Lab Activity
Question

How Do Abiotic Factors Affect Distribution of Organisms?

Answer
Along with food and shelter, every organism needs some specific environmental conditions to survive. These conditions, if non-biological, are called abiotic. For survival and existence and growth of every organism, certain environmental conditions are necessary. For example, sun, wind, humidity, water, salts concentration etc. Without these specific required conditions animals would not be able to survive. If disturbance in survival of one single species of organisms will affect the others as well and as a result all ecosystem could get affected. If we talk about distribution of organisms the each and every organisms need some condition in its surrounding, to survive. If, by any chance, any one condition out of the required ones, is disturbed, animal will be disturbed. That animal will definitely prefer to migrate to some other place with better survival and with better environmental conditions. Air pollution can cause decrease in flowering of plants or it can affect health of organisms. Temperature if less can freeze things and if, it is more than required, can melt things. Change in temperature can affect photosynthesis, resulting in affecting both plants and animals. Depletion of ozone layer is one of the biggest threats to our ecosystem, or to all organisms currently. It is depleting day by day and temperature of Earth is increasing due to it. Some animals can regulate their body temperature while others cannot. Some plants need high temperature to grow, some need low. Some species survive in water, some in land and other in both, like amphibians. But there is a certain level of everything for every species to survive. If that level deteriorates, than that specie would definitely try to migrate from that place and would get settled somewhere with the balanced environment which is suitable for survival.
As the table given in the lab activity shows the species and the factors affecting their survival. Change in amount of every factor has certain affect on each species.

Lab Notebook
| |Number before |Number after increase in abiotic factor |Number after decrease in abiotic factor |
| |biotic change | | |

| |Sun |Water |Wind |Temperature |Sun |Water |Wind |Temperature | |Pine |1 |1 |0 |1 |0 |1 |1 |0 |1 | |Maple |1 |0 |1 |0 |1 |1 |0 |1 |1 | |Oak |1 |1 |0 |1 |1 |0 |1 |1 |1 | |Dogwood |1 |0 |0 |1 |1 |1 |0 |1 |1 | |Grasshopper |4 |3 |2 |3 |4 |3 |3 |4 |2 | |Squirrels |4 |3 |1 |3 |3 |2 |3 |2 |3 | |Robins |3 |2 |3 |3 |3 |3 |2 |3 |2 | |Sparrow |3 |1 |0 |1 |2 |3 |1 |2 |2 | |Foxes |2 |1 |1 |1 |1 |1 |1 |1 |1 | |