Tag: abiotic components

Although latitude does play a major role in determining what kind of climate a certain place will have, there are many other factors that will play a part s well. Here are a couple of major factors that can make cities at similar latitudes have very different weather.

 The Sun is the major source of energy for organisms and the ecosystems of which they are a part. Producers such as plants, algae, and cyanobacteria use the energy from sunlight to make organic matter from carbon dioxide and water. This establishes the beginning of energy flow through almost all food webs. The continual input of energy, mostly from sunlight, sustains the process of life. Sunlight allows plants, algae and cyanobacteria to use photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide and water into organic compounds like carbohydrates. This process is the fundamental source of organic material in the biosphere. The overall productivity of an ecosystem is controlled by the total energy available.

Robert Constanza and his colleagues have put the value of ecosystem services to $33$ trillion dollars a year. Out of which $50\%$ is proposed for formation of soil, prevention of flood and mitigating droughts. The value of $10\%$ each for nutrient cycle and recreation and $6\%$ for climate regulation and habitat preservation for wild flora and fauna has been proposed.

Edaphic factors are classified under the abiotic factors affecting an ecosystem. Edaphic factors include factors of soil, e.g., soil texture, substratum, topography, mineral composition, pH, etc. These factors can influence the distribution and interrelationships of organisms, as well as rate of decomposition.

We know that the environment we live in is made up of 2 components, namely living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic). Different theories were proposed to study the origin of the wife. But they lead to the conclusion that life had originated on earth in seawater and marine organisms were one of the first to emerge. In earth's early atmosphere, there was no ozone layer, thus the UV rays of the sun could directly reach the earth. As living organisms cannot survive UV radiation directly, many scientists believed that life originated in aquatic habitats. Apart from this, different requirements of these early organisms were also fulfilled in the deep-sea vents. 

The total amount of solar radiation reaching to the lithosphere do not enter the surface of the earth as it would heat up the earth making it unsuitable for any life. Therefore, 35% of the solar radiation are reflected back to the space.

Every living being on planet earth gets energy directly from the sunlight. Plants use it to manufacture food and other animals use the food manufactured by plants.

An ecosystem is made up of abiotic components or abiotic factors which are non-living chemical and physical parts of the environment that affect living organisms and the functioning of ecosystems. Abiotic factors include water, light, radiation, temperature, humidity, atmosphere and soil.