1. Energy: All living organisms require energy to carry out essential life processes like growth, movement, reproduction, and maintaining their internal environment. This energy comes from various sources depending on the organism, such as sunlight (for plants through photosynthesis), food (for animals), or chemical compounds (for certain bacteria).
2. Nutrients: Besides energy, organisms need essential nutrients to build and maintain their bodies. These include elements like carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and others. Organisms obtain these nutrients from their environment, either directly from the air, water, or soil, or indirectly through consuming other organisms.
Therefore, the two essential things for biota are energy and nutrients.
