biotics

Biotics is a term used in biology and ecology to refer to the living components of an environment, including plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, and other microorganisms, and the interactions among them. It is contrasted with abiotic factors, which are the non-living elements such as climate, soil, water, and nutrients. The study of biotics encompasses biodiversity, population dynamics, food webs, symbioses, and ecosystem processes such as pollination, decomposition, and predation.

Biotic components can be categorized by trophic roles (producers, consumers, decomposers) and by type of interaction (mutualism, commensalism, parasitism). They influence ecosystem structure and function through competition, predation, disease, and cooperation. Human activities can alter biotics directly (habitat destruction, introductions of invasive species) or indirectly (climate change, pollution).

In medicine and consumer health, the term biotics is sometimes used to refer to products containing live microorganisms, such as probiotics, or to the broader field of beneficial microbes. Common terms include probiotics (live beneficial bacteria or yeasts), prebiotics (non-digestible fibers that feed beneficial microbes), and synbiotics (a combination). These uses are distinct from ecological biotics and are subject to regulatory standards and strain-specific effects.

Biotics thus describe life-related aspects of environments, from natural ecosystems to human-managed settings, and are central to understanding ecology, agriculture, and health.