Ecosystem

A ( no) - bio (life ) - tic : Purely non - living .

Biotic components are the living things that shape an ecosystem. Whereas an abiotic component is one that is purely non-living. The air pressure, sunlight, soil and water are essential for the biotic components but cannot be termed as biotic. That's why they are abiotic components.

The abiotic factors are simply non-living. I don't really know how else to put it. :D

I would argue soil should be excluded from or renamed in the answers to this question. Soil is a complex mix of both abiotic and biotic factors and different types of soils have varying proportions of said factors. I would at least specify Soil matrix, as this is specific to the chemical composition and physical properties of the eroded parent rocks as they are found in the soil. Soil Organic Matter (SOM) is defined as both the living and non-living components of the pedosphere, defined as the culmination of numerous interactions between the biosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, cryosphere, and atmosphere.

Study of the biotic components of the pedosphere have influenced decades of ecological discoveries, such as the discovery of all known biogeochemical cycles often taught in high school Biology classes. A diverse array of epigeal and hypogeal organisms help contribute to both the formation and composition of soils around the world, ranging from a diverse array of microbes decomposing organic matter or aiding larger organisms in their nutrient acquisitions all the way to megafauna plowing down megaflora (which also hold onto the soil itself) while accidentally or intentionally tilling the land. To claim that soil is entirely abiotic is a misnomer given the role the biosphere has in the formation and composition of soil, which is why I opt for utilizing "soil matrix"; a term referring solely to the abiotic components of soil.

It is a minor change, but an important one that I suggest. Soils are crucial not only for human societies past and present, but also for the biogeochemical cycles that have been occurring on this wonderful home we call earth since the formation of life, plate tectonics/vulcanism/orogeny, and the water cycle.