Blog Post #4

Our plant depends on many abiotic and biotic factors for its growth and survival.  As for abiotic factors, it depends on water, sunlight, and dirt just to name a few.  It would not be able to produce food for itself if it were not for sunlight and water.  Also, the dirt keeps the plants delicate roof safe. There are also many biotic factors, but some of these are bad for the plant and some are good.  For instance, a worm, snail, or bug that eats your plant is bad for it.  Weeds are also very bad for your plant because they take its stuff.  But, a bee that helps it reproduce is great for it.

Plants, and all living things for that matter, are always competing with others for resources.  Our plants are competing with other plants for nutrients in the soil, water, and even sunlight.  They are competing with other plants that that our class planted, but they are also competing with weeds that spring up.  Weeds are, as a general rule, bad as they don't offer much but they do take away from your plant.

Winners and Losers in this nasty business are determined by the plants ability to cope with what comes at it.  If it has adapted over time to have broad leaves and large roots then it will get enough sunlight and water.  However, if the plant has not adapted like this, then it might die out.  If conditions are different in other places though, there may be other results.

Our plant interacts with other things too.  Bugs eat it which is fantastic for the bug because we planted food for them, but not so great for the plant.  Ironically we only planted the plant so that we could eat it, but we won't talk about that.  There are some interactions that the plant enjoys though.  Some animals eat whatever the plant produces for food, which sound bad for the plant, but is actually spreading its seeds.

There is evidence that succession has occurred inside our own garden.  Plots of dirt that were once barren are now overrun with weeds.  This is an example of secondary succession because there was already soil and some plants in the garden.