Intraspecific Competition: The response of the sunflower (genus Helianthus) to increasing density :: essays research papers

INTRASPECIFIC COMPETION THE RESPONSE OF THE SUNFLOWER (genus HELIANTHUS) TO INCREASING DENSITY.INTRODUCTION alone species, including proves, atomic image 18 impacted by closeness. Plants, of course, cannot leave their habitat as animals can, so they tend to respond in different ways to density. As populations rise more(prenominal) dense, they compete for resources such as food and space and argon more prone to disease. Less dense populations are more hypersensitized to predation pressure. It is hypothesized that as plants in small spaces compete for space, the plants compensate by reducing individual stem weight and frequency of bud make-up as density increases. This would be intraspecific competition. A factor is density-dependent when it kills more of a population at higher densities and slight at trim densities (Stilling 2002). The factor of competition between individual plants of the same species would be considered density dependent.METHODSThe experiment was designe d to test the hypothesis by planting an increase number of genus Helianthus (sunflower) seeds in pots to see how they respond to increased density in limited space. Two replicates each of 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, and 128 seeds were planted in comparable size pots containing an equal mix of potting soil and perlite. All plants were kept in greenhouse conditions exposed to similar light and temperatures settings and were watered at eq intervals. At the end of the time period each pot was evaluated for number of seeds that had germinated as well as number of stems with blooms. Stems and blooms were cut and weighed.RESULTSTable 1 shows averages of each replicate for each series of seeds relating to mortality rate/sprouting rate, budding rate, and mean plant weight (total, with buds, and without buds).Figure 1 indicates an increase mortality rate (positive slope) in plants as density increases Figure 2 shows the corresponding germination rate reflecting the exact opposite trend. Mortality clay nothing until 8 seeds are planted (6% mortality), then is reduced to zero at 16 seeds then increases to 14 percentage (32 seeds), 32 percent (64 seeds), and more than half (57 %--128 seeds).Figure 3 shows a dramatic drop in bud formation of approximately 20 percent from quad to eight seed plantings, followed by slight decreases of 3 percent of less in bud formation as significantly greater quantities of seeds are planted.Figure 4 reflects a decreasing mean weight per plant as density of planted seeds increases-- from a high of 11.73 grams (2 seeds) decreasing piecemeal from between 3 to .