Ecological factors and food chains

Outside factors that act on a living organism are called ecological factors. They are of three kinds: abiotic factors are factors of non-living nature (light, moisture, temperature); biotic factors are the effects of living organisms on each other (for example plant-eater and plant, predator and prey); anthropogenic factors are the effects of human activity (hunting, felling forests, creating new varieties and breeds). The environment an organism is adapted to and breeds well in is its habitat: a fish’s streamlined shape and slimy covering help it overcome water resistance, and a reptile’s horny scales help it keep water in the desert. The interaction of living and non-living nature makes a natural community; its living part is the biocenosis. In a biocenosis producers (green plants) make organic matter; consumers (plant-eating and predatory animals) feed on ready-made organic matter; reducers (bacteria and fungi) break organic matter down to mineral substances. Organisms that eat the one before them and are food for the next form a food chain. It starts with a producer plant. For example: grass → hare → wolf; dead organisms are broken down by reducers. If one link of the chain is broken, the other links suffer too.