Jacob Sweet
Period 5
10/15/14
Plant Status Update #4: An Ecological Analysis of the Garden With My Plants
One of the abiotic factors that our plants depend on is receiving lots of sunlight during the day. Another is having nutritious soil with lots of plant healthy matter for our plants to grow in. Finally, a third abiotic factor that is necessary for our plants' survival is an average temperature that San Jose usually experiences. However, one of the biotic factors affecting our plants is insects eating the leaves of it. In addition, there are weeds growing near our plants that are affecting them.
Our plants are in a type of interaction with other living organisms called competition. They are competing with the weeds that are growing and sprouting around them. They are competing for the natural nutrients in the soil. They may also be fighting for the water that is dropped in the soil from precipitation.
The "winners" and "losers" of the battle can be easily determined by who survives and who is left to die. However, sometimes when they both survive or the dying plant does something important before it goes it can be harder to see who "won" and who "lost". When both plants survive, it may be tough to determine who is more prosperous because one may reproduce more while the other lives longer. There could also be a case in which they both die and there is no clear way of figuring which one helped its species the most. Finally, while one plant may take more nutrients, others may be taking less but prospering more from it.
Another interaction involving our plants is parasitism. In this interaction, insects are eating the leaves of our Broccoli Romanesco plants. This allows the insects to have easy access to food and not starve, allowing them to reproduce. However, the insects are not parasitoids because they hopefully will not kill the plants but merely set back their growth and development. This unfortunately does not benefit our plants in any way and actually ends up harming them.
There is evidence that succession or at least something similar to it is occurring in the garden ecosystem. This is supported by the fact that it started off as a small place with few plants. Some of those plants died and made the soil nutritious, allowing us to grow our plants in the garden with the other natural plants still growing. If we were to not insert our plants and disrupt the environment it is likely that over time larger ones similar to them would form too. After that, animals started coming to our plants and benefiting from them much like the pioneer species. This type of succession seems much more like secondary succession since the soil was most likely placed there, not formed by nature over time.
Our plants are in a type of interaction with other living organisms called competition. They are competing with the weeds that are growing and sprouting around them. They are competing for the natural nutrients in the soil. They may also be fighting for the water that is dropped in the soil from precipitation.
The "winners" and "losers" of the battle can be easily determined by who survives and who is left to die. However, sometimes when they both survive or the dying plant does something important before it goes it can be harder to see who "won" and who "lost". When both plants survive, it may be tough to determine who is more prosperous because one may reproduce more while the other lives longer. There could also be a case in which they both die and there is no clear way of figuring which one helped its species the most. Finally, while one plant may take more nutrients, others may be taking less but prospering more from it.
Another interaction involving our plants is parasitism. In this interaction, insects are eating the leaves of our Broccoli Romanesco plants. This allows the insects to have easy access to food and not starve, allowing them to reproduce. However, the insects are not parasitoids because they hopefully will not kill the plants but merely set back their growth and development. This unfortunately does not benefit our plants in any way and actually ends up harming them.
There is evidence that succession or at least something similar to it is occurring in the garden ecosystem. This is supported by the fact that it started off as a small place with few plants. Some of those plants died and made the soil nutritious, allowing us to grow our plants in the garden with the other natural plants still growing. If we were to not insert our plants and disrupt the environment it is likely that over time larger ones similar to them would form too. After that, animals started coming to our plants and benefiting from them much like the pioneer species. This type of succession seems much more like secondary succession since the soil was most likely placed there, not formed by nature over time.
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