2.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BIOTIC & ABIOTIC

ENVIRONMENTS

A. BIOTIC & ABIOTIC ENVIRONMENTS

Introduction
 Ecosystems are influenced by a combination of biological and physical factors.
 The biological influences on organisms within an ecosystem are called biotic factors.
 Physical or non-living factors within an ecosystem that shape the ecosystem are called abiotic
factors.
 TOGETHER, these factors determine the survival and growth of any organisms and the productivity
of the ecosystem in which the organisms live.

Biotic factors
 Plants and animals live together in an ecosystem
 These living things are referred to as a population or a community.
 A population consists of living things of the same species [such as ants, bees, schools of fish, wasps]
 A community comprises all the populations of all the different species present. Eg pond
 Their interaction with each other contributes to the success of the ecosystem.

Abiotic factors
 Within an ecosystem, the physical or abiotic factors influences the living organisms.
 They include:
 Climatic factors: light, temperature, wind, water availability
 Edaphic factors: texture, nutrient status, acidity and moisture content of soil.
 They play an important part in determining which organisms can survive in a habitat.

Topographic factors
 These include the angle and aspect of a slope, for example, whether it faces north or south and its
altitude

ALL 3 FACTORS INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER AND LIVING ORGANISMS

 B. TOLERANCE RANGES

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo9bJVx6iyI

 The graph above shows THE TOLERANCE RANGE ZONES.

 At the optimum range, the conditions are ideal for the organism to survive and function

at their best or optimally. The organisms here are frequent.

 At the zone of physiological stress, which is outside the optimum range, organisms may

suffer physiological stress where they are infrequent since growth rate, reproduction,

biological processes and resource acquisition are reduced.

 At the zone of intolerance, which is outside the zone of physiological stress, conditions

are unsuitable for growth, reproduction or even survival and hence organisms are absent.
 C. LIMITING FACTORS

 A limiting factor is a condition or factor that is outside the optimal range that can cause

stress and limits/restricts the growth, abundance, distribution, reproduction and/or even

survival of a population in an ecosystem.

 These conditions include water, temperature, light, wind, availability of nutrients, pH,

moisture and humidity.

 Limiting factors act to slow population growth.

 They prevent organisms from growing to their biotic potential

 A limiting factor is not necessarily always the same factor. For example

Growing Season Early morning Later Drought occurs

for tomato plant

Limiting factor Temperature/sunlight Nutrients Water

 D. ECOLOGICAL NICHES
 The niche of an organism is the role that a species plays in a community.
 A niche is the full range of physical and biological conditions in which an organism lives and the
way that it uses those conditions.
 For instance, the niche of an organism includes:
Its habitat
Its food resources
Its use of abiotic resources [light, CO2, O2]
The way in which it is influenced by abiotic factors eg. temperature
The way in which it interacts with other individuals of the same species
and individuals of other species
 The niche describes how a species obtains food, the relationship it has with other species and the
services it provides to the community.
 A species has a fundamental niche and a realized niche.

The fundamental niche is the set of favourable conditions that are determined by
abiotic and biotic variables where the species can survive and successfully reproduce.
It is a niche that a species WOULD OCCUPY in the absence of any competitors,
parasites or other environmental resistance
This is considered to be an ideal situation and does not really exist.

The realized niche is where the species can persist given the presence of other species
competing for the same resources. The niche that the species ACTUALLY OCCUPIES.
It is part of the fundamental niche that an organism occupies as a result of limiting
factors and environmental resistance present in the habitat. It includes competition,
predation and parasitism.

Question

1. What would be the ecological niche of a Julie Mango Tree? Page 6

2. What is Competition Exclusion Principle and Resource/Niche Partitioning?