Abstract
The distinction between biotic variables, such as pollinators,
pathogens, and competitors, and abiotic variables, such as temperature,
pH, and humidity, is so basic to biology that it is routinely invoked in
everything from painstaking ecological studies to basic textbooks. For
all its pervasiveness, there are good reasons to renounce the
biotic-abiotic distinction in daily biology. For one, the distinction is
hard to make in practice because virtually all “abiotic” variables are
profoundly affected by organisms. Even if it were possible, in most
cases the distinction adds nothing and at worst makes communication more
difficult. Best of all, overcoming the distinction leads to insights
regarding niche construction, extended inheritance, and even
redefinition of “evolution.”