upon each other for all forms of function.
If one of the factors will get extinct from the environment overall then the other factor has to face the effects of his absence as both of the factors i.e. biotic and abiotic rely on each other. hence, their interaction is necessary for the existence of living beings on this planet.
Meaning
BIOTIC FACTORS
Biotic factors consist of all the consumers, producers, and decomposers that are indulged in the process of transportation of energy through a sustainable food cycle of food which is obtained from a unit of the biosphere.
These factors include plants, animals, bacteria, and algae which respond to the changes that happen in the environment for which they required energy to function.
And they are too held responsible for the transformation and capturing of the energy for converting the inorganic substance to organic ones. They keep on developing and transferring their hereditary genes from generation to generation.
ABIOTIC FACTORS
The term abiotic refers to all the nonliving things that are available in the environment such as water, land, air, soil, wind, and other atmospheric conditions like temperature, weather, humidity, salinity, light, gases, etc. and these above-mentioned resources are obtained from the sphere of the earth mainly lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere.
This factor impacts the development and existence of living organisms and even their role in the environment so their presence is necessary for stability in the ecosystem.
Otherwise, if a chemical element or some physical element of someplace changes then it will lead to wiping out of species as their survival rate falls in danger due to the changes of the environment which eventually leads to their extinction.
COMPARISON CHART
(Biotic vs abiotic)
| Basic Of Comparison | Biotic | Abiotic |
| Definition | Biotic factors consist of all the living beings presents in the ecosystem | Whereas, abiotic factors include all the non-living beings such as the chemical and physical factors which is available in the ecosystem. |
| Dependency | In order to survive, develop and reproduce new individuals, biotic factors are in need to depend upon the abiotic factors. | On the other hand, abiotic factors don’t need any companion to get dependent on in order to exist. They are totally independent. |
| Impact | Biotic factors affect the major habitat of flora and fauna, all spheres of the biosphere, population, and persona of the specific genus. | while abiotic factors impact the community, ecosystem, population, and a large occurring species of plants and animals under the biosphere. |
| Origin | Biotic factors are originated from the biosphere which is the life-supporting aspect of the earth’s surface. | On the contrary, abiotic factors are obtained and originated from all three-sphere of earth namely, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. |
| Adaptation | Biotic factors have the ability to adapt to the changes that happen in the environment. | In the contrast, abiotic factors are not capable, as they don’t have the ability to adapt as per the changes in the environment. |
| Resources | Various resources that come under biotic are marine life, terrestrial life, forest, and its byproducts such as honey, gum, timber, etc. | Whereas, abiotic resources consist of land, water, wind, and soil, etc. |
| Factors limitation | If there is any change that happens in the biotic factors then the chances are very rare that it affects the entire circle within it. | while, any changes in abiotic factors as like the absence of any factors lead to some nominal damages in the ecosystem, as it could be proven a hazard to the growth and development of species. |
| Component | Biotic factors such as plants, animals, algae, bacteria all come under the components of biotic. | On the other hand, abiotic factors consist of climatic changes and some natural irregularities in the environment. |
| Measurement | The size or the number of biotic factors is subjective as per whole. | While the measurement of abiotic factors is objective. |
| Examples | Some examples of biotic factors come under the category of autotrophs, heterotrophs, decomposers, and detritivores. | Whereas, certain examples of abiotic components are light, water, temperature, humidity, rainfall, etc. |
Key points: (biotic vs abiotic)
The key points of differences between biotic and abiotic factors are as follows:
- Biotic factors or their components are the living organisms of an ecosystem such as plants, animals, and microorganisms. whereas abiotic factors are the non-living beings present in the ecosystem includes wind, soil, water, sunlight, temperature, etc.
- Biotic factors depend upon abiotic factors for their existence and development in the environment while abiotic factors do not depend on biotic components. They have the ability to survive independently without any external support.
- Biotic factors generally produced or originated from the biosphere itself. On the contrary abiotic factors are originated from the lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere.
- Biotic factors have the ability to adapt to the changes that happen in the environment but this particular trait is absent in the case of abiotic factors as abiotic factors don’t have the capacity to survive if some significant changes happen to develop in the environment.
- Both the biotic and abiotic factors have an equivalent impact on the species of flora and fauna, the community of individuals, and the ecosystem.
CONCLUSION
We conclude from the above-mentioned article that both the biotic and abiotic factors are the essential factors of the environment as both elements make the planet whole together. They altogether, biotic and abiotic play a vital role in the survival, growth, and development of species on earth too.
And in some way, both biotic and abiotic factors are interdependent on each other as per various chemical and physical process that happens in the ecosystem. Each of the factors has their own capacity and ability to exist in the ecosystem but both of them differs too from each other as per their surviving efficacy.
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