Biotope

Biotope is a region with uniform environmental conditions that sustains a particular biological community. In ecology, the term emphasizes the physical, abiotic context—factors such as temperature, light, humidity or salinity, water chemistry, substrate, geology, and hydrology—that shape which organisms can occur there. The living assemblage occupying a biotope is often referred to as a biocenosis; together, the biotope and its biocenosis comprise the local ecosystem.

Biotopes can vary greatly in scale, from large landscapes to small microhabitats. They are defined by stable or recurring conditions rather than by the species present, and their boundaries are often gradational rather than sharp. Examples include a temperate forest stream, a tropical coral reef, a freshwater marsh, an alpine rock ledge, or a subterranean cave aquifer. Each example combines abiotic filters (pH, salinity, moisture, nutrients) with biotic interactions that determine the community structure.

Aquarists and terrarium hobbyists use the concept to design biotope tanks that replicate specific natural environments, selecting species and substrates to match the targeted biotope. In conservation and restoration, biotope concepts guide rehabilitation of degraded habitats by recreating the key physical conditions that support native communities.

Biotope is related but distinct from habitat, which is the range of space a single species occupies; and from biome, a broad regional climate-based classification of life-supporting regions. The term is widely used in ecology, biogeography, and environmental management to describe the nonliving framework in which organisms live.