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Abiotic Environmental Factors

Key Stage 4

Meaning

Abiotic environmental factors are the conditions of a habitat that are not caused by other organisms.

About Abiotic Environmental Factors

Abiotic environmental factors can include:

  • Drought
  • Flooding
  • High Temperatures
  • Low Temperatures
  • Amount of Sunlight
  • Salt concentration in water and soil

Examples

Drought is an abiotic factor which can cause plants to grow more slowly. This leads to the primary consumers dying from starvation when there is not enough food. This will briefly create more food for the secondary consumers but will then reduce when the population of primary consumers has decreased.
Flooding is an abiotic factor which can drown animals which may reduce the number of primary consumers allowing more producers to grow, without being eaten, after the flooding.

References

AQA

Abiotic factor, pages 232, 326-7, GCSE Biology; Student Book, Collins, AQA
Abiotic factors, page 107, GCSE Biology; The Revision Guide, CGP, AQA
Abiotic factors, page 84, GCSE Combined Science; The Revision Guide, CGP, AQA
Abiotic factors, pages 239-40, 254-5, GCSE Biology, Hodder, AQA
Abiotic factors, pages 255, 258, 260, GCSE Combined Science Trilogy; Biology, CGP, AQA
Abiotic factors, pages 258, 260-261, 279, GCSE Biology; Third Edition, Oxford University Press, AQA
Abiotic factors, pages 315, 318-320, GCSE Biology, CGP, AQA
Abiotic factors, pages 78-9, GCSE Combined Science Trilogy 2, Hodder, AQA

Edexcel

Abiotic factors, page 95, GCSE Biology; The Revision Guide, CGP, Edexcel
Abiotic factors and communities, pages 126-127, GCSE Combined Science, Pearson Edexcel
Abiotic factors and communities, pages 180-181, GCSE Biology, Pearson, Edexcel
Abiotic factors, page 67, GCSE Combined Science; The Revision Guide, CGP, Edexcel
Abiotic factors, pages 280, 283, GCSE Biology, CGP, Edexcel

OCR

Abiotic factors, pages 132-133, Gateway GCSE Biology, Oxford University Press, OCR
Abiotic factors, pages 42, 60, 61, Gateway GCSE Combined Science; The Revision Guide, CGP, OCR
Abiotic factors, pages 60, 79, 80, Gateway GCSE Biology; The Revision Guide, CGP, OCR
Abiotic factors; measurement of, page 60, Gateway GCSE Combined Science; The Revision Guide, CGP, OCR
Abiotic factors; measurement of, page 79, Gateway GCSE Biology; The Revision Guide, CGP, OCR