The term that defines the non-living components of an ecosystem is abiotic factors.
Abiotic factors include all the physical and chemical elements in the environment that can affect living organisms. This encompasses things like climate, which includes temperature and precipitation, as well as water, soil, sunlight, and minerals. These components play a crucial role in shaping the environment and determining the types of organisms that can thrive in a given ecosystem.
For instance, the availability of water and the type of soil can greatly influence the types of plants that grow in an area. Similarly, climate affects which species can inhabit a region. Understanding abiotic factors is essential in ecology as they set the stage for the biotic factors, which include all the living organisms in the ecosystem.