Ecology

In biology, abiotic factors can include water, light, radiation, temperature, humidity, atmosphere, acidity, and soil.

Humans impact the physical environment in many ways: overpopulation, pollution, burning fossil fuels, and deforestation. Changes like these have triggered climate change, soil erosion, poor air quality, and undrinkable water.

An abiotic factor is a non-living part of an ecosystem that shapes its environment. In a terrestrial ecosystem, examples might include temperature, light, and water. In a marine ecosystem, abiotic factors would include salinity and ocean currents. Abiotic and biotic factors work together to create a unique ecosystem.

Beigle lists a few facts about the migrating monarch that elicit gasps from the small crowd of people gathered around him. He notes that some monarchs have been clocked flying at 15 miles per hour in still air. They also have stamina: “Two hundred miles in a day is common,” he says. “It depends on the wind.”

Beigle says that the butterflies have traveled to Pacific Grove from 100 to 1,000 miles north and east of Pacific Grove. Most monarchs fly to the coast from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains on the border between California and Nevada. In early spring, the butterflies will migrate back to their cooler homes in the Sierra Nevada.

Today, modern ecologists build on the data collected by their predecessors and continue to pass on information about the ecosystems around the world. The information they gather continues to affect the future of our planet.