The abiotic factors are part of an ecosystem that is not alive , but enriching it to the provide a medium in which the biotic factors (flora, fauna, bacteria, fungi) can live and develop. Abiotic factors include soil, rocks, water, sunlight and climate, and they carry out interactions with living things, so that they benefit. For example, plants receive sunlight to carry out photosynthesis.
Abiotic factors are essential because they help to sustain the life forms that coexist in the ecosystem. This is the case of soil nutrients that are constantly renewed through biogeochemical cycles, such as nitrogen : when an animal dies, all its proteins are decomposed thanks to the microorganisms that act there, and end up fixing the nitrogen of those compounds chemicals among the minerals of the earth’s crust.
The bodies of water like rivers and lakes are a source of comfort for the animals and plants of the ecosystem for animals is a source of hydration , a means to dive to catch fish if you eat them, or a means to take a bath and cool off or regulate your temperature in hot weather. For plants they are a source of moisture, since they also evaporate from the surface, and that water vapor travels into the air.
The sun is an abiotic factor from which living beings such as plants obtain energy.
Abiotic factors are essential for life.
Among the abiotic factors, if we study them in more detail, there are also chemical elements, some of which are already forming the earth’s crust since the planet itself was formed. Chemical elements are pure substances whose atoms are arranged or combined with those of other elements to form other pure substances called chemical compounds. Of the latter, it is worth mentioning the salts and oxysalts that are in the soil.
Chemical elements are already found in living beings and can also be obtained through food: plants take them from the ground, herbivorous animals consume plants and thus acquire them, and then carnivorous animals can consume the above and obtain a quantity of elements that will nurture them. When carnivores die, their meat decomposes and returns some of these elements to the ground. It is a cycle that is always fulfilled.
20 examples of abiotic factors
Sunlight
Sunlight is the main source of energy for living beings; The abiotic factor of sunlight includes all wavelengths and radiation that influence living beings, such as visible light, infrared light and ultraviolet light, as well as other radiation from the sun, which affects the development of living beings, either by providing heat or as in the case of plants and bacteria with chlorophyll, directly providing the necessary energy for vital processes and which in turn, these beings will transmit to other beings, already transformed into other components energy (such as sugars and starches), when these other living beings feed on chlorophyll beings.
Thermal sources
Temperature is vital for a large part of ectothermic living beings, (animals that depend on external sources for temperature maintenance, such as fish, reptiles and amphibians), and it also has a decisive influence on homeothermic animals, especially when they Lastly, they inhabit places that have climatic conditions where temperatures fluctuate in an extreme way. The main abiotic factors that influence temperature are the sun and geothermal heat.
Atmosphere
Atmosphere, life on planet earth, is only possible thanks to the fact that there is an atmosphere that allows the gases and pressure necessary for the survival of life to be assured. It is thanks to the atmosphere that the air pressure is constant at a certain altitude, as well as it protects from external factors that could destroy life, (as in the case of ultraviolet rays and other cosmic radiation, which destroy living organisms), thus also the atmosphere intervenes in the creation and maintenance of certain climatic conditions and phenomena in certain zones, allowing the development of life.
Water
Water is a liquid material that is vital for life, since it constitutes most of the matter that living beings are composed of, and it must constantly be replaced for the continuation of the vital processes of organisms. Just as it is the environment in which a large portion of living beings live (plants such as algae, bacteria and other microorganisms, animals such as fish and other animals whose environment is water).
Water is an abiotic essential for life, in addition to constituting part of the living organisms themselves, it is a medium within which various living organisms live, as well as being part of the ecosystem, such as rivers, lakes and oceans.
Water is an abiotic essential for life, in addition to constituting part of the living organisms themselves, it is a medium within which various living organisms live, as well as being part of the ecosystem, such as rivers, lakes and oceans.
Air
The mixture of various gaseous components and that is found within our atmosphere, is what we commonly call air, this is essential for the respiration of both plants and animals and other living beings that are found on the surface of the planet, since the gases used by plants, fungi, animals, and bacteria for their corresponding “breaths” are found in the air (or, if applicable, dissolved in water).
I usually
It is the outermost part of the earth’s crust, in it are several organic and inorganic elements that are the nutrients that plants, fungi and bacteria feed on, and therefore are the indirect source of nutrients for the rest of living beings. .
Weather
Climate is the set of atmospheric phenomena that are influenced by ground conditions (elevations, depressions, humidity of the place, etc.), that is, they are the atmospheric conditions that predominate in a place during a certain period of time, which that affects the development of living beings that inhabit a region.
Oxygen
Oxygen is a vital element for respiratory function, especially for bacteria, animals and to some extent for plants.
Carbon
Carbon is an element that allows the creation of carbon chains, which constitute the molecules that living beings are made of.
Calcium
Calcium is another element that belongs to the abiotic factors that living beings are made of. Thanks to this element, many animals have developed skeletons and armor that allow locomotion and protect the environment, as well as contributing to various vital biochemical processes.
Boron
It is another abiotic factor that directly intervenes in metabolic functions such as the metabolism of nutrients.
Copper
It is a metallic mineral that is involved in biological functions such as the formation of red blood cells in animals and humans.
Chrome
It is another metallic mineral that is involved in metabolic functions, for example as a glucose tolerance factor in the body.
Match
It is a mineral that is involved in metabolic functions such as the functioning of the parathyroid gland and in the metabolism of calcium.
Iron
This abiotic factor is a mineral that intervenes in biological functions such as in the formation of blood, where iron is part of hemoglobin, iron being a fundamental part for the absorption of environmental oxygen.
Magnesium
It is another abiotic factor belonging to minerals, it fulfills metabolic functions as an enzymatic cofactor, in the regulation and neurochemical transmission, in the formation of bones and in intracellular fluids, being a fundamental part of the homeostasis of the organism.
Molybdenum
This abiotic factor intervenes in biological functions, this is the case of its function as a cofactor in enzymes.
Iodine
It is a mineral that regulates the functioning of the thyroid gland.
Selenium
It is another mineral that fulfills biological functions, more precisely as an antioxidant in coordination with substances such as vitamin E.
Zinc
It is a mineral that is essential for the proper functioning of the immune system, forming part of the biochemistry of this important system.
