Meaning & use
biotic
Last updated
Meaning
adjectivenot comparable
Relating to living things, especially in an ecosystem.
Grammar: Used before a noun: biotic factors, biotic environment. No comparative forms.
Patterns
- biotic factors
- biotic environment
- biotic components
The teacher explained that biotic factors include plants, animals, and bacteria.
In a pond ecosystem, biotic elements interact with abiotic ones like water and sunlight.
Scientists study biotic interactions to understand how species depend on each other.
Common combinations
- biotic factors
- Biotic factors such as predators and food supply affect population size.
- biotic environment
- The biotic environment consists of all living organisms in a given area.
- biotic interactions
- Competition and symbiosis are examples of biotic interactions.
- biotic community
- The biotic community of a forest includes trees, insects, and fungi.
Synonyms and how they differ
- biological
- Broader; refers to anything related to biology or life processes, not just ecological living components.
- living
- Everyday word; simply means alive, but does not carry the ecological contrast with non-living factors.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: biotic or abiotic? biotic or bionic?
biotic vs abiotic
Abiotic means non-living (e.g., sunlight, minerals), the opposite of biotic.
biotic vs bionic
Bionic refers to artificial body parts or superhuman abilities, not to living organisms in ecology.
Practice
Which of the following is a biotic factor in a forest ecosystem?
Choose one answer.
Fungi are living organisms, so they are biotic. Sunlight, temperature, and rainfall are abiotic (non-living) factors.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “biotic”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.