2.1.7—Abiotic factors examples

Choose an abiotic measurement because it could explain the distribution: light for shading, moisture for water supply or pH for nutrient availability.

Use consistent positions, times, units and calibrated tools; repeat readings along the distribution gradient. Relevance matters more than collecting many variables.

To test whether moss prefers shade, measure light intensity at sites with and without moss rather than only recording air temperature.

Same method, calibration, unit and sampling conditions.

Many irrelevant measurements do not strengthen an investigation.