Abiotic component

Definition

In ecology, abiotic components or abiotic factors are non-living chemical and physical parts of the environment that affect living organisms and the functioning of ecosystems. Abiotic factors and the phenomena associated with them underpin biology as a whole. They affect a wide range of species, across all forms of environmental conditions, such as marine or terrestrial animals. Humans can make or change abiotic factors in a species' environment. For instance, fertilizers can affect a snail's habitat, or the greenhouse gases which humans utilize can change marine pH levels.

Related concepts

Abiogenesis Abiotic Factor Abiotic stress Abundance (ecology)Acidity Allee effect Allometry Alternative stable state Animal coloration Anti-predator adaptation Antibiosis Apex predator Archaea Archea Ascendency Assembly rules Atmosphere Autotroph Bacteriophage Bacterivore Balance of nature Bateman's principle Behavioral ecology Bioaccumulation Biodiversity Biogeochemical cycle Biogeography Bioindicator Biological data visualization Biological interaction Bioluminescence Biomagnification Biomass (ecology)Biotic component Biotic stress C3 carbon fixation C4 carbon fixation Calvin-Benson Cycle Camouflage Carbon dioxide Carnivore Carrying capacity Cascade effect (ecology)Chemical process Chemical property Chemoorganoheterotrophy Chemoorganotroph Chemosynthesis Chemotroph Climax community Cline (biology)Cold seep Commensalism Community (ecology)Competition (biology)Competitive exclusion principle Consumer-resource model Consumer (food chain)Consumer–resource interactions Copiotroph Crassulacean acid metabolism Cross-boundary subsidy Decomposer Decomposition Deimatic behaviour Density dependence Depensation Desert Detritivore Detritus Developmental biology Disturbance (ecology)Dominance (ecology)Ecological collapse Ecological debt Ecological economics Ecological effects of biodiversity Ecological efficiency Ecological extinction Ecological facilitation Ecological footprint Ecological forecasting Ecological indicator Ecological network Ecological niche Ecological pyramid Ecological resilience Ecological stability Ecological stoichiometry Ecological succession Ecological threshold Ecological trap Ecological yield Ecology Ecology of the San Francisco Estuary Ecopath Ecosystem Ecosystem based fisheries Ecosystem diversity Ecosystem ecology Ecosystem engineer Ecosystem model Ecotone Ecotype Edge effects Effective population size Emergence Endemism Endolith Energy flow (ecology)Energy quality Energy systems language Environmental humanities Evolutionary ecology Extinction debt F-ratio (oceanography)Feed conversion ratio Feeding frenzy Fertilizer Flagship species Food chain Food web Foraging Foster's rule Foundation species Functional ecology Fungi Generalist and specialist species Green world hypothesis Greenhouse gas Guild (ecology)Habitat Habitat fragmentation Herbivore Herbivore adaptations to plant defense Heterotroph Heterotrophic nutrition Human Human impact on the environment Humidity Hydrolysis Hydrothermal vent Ideal free distribution Industrial ecology Insectivore Insular biogeography Intermediate disturbance hypothesis Interspecific competition Intertidal ecology Intraguild predation Intraspecific competition Introduced species Invasive species Kelp forest Keystone species Kinetotroph Kleiber's law Lake ecosystem Land change modeling Landscape ecology Landscape epidemiology Landscape limnology Latitudinal gradients in species diversity Liebig's law of the minimum Light Limiting similarity List of feeding behaviours Lithoautotroph Lithotroph Logistic function Lotka–Volterra equations Macroecology Malthusian growth model Marginal value theorem Marine food web Marine habitat Marine life Marine microorganisms Maximum sustainable yield Mesopredator Mesopredator release hypothesis Mesotrophic soil Metabolic theory of ecology Metapopulation Microbial cooperation Microbial ecology Microbial food web Microbial intelligence Microbial loop Microbial mat Microbial metabolism Microecosystem Microorganism Mimicry Mineral Minimum viable population Mixotroph Mutualism (biology)Myco-heterotrophy Mycoloop Mycotroph Native species Natural environment Niche apportionment models Niche construction Niche differentiation Nitrogen cycle Non-trophic networks North Pacific Gyre Nutrient cycle Occupancy–abundance relationship Oligotroph Omnivore Ontogenetic niche shift Optimal foraging theory Ordination (statistics)Organism Organotroph Outline of ecology Overexploitation Overpopulation PEP Carboxylase PH Paradox of the plankton Parasitism Patch dynamics Phage ecology Phosphorus cycle Photoheterotroph Photorespiration Photosynthesis Photosynthetic Photosynthetic efficiency Phototroph Physical change Physical property Planktivore Plant defense against herbivory Population cycle Population dynamics Population ecology Population model Population size Population viability analysis Precipitation Predation Prey switching Primary nutritional groups Primary production Priority effect Productivity (ecology)R/K selection theory Radiation Rain Random generalized Lotka–Volterra model Rapoport's rule Recruitment (biology)Regime shift Relative abundance distribution Relative species abundance Reproduction Resistance (ecology)Resource (biology)Resource selection function Restoration ecology River ecosystem Salinity Semiaquatic Sexecology Shoaling and schooling Small population size Snail Soil Soil food web Solar energy Sound waves Source–sink dynamics Spatial ecology Speciation Species distribution Species distribution modelling Species diversity Species homogeneity Species richness Species–area relationship Storage effect Substrate (biology)Sulfur Symbiosis Systems ecology Temperate rain forest Temperature Terrestrial animal Theoretical ecology Thorson's rule Tide Tide pool Tides Tritrophic interactions in plant defense Trophic cascade Trophic level Trophic mutualism Trophic state index Umbrella species Unified neutral theory of biodiversity University of the Western Cape Urban ecology Water Water clarity Water resources Xerosere

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