Abiotic factors Definition and Examples

Abiotic and Biotic Factors
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An ecosystem is a community of living organisms interacting with nonliving components of their Environment.

The nonliving elements of an Ecosystem are called abiotic factors.
For Example - Temperature, wind, altitude, soil, gases, Nutrients.

Living Organisms of an Ecosystem are called biotic factors
For Example - Humans, Plants, Animals, Bacteria

Abiotic and biotic factors are interdependent. If we change/remove an abiotic or biotic factor, it will affect the entire ecosystem.

Before we look at an actual example, let's take a look at a simple example

What will happen if we remove a wheel or spring from a Wall Clock? Will it work the same way?
Of course not. Based on the function of the component we removed, the watch will either malfunction or stop working altogether.

An Ecosystem works in a similar way.
When we change or remove a living or nonliving component from its Ecosystem, it will affect the entire ecosystem.

Now let us look at an actual example.

A fish in a water tank is a perfect example of a very simple ecosystem.
Water is an abiotic factor, and Fish is a biotic factor. If we separate the fish from the tank or change the temperature of water to extreme heat or cold, it will result in the death of the fish.

In this example, we learned that
A change/absence of abiotic factors like water and temperature led to the death of fish.

Now let's look at a complex example

A plant grows into a tree with the help of abiotic factors like Sunlight, Soil Nutrients, Carbon dioxide.

After the plant dies, it is decomposed by microorganisms and over time converts into dust. This decomposed plant dust contains nutrients that make soil fertile and support the growth of new plants.

Without the organic plant dust, the soil will eventually lose its fertility and becomes useless for plant growth.

In this example, we learned
How the absence of biotic factors like plants will affect an abiotic factor like Soil.