biotopes

A biotope is a region with a relatively uniform abiotic environment that supports a specific biological community. The term emphasizes the physical and chemical conditions of the habitat—climate, substrate, water or soil chemistry, light, temperature, and humidity—that determine which organisms can live there. Biotopes describe the abiotic setting within an ecosystem, where a biocenosis, the living community, exists.

Biotopes are described at different spatial scales, from microhabitats such as a shaded rock crevice or pond edge to larger habitat types like streams, salt marshes, or coral reefs. Key abiotic factors—pH, salinity, oxygen, nutrients, substrate texture, hydrology, and light regime—define the biotope, while geography and climate influence its distribution and stability. The organisms that occur there are adapted to those conditions.

In practice, biotopes aid conservation planning and habitat restoration by identifying the physical conditions needed to sustain target communities. The concept is also used in education and aquaculture to recreate natural environments. While closely related to habitat and ecotope, biotope stresses the abiotic stage that supports life and the living community that inhabits it.

Terminology varies by field; some authors use biotope as a synonym for habitat, ecotope, or environment. Studying biotopes involves measuring environmental variables, mapping habitat types, and monitoring changes in climate, hydrology, or land use to assess impacts on the abiotic template and its biocenosis.