1. Abiotic Factors
Noadswood Science, 2016

2. Monday, June 11, 2018
Abiotic Factors
To be able to identify abiotic factors and how these impact ecosystems

3. Precise Learning
An ecosystem is the interaction of a community of living organisms (biotic) with the non-living (abiotic) parts of their environment
Students should be able to explain how a change in an abiotic factor would affect a given community given appropriate data or context.
Abiotic (non-living) factors which can affect a community are:
light intensity
temperature
moisture levels
soil pH and mineral content
wind intensity and direction
carbon dioxide levels for plants
oxygen levels for aquatic animals
Students should be able to extract and interpret information from charts, graphs and tables relating to the effect of abiotic factors on organisms within a community.

4. Habitats
A habitat is only populated by organisms that are adapted to survive there
Habitats are fluid environments, changing all the time
It is the abiotic (non-living) and biotic (living) factors that change
An ecosystem is the interaction of a community of living organisms with the non-living parts of their environment

5. Outside
Take a quick tour of the school field and look at a variety of different areas
What abiotic (non-living) factors are there in the ecosystem?

6. Abiotic Factors Abiotic factors include: Moisture level
Light intensity
Temperature
Carbon dioxide levels (for plants)
Wind intensity / direction
Oxygen level (for aquatic animals)
Soil pH and mineral content

7. Abiotic Factors
Abiotic factors can vary in an ecosystem. A change in the environment could be an increase or decrease in an abiotic factor
These changes can affect the size of populations in a community
This means they can also affect the population sizes of other organisms that depend on them

8. Experiment
You task is to setup an experiment growing some plants, picking an abiotic factor to investigate
For example you may wish to change the pH of the soil to see what impact this has on the growth…
Remember, abiotic factors include:
Moisture level
Light intensity
Temperature
Carbon dioxide levels (for plants)
Wind intensity / direction
Oxygen level (for aquatic animals)
Soil pH and mineral content

9. Daily Changes Many habitats do not stay the same all the time
Daily changes to the environment include: -
Changes in the amount of light (between day and night)
Changes in the temperature
Changes in the amount of water (i.e. rainfall / tidal variations)

10. Seasonal Changes Many habitats do not stay the same all the time
Seasonal changes to the environment include: -
Changes in temperature between the seasons (warm in summer, cold in winter)
Changes in the amount of light (between long daylight hours in the summer to shorter days in the winter)
Changes in vegetation due to conditions (lots of vegetation in summer, to bare trees and snow-covered grown in winter)

11. Practice Questions
Give three examples of abiotic factors

12. Answers
Give three examples of abiotic factors – moisture levels / light intensity / temperature / carbon dioxide levels / wind intensity / wind direction / oxygen level / soil pH / mineral content