Abiotic Factors in an Ecosystem – Imaluop

Biotic and Abiotic Factors: In our surroundings we can observe different things some of them are living some of them are non living. Living elements of our surroundings we can consider as biotic factors and the non living elements of our environment are abiotic factors. 

What are the Abiotic Factors in an Ecosystem:

Temperature, soils, water bodies, sunlight, humidity, wind everything which is not living in our surroundings are considered as abiotic factors. Any non living elements of an ecosystem that may be chemical or physical in nature are Abiotic Factors of an Ecosystem. Abiotic Factors and Biotic Factors in an Ecosystem are dependent upon each other and abiotic factors give great impact on biotic factors of an ecosystem.

We can broadly categories different abiotic factors in the following group – climatic, edaphic and social abiotic factors depending on their impact on the environment. Climatic factors like temperature, wind, atmosphere, light directly impact the climate of the environment, edaphic factors are the soil content which occupy the land and social factors are the social interaction within an ecosystem.

Abiotic Factors in an Ecosystem
Abiotic Factors in an Ecosystem

Different Types of Abiotic Factors in an Ecosystem:

Now we will discuss about different types of abiotic factors in an ecosystem below

Water: Water is a very important abiotic factor in an ecosystem because no organisms can live without water. Water is most abundant compared to the land portion of the environment. Rain and snowfall gather water in the environment. Water is present in an environment in different forms as other abiotic factors vary in different regions of the earth. 

Abiotic Factors in an Ecosystem
Abiotic Factors in an Ecosystem

Winds: Wind is greatly impacted by others abiotic factors of environment and wind give major impact on biotic factors of an environment. For example plant growth is impacted greatly by wind. Temperature of an area greatly impacted by speed and direction of wind which is an example where one abiotic factor is affected by another abiotic factor. Limited and not well growth in hilly areas are also due to abiotic factor wind.

Temperature: Different organisms in an ecosystem is influenced by the temperature of their surroundings in which they live. Behaviour of the organism changes in accordance with the changes of temperature because metabolic rate is affected with temperature changes in the environment. Every organisms can live without any problems in a specific range of temperature.

Beyond this range organisms face various difficulties though some organisms adapt to tolerate when they are beyond their temperature zone but it is possible upto a level. After this level it becomes very difficult to continue their normal cellular activity. 

Light: In the case of plants it is a controlling factor but in other organisms it impacts less or more. We can observe stratification in the ocean on the basis of light intensity which gives us an idea about how light impacts daily life of those organisms. Because light and temperature have a correlation and if temperature impacts directly then light must impact indirectly at least.

Atmosphere: Composition of atmosphere is a very important factor for sustaining life in the environment. Oxygen and carbon dioxide are major determinants for the life of the environment. If composition of atmosphere changes it will also impact on behaviour of the organism which proves the relationship between organisms and atmosphere.

Not only these factors there are many other abiotic factors which give impact on organisms on the earth but they are not very important factors such as water, sunlight, wind, temperature, atmosphere. 

Abiotic Factors in an Ecosystem
Abiotic Factors in an Ecosystem

Abiotic Factors in different regions of earth vary because components of abiotic factors in different regions of earth are different. For example all the regions of earth do not receive the same intensity of sunlight which causes temperature variations in different regions of earth. With the variation of temperature in different regions of earth other abiotic factors also vary in different regions of earth because abiotic factors are interrelated. 

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Reference: Abiotic Factors in an Ecosystem

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