Environmental Factors That Affect Plant Growth Essay

* Stress is "a force that is external in nature that causes strain upon the body, both physical and emotional."

The definition of stress according to the Oxford dictionary is “A state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances.”

Plants are found everywhere on earth, up high on the ridge and down low in caves and caverns. The types of plants that live in these places depends on many factors. These factors are separated into two different categories, the biotic factors and the abiotic factors. Some of the biotic factors include, predation, competition, and habitat destruction. Plants with limited competition and large amounts of resources will be in a higher abundance than plants with limited resources and higher competition rates will be confined to areas and either out competed or will be the dominant species. Certain plants adapt to these factors and thrive and others don’t do as well. Some of the abiotic factors include, sunlight, water, temperature, and wind. These

When planting a seed, many factors allow the seed to grow and become a plant. To sprout from the ground, and to survive, seeds need water, air, and a certain temperature. Seeds can get water, oxygen, and sun by being placed at the proper planting depth. Planting depth is the depth at which a seed is placed in the soil. If a seed is exposed to these important needs, it goes through a process called germination. According to the Wise Geek article, “What is Germination?”, “Germination is a process in which a seed or spore awakens from dormancy and starts to sprout.” (“What is Germination?”).

might affect the fitness of each variant. In other words which factors might increase plant growth, survival,

Read "Lab 3: Biodiversity." This lab will allow you to investigate how various organisms alter their environments. Additionally, it will allow you to

What are growth limiting factors on this site? 2 Points Differentiate between limitations from the soil and other limiting factors at the

The environment influences many of the choices we make in life. How we life our life and certain standards we have are sometimes caused or influenced by the environment. It determines choices we make in our sexuality as well as choices we make to build upon our happiness. Many of the activities we engage in the early years can sometimes affect our lives throughout late adulthood. Some of these same environmental influences are carried down generation after generation.

Abiotic factors refer to non-living physical and chemical elements in the ecosystem. These factors have effects on living things and determine which species survive in a particular environment.

Valladares, F., E. Gianoli, and J.M. Gomez. 2007. Ecological limits to plant phenotypic plasticity. New Phytologist 174:749-763.

In this lab write up, the population growth of a variety of living organisms was analyzed and upon analysis of graphs and background information given within the laboratory course notebook, the conclusion was made that abiotic factors are related to biotic factors in an ecosystem, if one factor is varied it can affect the entirety of the ecosystem. Abiotic factors have importance because they are directly correlated to how biotic organisms survive and the growth or decline of their populations. Abiotic factors refer to non-living physical and chemical elements in the ecosystem and biotic factors are living or once-living organisms in the ecosystem with the ability to reproduce and affect other organisms in the ecosystem.

Like animals, plants are affected by gravity. Yet, they manage to grow upward and to great heights. How do they do this? While there are many forces acting on plants from the outside, there are also forces at work within plants themselves. These forces enable plants to stay up straight, take in water, extend their roots, and find light. Plants hold themselves up in two main ways, through turgor pressure and by using special woody tissues.

Hans Selye (1982) points out that few people define the concept of stress in the same way or even bother to attempt a clear-cut definition. According to Selye, an important aspect of stress is that a wide variety of dissimilar situations are capable of producing the stress response such as fatigue, effort, pain, fear, and even success. This has led to several definitions of stress, each of which highlights different aspects of stress. One of the most comprehensive models of stress is the Biopsychosocial Model of Stress (Bernard & Krupat, 1994). According to the Biopsychosocial Model of Stress, stress involves three components: an external component, an internal component, and the interaction between the external and internal components.

Humans depend on plants in numerous ways. One reason we depend on plants is for consumption. Plants have the unique ability of producing their own food through a process called photosynthesis. In this process, plants are able to produce macromolecules such as carbohydrates that cannot be produced in animals or humans. In humans, the only to gain these macromolecules is to consume plant matter, or consume plant-eating animals (herbivores).

All plants are subjected to a multitude of stresses throughout their life cycle. Depending on the species of plant and the source of the stress, the plant will respond in different ways. When a certain tolerance level is reached, the plant will eventually die. When the plants in question are crop plants, then a problem arises. The two major environmental factors that currently reduce plant productivity are drought and salinity (Serrano, 1999), and these stresses cause similar reactions in plants due to water stress. These environmental concerns affect plants more than is commonly thought. For example, disease and insect loss typically decrease crop yields by less than ten percent, but severe