Question

According to our textbook, a biotic factor is a living element found within an ecosystem, while an abiotic factor is a nonliving element found within an ecosystem. Choose a biome and ecosystem and provide an example of a biotic and abiotic factor found within your biome/ecosystem. Explain the importance of these factors to your specific biome/ecosystem.

Answer 1

In a tropical rainforest, a jaguar is an example of a biotic factor influencing ecosystem balance by predation, while high humidity is an abiotic factor allowing for lush vegetation and supporting biodiversity.

Step-by-step explanation:

According to the textbook, a biotic factor is a living element within an ecosystem, while an abiotic factor is a nonliving element within an ecosystem. In the context of a tropical rainforest ecosystem, an example of a biotic factor could be the jaguar, which is a top predator and plays a crucial role in controlling the population of other species. An example of an abiotic factor in this biome could be the high humidity, which affects the types of vegetation that can grow and supports the diverse life forms found in a rainforest.

The importance of these factors is significant: the jaguar helps to maintain the structure of the forest community by keeping herbivore populations in check, which in turn prevents overgrazing and helps ensure the diversity of plant species. Meanwhile, the high humidity allows for lush vegetation, providing habitat and food sources for a wide range of organisms. Both factors are crucial for the balance and functioning of this ecosystem.

Answer 2

Before going into the specific biome and ecosystem where I live, let´s talk a bit about what both of these words, what differentiates them and what makes them specific.

A biome is clasiffied, according to National Geographic as a specific region on the planet that is characteristic for the species, both plant and animal, that live on that particular region. In Biomes, abiotic factors, such as light, temperature, presence of water or absence of it, among other qualities, will determine what type of species from fauna and flora will live on that biome, but by description, the Biome focuses more on the living being, and not the abiotic elements. Another important thing is that Biomes can be conformed by various ecosystems.

An ecosystem, on the other hand, is the interaction that exists, on a specific region, between both living and non-living things and that are dependent on an environmental condition. While a Biome is characterized for being a specific geographic region where plant and animal life live, there can be multiple ecosystem within a single, or multiple biomes.

In my case, my biome is a rainforest region of Colombia, on the Andes´ cordillera, where temperature is really low, humidity is really high but there are no seasons and therefore climate is maintained almost constant all the time. These conditions allow for our ecosystems to be rich in water sources, plenty of rock formations, and plentiful of woods, plant species, fungus and microorganisms, as well as different animal types like birds, bugs, rodents, and other such small animals. We do not have big animals in our biome, or on our ecosystems either.