What term describes the living components of an ecosystem—including producers, herbivores, carnivores, parasites, and decomposing microbes—that interact through food webs and symbiotic relationships?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. Biotic factors
- Step 1: Ecosystem dynamics emerge from the reciprocal interaction between living communities and their physical environment.
- Step 2: Biotic factors encompass all biological interactions, predation, interspecific competition, mutualism, parasitism, and disease transmission, exerted by living organisms within an ecological community.
Answer
Biotic factors
Why not the others: 'Abiotic factors' Abiotic factors are the non-living physical and chemical components of an environment, such as sunlight, temperature, and minerals; 'Climatic factors' Climatic factors comprise weather elements like temperature, rainfall, and humidity, which are abiotic; 'Edaphic factors' Edaphic factors relate specifically to physical and chemical soil properties, which are abiotic.
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