Living parts of an environment are called ______.

• A. Abiotic factor
• B. Pollination
• C. Habitat
• D. Biotic factor

Answer: (D)

Living components of an environment are called biotic factors. These include all living organisms—plants, animals, fungi, bacteria—and the interactions among them, such as predation, symbiosis, competition, and decomposition. Abiotic factors are the nonliving parts, like sunlight, temperature, water, and minerals in soil. Habitat refers to the place where organisms live and encompasses both living and nonliving elements, but it’s not the label for the living parts themselves. Pollination is a biological process carried out by organisms to enable plant reproduction, not a category for living components. So the term that best describes the living parts is biotic factors.