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A biotope is an area of uniform environmental conditions providing a living place for a specific assemblage of plants and animals. Biotope is almost synonymous with the term "habitat", which is more commonly used in English-speaking countries. However, in some countries these two terms are distinguished: the subject of a habitat is a population, the subject of a biotope is a biocoenosis or "biological community".[1]
It is an English loanword derived from the German Biotop, which in turn came from the Greek bios (meaning 'life') and topos ('place'). (The related word geotope has made its way into the English language by the same route, from the German Geotop.)