How does biological diversity relate to the characteristics of the abiotic factors of an ecosystem?
The availability of abiotic factors like light, moisture, mineral salts, heat and carbon dioxide, more or less conditions the biodiversity of an ecosystem. Photosynthesis depends on water and light, and plants also need mineral salts, carbon dioxide and adequate temperature for their cells to work. In environments where these factors are not restrictive the synthesis of organic material (by photosynthesis) is at a maximum, plants and algae can reproduce easier, the population of these beings increase, potential ecological niches multiply and new species emerge. The large mass of producers makes viable the appearing of a diversity of consumers of several orders. In environments with restrictive abiotic factors, like deserts, the producers exist in small numbers and less diversity, a feature that thus extends to consumers and conditions fewer ecological niches to be explored.
