An Ecological Analysis of the Garden and Our Plants

    Some abiotic factors that my plants depend on for survival are sunlight, water, soil and the minerals in the soil, and air and the carbon dioxide in it. My plant needs those factors to be able to go through photosynthesis and make food. Some biotic factors that affect my plants are butterflies, various insects such as ants, people, small animals like birds or squirrels, and other plants. The butterflies and insects have been eating my plants, creating tiny little holes in the leaves that will eventually destroy them. People and small animals could physically harm them by stepping on them or ripping them. The other plants are competition for the plants’ growth.

    I know my plants are engaged in competition because I can see the tiny weeds that are growing near them. When I go out to check on my plants, I have to do a little weeding to ensure that the plants are the better competitors. The plants are competing for water, sunlight, and space in general. Each plant is fighting to soak up a little more sun and a little more water - to spread out its roots and get bigger. The tiny little plants and the big ones all have the same goal - growing - and they’re all fighting. There competition is mostly the plants around them.

    I don’t think there is ever a real clear cut winner. The main way to determine the stronger plant is to see which grew or produced the most. You can tell if a plant is healthy by looking at it, and sometimes it is clear which plant is better off. What makes determining the winner so complicated is that you don’t know what each plant”s “potential” is. How big is it supposed to grow, and how much water does it need. Each plant is different, and each is fighting.

    One of the most obvious ways our plants are interacting is with the butterflies and caterpillars. There is definitely predation going on. You can see the tiny holes in the leaves where the insects have eaten, and if you look close enough you’ll even notice some butterfly waste on some of the leaves. The butterflies are preying on the weakest of our plants, and gaining nourishment while our plants, unfortunately, weaken.

    There is succession going on in the garden. It is secondary, because plants have already grown here in this old soil. Evidence of succession is in the soil and mulch/fertilizer itself. You can see bits of decomposing plants in the soil. And you can see that plants are growing all around, despite the larger plants. There are bugs in the soil, and insects that have lived in that planter box for a while now.

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.

An Ecological Analysis of the Garden and Our Plants

Some biotic factors that our plants are affected by are the creatures that feast on our plants. The bugs diminish the plants ability to get energy by eating the plants leafs. Abiotic factors that affect our plant are the amount of water they receive, the amount of sunlight received, and the temperature. If our plant is not watered on a daily basis its cells will become dehydrated, and if a plant does not receive sunlight it will not be able o get food through photosynthesis. Lastly the temperature plays a huge role in what happens to our plant. If its to cold the plant will rupture its cells, and if its to hot the plant losses precious water. 

Plants are always competing. Water, food, and sun are the main prizes for the strongest. Currently they are competing with the plants around it for sun. We know sun is hard to get for our plants because the other plants around it are big and block much of the light that our plants need to grow. The after math of this is apparent because we can see how small our plants are compared to all of the others.

Winners and losers in competition are hard to see some of the time. The confusion lies in how is something determined a winner. It is simply a matter of who survives longer than the others, but if you think on a regional scale one group of plants may have claimed victory in one part and the other plants in another part. Who won then? The winner on a large scale is determined by all of the struggles the group has achieved together. That means if group A of plants gets overgrown by group B one time, but Group A has over grown group B 3 more times than that then group A is the over all winner.

Our plants are also involved mutualism (when two different species benefit from each others existence). This takes place when bees help to pollinate our plants and the bees get nectar from our plant. Both of the organisms need each other to exist. Other organisms do the same thing for our plants such as birds, bats, and ants.

Secondary succession is occurring in the garden. Whenever the year goes by most of the plants dye adding nutrients to the soil. Once the plants finish biodegrading the garden sits at a stand still until it rains. A few days after the rain hits weeds and left over seeds from the previous year start to sprout and take root which finishes the secondary succession cycle.

An Ecological Analysis of the Garden and the Collards

Some abiotic factors that affect the collards is the amount of water they get, sunlight, and soil type. Biotic factors that affect the collards are snails, caterpillars, and other herbivores. The abiotic factors affect the collards because water transports materials through the plant, and sunlight. The biotic factors affect the collards by damaging the leaves.

The competition for the collards is the grass and weeds growing near them. These plants affect the collards by making the collards fight for water and sunlight. I know the plants are in competition with the weeds and grass because the collards that are close to and surrounded by the grass and weeds are smaller and the one collard plant that isn't close to the competition is striving and has grown quite large.

The “winners” and “losers” are determined by who, as in a species, survives the constant struggle for resources. It is not always to clear cut when it comes to who “wins” and “loses” because sometimes, when plants die, they leave seeds behind which are basically the next generation of plants. Overall, the winners are the plants that survive opposing and outer forces, but it really depends on a person’s opinion on how the plants “win” or “lose.”

The collards are also involved in predation, in a way. The collards are the “prey” and the caterpillars are the “predators.” This is because the collards are being fed on and the caterpillars are eating them. The only fault in this is that the collards are not necessarily being “captured.” Plants can’t move anywhere, so it is basically just being fed on and capturing something usually implies the fact the organism was trying to escape. Overall, the plant is at it’s loss of cells and the caterpillars energy/food.

There is evidence that succession is happening in the garden. For example, the plants that we planted there are growing and weeds are also sprouting and growing. The fact plants are living and growing in this environment is proof of succession. This is secondary succession because soil is not new and there is no evidence of new soil being created.