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Environmental Factors: An Overview
At a high level, you can define an environmental factor as any condition, entity or force that influences a life form that lives in the environment. Water, for instance, is a nonliving entity that has the ability to sustain life or take it away depending on the water's condition. Water isn't simply the clear substance you might see in a stream. Rain, snow and invisible water vapor are also abiotic factors that can harm life if something pollutes them. Acid rain is a good example of a harmful abiotic water factor.
Abiotic Pollution and Plants
Plants, essential to life on Earth, grow and die depending on the abiotic factors that affect them. Temperature, water and soil all influence plant growth. Pollutants can change any of these factors and affect plants adversely. For example, when humans burn fossil fuels that release pollutants into the air, warming may occur. This warming could have disastrous effects on plants that can't adjust to growing at higher temperatures.
Soil Pollution Affects Everyone
Although soil contains living microorganisms, soil itself is not alive. Contaminants can make their way into soil in a variety of ways. People dump hazardous materials into the soil, and water spreads that contamination to other areas. Soil pollution also comes from the air when contaminants from smokestacks settle into the soil. Plants suffer from this abiotic form of pollution when their roots absorb hazardous substances. Humans and animals suffer as well when they eat those plants or interact with polluted soil.
Abiotic Contamination and Water
It doesn't take a catastrophic oil spill to demonstrate the problems that can occur when hazardous substances pollute one of nature's most important abiotic factors: water. Bacteria and sediment are two major causes of water pollution. Sediments in water can smother small organisms and make it difficult for aquatic plants to receive enough sunlight to create food through photosynthesis. Some types of bacteria that make their way into water harm aquatic life and humans. Nutrients are beneficial because they help organisms grow, but when too many nutrients find their way into water, algae growth skyrockets. This harms other organisms because excess algae takes away oxygen other organisms need to survive. As with sediments, too much algae also reduces the amount of available sunlight for aquatic plants.