Abiotic & biotic factors and distribution
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Question
What is an abiotic factor?
Answer
A **non-living**, physical or chemical feature of the environment (e.g. temperature, light, water, pH, salinity).
Question
What is a biotic factor?
Answer
A **living** feature — an interaction with other organisms (e.g. food, competition, predation, disease).
Question
Give three examples of abiotic factors.
Answer
Any of: **temperature, light intensity, water / rainfall, pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen, soil mineral nutrients**.
Question
Give three examples of biotic factors.
Answer
Any of: **food supply, competition, predation, disease, availability of mates**.
Question
What is meant by the distribution of a species?
Answer
The **range of places where a species is found** — where its individuals actually live.
Question
What is a range of tolerance?
Answer
The range of values of an abiotic factor within which an organism can **survive**; outside it the organism is **absent**.
Question
What happens beyond an organism's limits of tolerance?
Answer
The factor is too extreme, so the organism **cannot survive there** and is **absent**.
Question
What is a limiting factor?
Answer
The factor in **shortest supply** (or most extreme), which **holds back** growth or survival in that place.
Question
In open ocean, why might phytoplankton growth be limited by iron?
Answer
**Iron** is scarce there, so even with plenty of light and nutrients, growth only increases when **iron is added** — iron is the limiting factor.
Question
Which two types of factor set a species' distribution?
Answer
**Abiotic** (non-living conditions) **and biotic** (interactions with other organisms) — both together.
Question
How can a biotic factor make a species absent from suitable habitat?
Answer
Through **competition, predation, disease or too little food** — a living factor can exclude a species even where conditions are right.
Question
Is temperature an abiotic or a biotic factor?
Answer
**Abiotic** — it is a non-living, physical condition.
Question
Is competition an abiotic or a biotic factor?
Answer
**Biotic** — it is an interaction between living organisms.
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