Abstract An ecosystem is made up of different biotic and abiotic factors.

Within this biotic factors are a large number of comunities that lives harmoniosly in their respective environment. However because of the abiotic factors some organisms that lives within the environment tends to have different behaviors or effects on it. In this experiment the researchers would like to find out if these statements are true. They test if certain abaiotic factors can change the output or the rate of reproduction of the population. Also they are trying to see if by limiting the resources or adding a resource to the environment would have an effect to the population growth. These are the questions that the researchers would like to find the answer to and hoped that by the end of the experiment that they will gather enough information to answer this questions.

Introduction Population is a group of individuals of the same species living in a same environment at the same time as defined by N. Campbell. In this experiment the researchers tried to find out the effect of changing certain aspects of the evironment on the population. Using Lemna and Spirodella as their sample species for plants they gather information in order to find out what would happen in the population if: (1) they put soil in their natural habitat, (2) they both live at their natural habitat, and (3) they both live together in their natural habitat with the addition of soil. They expect to see if these changes will increase or decrease the normal rate of reproduction of the sample species because population does not increase unlimitedly there are other factors to be considered mainly the availability of the resources around them and this is what the reasearchers are trying to determine. In this experiment the researchers are trying to get the rate of growth of the pure and mixed cultures of Lemna and Spirodela in both tap water and tap water with soil. In order to get the rate of growth it is necessary to get first the population size of the species at a given time, and then we use the formulas: r=ln x ; x = N(t+1)/N(t) where N(t+1) =population at the next observation, N(t) = population at that time, and x = annual finite rate of increase. If the value of r is positive it means that the population size is increasing, if the value of r is negative the population size is decreasing and if the

value of r is equal to zero the population size is constant or does not change. If the population is increasing it means that te resources and the space provided at that time for that population is more than enough for themselves that is why they need to populate the place if however the population is decreasing in number it means that the resources or the space for the population is not enough for them, it can also be because of other factors such as predation or other kind of relationship with other organisms.

Results and Discussions

Age

of Population size

Mixed Cultures

Culture Lemna Culture A 0 2 5 7 9 12 14 16 19 21 8 15 20.7 23.7 27.33 40.7 54 61.7 81 113.3 B 8 Pure Spirodela Culture A 8 B 8 11 Pure

L 4 5.3

S 4 5.7

L 4 6.7

S 4 7

11.3 11.3 18.3 12 22.3 13 31 15.3

12.7 7.7 15.7 9.7 17 12.7

11.3 11.3 12.5 12.7 13.7 18.3 14 17 19 15.3 17.3 26.7 18 29.3 17.7 18.3

44.7 20 57.7 23.3 65 83 26.3 33.5

20.7 20.3 23 26.9

25.3 32 31 45.5

20.3 35

24.5 39.5 19 20.3 40.7 21.7

82.3 33

28.3 48

Table 2.1. Population growth of pure culture and mixed culture of Leman sp. and Spirodela sp.

120

100

80 Pure Culture Mixed Culture 40

60

20

0 0 2 5 7 9 12 14 16 19 21

Table 2.2. Population growth curve of pure and mixed culture of Lemna sp. Grown in tap water and soil.

40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0 2 5 7 9 12 14 16 19 21 Pure Culture Mixed Culture

Table 2.3. Population growth curve of pure and mixed culture of Spirodela sp. Grown in tap water and soil.
90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 2 5 7 9 12 14 16 19 21 Pure Culture Mixed Culture

Table 2.4. Population growth curve of pure and mixed culture of Lemna sp. Grown in tap water.
35 30 25 20 Pure Culture 15 10 5 0 0 2 5 7 9 12 14 16 19 21 Mixed Culture

Table 2.5. Population growth curve of pure and mixed culture of Spirodela sp. Grown in tap water.

