Abiotic and biotic factors

Biotic Factors

Biotic is the living organisms. Our goal is to keep our stick insects alive without any interference with other living animals.

Such as spiders hiding around the eucalyptus leaves and other bugs and insects that could be a threat.

Abiotic Factors

Abiotic is the nonliving things in an environment. These are factors that effect the functioning of our enclosure.

This includes: temperature, humidity, light penetration, and daylight length.

Abiotic Factors Consideration

Temperature Outside Enclosure

Temperature is an important factor that is to be considered when keeping an organism alive.

A high temperature can overheat the insects and dehydrated the eucalyptus leaves. If it was low temperature, they would freeze to death.

So keeping the enclosure in a room that is not too hot or cold is an important factor to adjust

Light Intensity

Light intensity, measures the strength of the light passing through. Light plays a major influence on organisms and plants. Light gives plants growth, and reproduction. It also gives organisms metabolism . It can change their habits and colour.

Every time we clean our enclosures, we check for the light intensity and our insect colours. We do this ensure if the placement of the enclosure has some light passing through.

Daylight Length

Daylight length is an important factor as it interconnects with both temperature and light intensity. Daylight gives the insects warmth and vitamin D.

Putting our enclosure in a position where there are some sunlight and shade creates a comfortable home for them to adapt to. Having a bit of sunlight will keep their bodies warm and healthy.

Temperature in Enclosure

The temperature inside the enclosure is an important factor as the Cyclone Larry Insect requires a certain temperature to survive.

These insects love being in a temperature of around 25 degrees. This means room temperature would be the best degree for them to hang around in. Our stick insect are always kept in the science rooms, as there is air con in case of hot or cold weather.

Abiotic Conclusions

Here is a pie graph that shows the average measurements we made throughout the couple of weeks.

We measured the 3 abiotic factors: Temperature outside enclosure, temperature in enclosure, and the light intensity. So far within the 4 weeks of measurement, we calculated the average of each of the factors and put it together in a pie chart. This is to show how much each factor is affecting our enclosure.

Biotic Factors

Cyclone Larry Insect

Our Cyclone Larry Insect, is a biotic factor in which will grow overtime. It is important for us to care for these insects, and give them the best in terms of food and their habitat.

Our insects can change in size, colour, shape, and in growth. Although we cannot change this factor we can through the biotic and abiotic factors which will impact that.

Fungi/Bacteria

Bacteria is something that can affect the process of caring our stick insects. This may include a growing fungi on our insects, bacteria on their waste and the leaves they eat.

To avoid having a buildup of bacteria and fungi, it includes: cleaning our stick insects regularly so that these germs do not build up and infect our insects.

Eucalyptus Leaves

Although our eucalyptus leaves are plucked out from the garden, it is also a biotic factor to consider. This is one of the most important factor in our projects because this is our insect's source of food and comfort zone.

When picking the leaves, we have to consider the length of the branch, the freshness of it, and any bugs and threats hanging around.

Other Insect bugs,

Insects, bugs, and spiders can be a threat to our stick insects growth. They can kill our insects, if they appear in the enclosure and outside. This is why we need to shake off the branches of leaves we pick to ensure no bugs or insects to hide.

To keep these threats away from the insect and their home, we make sure to clear off the bugs on the plants, clean out their waste, and tie the door securely.

Biotic Conclusion

These factors are important, they play a major role that can change and shape the growth of the insects. We have to consider many different things that may make a difference on the insects living conditions. Our whole goal is to keep them happy, healthy and alive. These Biotic factors help us conclude why certain things happen but could also make our job more difficult.

Abiotic and Biotic Impacts

Both, abiotic and biotic factors are important to be identified as they have hugely impacted on the growth of our insects. These insects have adapted to our enclosure and are growing really quickly. With both of these factors, it has help us answered many questions of our insects behaviour, shape, colour adaptation.

For example; What we have realised is that most of our insects are Light brown or very light brown. Looking back at our abiotic measurements and referring back to pie chart above, we have concluded that their colours are light due to the light intensity. The light intensity was the highest percentage out of the 3 abiotic factors of 39.8%. And because light changes the colour of the insects and boosts their metabolism, we have figured why they were light in colour and their fast growth.

Another impact we had to consider, was the quality of the eucalyptus leaves. We had to make sure that they were free from any chemical spraying, or pollution. If we fed our insects, with sprayed leaves, it could result in faster death, disruptions of growth and digestion problems.

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