Biotic and Abiotic Factors

• Biotic factors are living factors that affect another organism or shape the ecosystem in some way.
• Abiotic factors are all of the non-living parts of the environment that can affect organisms.
• Biotic factors can include predation, competition for resources or habitat, the amount of disease, and the availability of food.
• Abiotic factors include chemical or physical parts of the environment such as light intensity, temperature, carbon dioxide concentrations, moisture levels, the intensity and direction of the wind, and the pH and mineral content of the soil.
• An increase in temperature can increase the rate of photosynthesis because the enzymes involved can work faster, resulting in an increase in the overall rate of plant growth.
• An increase in temperature can also mean that animals have to spend less energy staying warm, allowing them to use more energy for growth or spend less time searching for food.
• Biotic factors affecting a clownfish can include predation by bigger fish or eels, the sea anemone itself which acts as the clownfish's habitat, competition for that habitat, and competition for the plankton and the algae that the clownfish eat.
• Abiotic factors affecting a clownfish can include the temperature of the water which might change throughout the day or throughout the year, the oxygen concentration of the water, and the levels of acidity and salt in the water.
• Abiotic factors like light intensity and carbon dioxide concentration might not affect the clownfish directly, but they might affect other species around them like the sea anemone which will in turn affect the clownfish.