What does biotic refer to?

• A. Nonliving things
• B. Living things
• C. Abiotic factors
• D. Energy sources

Answer: (B)

Biotic refers to living components of an environment—the organisms themselves and how they interact with one another. It covers plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, and the relationships among them, like predation, symbiosis, and decomposition. That’s why the best answer is the living things option: biotic describes life and its processes.

Nonliving things are described as abiotic, which includes factors like temperature, water, minerals, and soil—things that aren’t alive. Energy sources describe where organisms get energy and can involve both living and nonliving inputs, so they don’t define whether something is biotic. In ecosystems, you categorize factors as biotic (living) and abiotic (nonliving) to understand how life and the physical environment interact.