what do limiting factors do

Limiting factors are environmental factors or variables that restrict the growth, abundance, or distribution of a population in an ecosystem. They can be biotic, such as food, mates, and competition with other organisms for resources, or abiotic, such as space, temperature, altitude, and amount of sunlight available in an environment. Limiting factors are usually expressed as a lack of a particular resource. For example, if there are not enough prey animals in a forest to feed a large population of predators, then food becomes a limiting factor. Ultimately, limiting factors determine a habitats carrying capacity, which is the maximum size of the population it can support.