Are hormones biotic or abiotic? I have tried reading different articles, and I've found that it is both, but can that be true?
1 Answer
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
Hormones occur inside organisms as signaling factors, and arise from biological activities, the development or homeostasis of the organism.
Thus, they are considered neither biotic nor abiotic factors in ecology.
(Terrible analogy warning!) It's a bit like asking whether the wheel of a car is petrol- or diesel-based. It makes no sense!
Here's a helpful, comprehensive website.
Biotic (living) factors are living organisms in an ecosystem, that must share common resources or compete in a habitat one way or another. Abiotic (non-living) factors are things like temperature, wind, salinity, etc. that affect individuals or the community of an ecosystem.
As you can see, hormones are just one of many components of a living organism. They aren't living themselves. It's a silly question to ask, as I hope you can see now.
