Biotik

Biotik is a term used in ecology to refer to the living components of an environment, derived from the Greek bios meaning life. It is used to distinguish living factors from abiotic components, such as climate, soil, water, and minerals.

The biotik realm includes organisms across all taxa—from microbes to plants, animals, and fungi—and the interactions among them. These organisms form communities and ecosystems, with producers capturing energy, consumers that feed on others, and decomposers that recycle nutrients. Biotik interactions include predation, parasitism, mutualism, and competition, shaping species composition and ecosystem processes.

The study of biotik components focuses on biodiversity, population dynamics, species interactions, and ecosystem services. Measurements often involve surveys of species richness and abundance, as well as indicators like biomass and diversity indices. Biotik and abiotic factors are interdependent; climate, soil chemistry and moisture influence biotik communities, while living organisms alter the environment through growth, respiration, decomposition, and symbiotic relationships.

Biotik is central to fields such as ecology, conservation biology, agriculture, and environmental management. Understanding biotik diversity and functioning supports biodiversity preservation, sustainable resource use, and resilience of ecosystems to change. Terminology varies by language and discipline; some sources use “biotic” as the English adjective, while “biotik” appears in other languages and contexts to emphasize living components.