Based on Table 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, and 2.5 pure cultured Lemna sp. and Spirodela sp. has a great increase in their population size compared to the mixed cultured for both tap water and tap water with soil. It can be explained by the the interaction between organisms called interspecific interaction. Interspecific interaction is defined as the a relationship with individuals of other species in the community compete for the limited resource that is availabe in their environment. In this experiment it can be seen that between the two sets (pure cultured and mixed cultured), one can see that there is a greater competion for resources in the mixed culture compared to the pure culture. Maybe because this is because in the mixed culture there are to different species and that the other one is overpowering the other one, which in this case Lemna sp. is overpowering Spirodela sp. in their competion for the resource. Because comparing the results gathered from the experiment it is clear that Lemna sp. increase their population size faster than Spirodela sp.. Also based on the previous tables, one can see that the addition of soil in the tap water increases the population size of the species comparing it to the species cultured only with tap water. It confirms our first hypothesis with this result is that the soil will help the species to increase their population more compared to the species only in tap water because there is an addtion of a resource that they can use not only the nutrients present in tap water but now there are also the presence of the nutrients in the soil. This will affect the two species and comparing it to the ones with only tap water, they have a greater population size. One explanation for this is that the addition of resource helps the organisms to populate at a higher rate than having less resource present. The experiment also follows the rule that the more resource present, the stronger organism will prevail and get more resource than the weaker organism. Thus in result the

organism that is weaker will have its population growth at a slower rate compared to the stronger organism that has a fast rate of reproduction. However, at some point in time this growth in the population must stop or slow down because the resource present is only limited. Based on the results of the experiment, it shows that during the first couple of days of all of the cultured Lemana sp. and Spirodela sp. they both increase in their population size, and also the mixed cultured and the ones that were added with soil in their environment. However when the when the age of the species reached the range of five days to seven days, it can be seen that the increase in their population size is not that great compared to the previous ones, and as they mature or increase in population size it can be seen that in the population of mixed culture of lemna sp. and spirodela sp. without soil that in the age of seven to nine they begin to decrease in number however at the end of the experiment they still increase in number but not that rapidly as before. In addition comparing the Lemna pure cultures with each other, the ones with soil and the ones with only tap water in it, it can be seen that in the end the ones with soil begins to decrease in population size at the age range of nineteen to twenty one. This result can also be seen in both the spirodela pure culture and the spirodela in the mixed culture with soil. This can be because the resource that they need are already being used up to its limit that they need to reduce their population size to cope up with the deminishing resource while their population increases. Also it can be because of the competion present for the two population, the stronger one already out wit the other that is why the resource that they can gather is less compared to the stronger organisms that is why they need to reduce their population, it can also be that the space proveided for the organisms are already maxed out that if they increase their population size it will result in death. Based from the gathered data, Lemana sp. has a higher carrying capacity compared to Spirodela sp., it can be seen in their population size. Lemna sp. reproduce at a faster rate compared to spirodela sp. also the decrease of the population size if there are, is smaller compared to spirodela sp.. It can be because Lemna sp. can gather resources at a faster rate than spirodela sp. in which they can increase their size in

rapidly or that Lemna sp. needs only a few resource in order to increase their population size compared to spirodela sp.. This would explain why the population of Lemna sp. is much greater than Spirodela sp. in both pure cultured and mixed cultured in both tap water and tap water with soil in it.

Conclusion In conclusion, it takes more than light, CO2, and water to make a plant, mineral resources are also needed and these are gathered from the soil that includes macronutrients (Begon. 2006). The plants then use these minerals in order to produce products that they will need for phtosynthesis that will create their food that the consumers will get and it will go back again to the soil and the cycle goes again and again. This cycle can also be affected by external factors, which on this experiment is the availability of the resource and the interaction of organisms to their environment. It goes that if there are plenty of resources for an organism to use, their tendency is to reproduce at a fast rate and use up as much as they can of the resource available. However if the resource is too limited, the rate of reproduction would slow up and they will save as much as they can of the available resource in order for them to have something to use for the future. Resource however is limited that it can not be use unlimitedly. Therfore competion for such resource is necessary in oreder for organisms to survive and this is called competition. Competition occurs when populations of different organisms compete for the same resource as defined by Cambell . 2009.

Literature Cited Beagon, M., Townsend, C., and Harper, J. . 2006. Ecology: From Individuals to Ecosystems. 4th Edition. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing, p. 227 Campbell, N. , Reece, J., Taylor, M., and Simon, E.. 2009. Biology: Concepts and Connections, 6th Edition. Pearson Education, Inc. pp. 742, 682 & 726-727 Curtis, N. . 2000. Chemicals and soils: a plant nutrition. Victoria University. pp. 1-3