What does «biotopo» mean in Spanish?
- In ecology, an area of limited size (e.g., a pond, a peatland, a plateau) of an environment in which plant and animal organisms of the same or different species live, which together form a biocenosis (ecological community). The biotope and the biocenosis form a functional unit called ecosystem. The biotope is, therefore, the component of the ecosystem characterized by abiotic (non-living) factors, such as the soil or substrate, with its physical and chemical characteristics, temperature, humidity, light, etc., but it is not considered separate from the biological component. In some biotopes there is a set of specific and particular characteristics, not easily reproducible elsewhere. In such cases, the biotope may be of particular importance, as it may be the only place where native species live. Sometimes, this set of peculiar characteristics is the result of an unstable equilibrium, as is the case, for example, in the brackish environments of the lagoon, which are in constant evolution; this makes the ecosystem of that biotope fragile.