An Ecological Analysis of the Garden and Our Plants

An abiotic factor that our plants depend on greatly is, of course, water.  Water is essential to all life, and our plants are no exception.  Our plants also depend on soil and air.  The sun is extremely important for the survival of our plants, too.  Biotic factors that would affect them would be along the line of competitors and small insects that rely on the plants for food.

We know that our plants are competing because there are other plants in the same area as them, and competition is natural for organisms put in one place together.  Our plants are competing against other teams’ plants for water, sunlight, and nutrients in the soil.

“Winners and losers” are determined by who gets the most resources, or, in extreme cases, who survives.  “Winners” are the ones who get the most resources (nutrients, water, sunlight), whereas “losers” are the ones who get less resources, and may end up dying.  In some cases, competing organisms may end up in a tie, or the “winner” may only be winning by a small amount.

The plants are also possibly involved in community interactions with insects.  Aphids, sadly, may be an example of this, their relationship with our plants being parasitism.  Aphids are insects that feast on any size of plants, usually destroying them.  There also may be more parasites harming our plants.

There is some evidence that there is succession in the garden, because our plants, among others, are taking over the land that I am sure belonged to previous plants.  This succession is undoubtedly secondary, because there was plant-supporting soil prior to our plants being put in.