SSI3013

INFORMATION AND
COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
IN SCIENCES

Assignment: Program Base Learning

By,

NOOR FATIHAH BINTI MOHD GHANI (D20151070982)

NUR AZIERA BINTI ZULKIFLI (D20151070994)

NUR DINI SIDDIQAH BINTI MOHD ZURI (D20151070983)

Lectures Name: AZMI BIN IBRAHIM

Slot: Monday (2.00 4.00PM)

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1.0 CONTENT

BIL CONTENT PAGE

1 Intoduction 1
2 What is Competition 14
3 Advantages of Competition 46
4 Engage 6
5 Enpower 68
6 Enhance 8 12
7 references 13

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2.0 INTRODUCTION

Whether you look at plants, wild animals or humans, you will find that the worlds resources
are limited. This leads to a natural phenomenon: competition. Though much of the
competition biology teachers discuss is interspecific competition - competition between
different species while competition within species, called intraspecific competition and is also
an important driver of organisms' behavior. Many different types of competition between
members of the same species exist. Their differences often slight, these types of competition
explain themselves better through example. The prefix intra means within. Scientists
label competition between organisms of the same species as intraspecific competition. Such
competition is almost always present in a species, but is more prevalent and obvious under
certain situations. According to Richard Lockshin, a cellular biologist at St. Johns University
and author of the book, The Joy of Science: An Examination of How Scientists Ask and
Answer Questions Using the Story of Evolution as a Paradigm, when a species population
grows significantly larger, when resources decline or when a group of organisms begins to
pack together closely in a tight space, intraspecific competition intensifies. The overall
principle driving intraspecific competition is the struggle to obtain the limited resources in an
environment.

In the natural environment, competition between organisms plays an important role in ecology
and evolution, and this could not be more important for organisms of the same species.
Known as intraspecific competition, organisms of the same species compete for a variety of
reasons, including a lack of food resources. This type of competition serves to limit a species'
population and there by ensure its sustainability and survival.

3.0 WHAT IS COMPETITION

Competition is a biological interaction among organisms of the same or different species

associated with the need for a common resource that occurs in a limited supply relative to
demand. In other words, competition occurs when the capability of the environment to supply
resources is smaller than the potential biological requirement so that organisms interfere with
each other. Plants, for example, often compete for access to a limited supply of nutrients,
water, sunlight, and space.

Intraspecific competition occurs when individuals of the same species vie for access to
essential resources, while interspecific competition occurs between different species. Stresses
associated with competition are said to be symmetric if they involve organisms of similar size
and/or abilities to utilize resources. Competition is asymmetric when there are substantial
differences in these abilities, as occurs in the case of large trees interacting with plants of a
forest understory.

Individuals of the same species have virtually identical resource requirements. Therefore,
whenever populations of a species are crowded, intraspecific competition is intense.
Intraspecific competition in dense populations results in a process known as self-thinning,

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which is characterized by mortality of less-capable individuals and relative success by more-
competitive individuals. In such situations, intraspecific competition is an important regulator
of population size. Moreover, because individual organisms vary in their reproductive
success, intraspecific competition can be a selective factor in evolution.

Interspecific competition can also be intense if individuals of the various species are crowded
and have similar requirements of resources. One ecological theory, known as the competitive
exclusion principle, states that species with ecologically identical life styles and resource
needs cannot coexist over the longer term; the competitively less-fit species will be displaced
by the better fit species. Although it is debatable that different species could have identical
ecological requirements, it is not difficult to comprehend that intense competition must occur
among similar species living in the same, resource-limited habitat. In such situations,
interspecific competition must be important in structuring ecological communities and as an
agent of natural selection.

The term competitive release refers to a situation in which an organism or species is relieved
of the stresses associated with competition allowing it to become more successful and
dominant in its habitat. For example, by the early 1950s the American chestnut ( Castanea
dentata) had been eliminated as a dominant canopy species in deciduous forests of eastern
North America by the accidental introduction of a fungal pathogen known as chestnut blight
(Endothia parasitica). Other tree species took advantage of their sudden release from
competition with the chestnut by opportunistically filling in the canopy gaps that were left by
the demise of mature chestnut trees. Similarly, competitively suppressed plants may be
released when a mature forest is disturbed, for example, by wildfire, a windstorm, or
harvesting by humans. If the disturbance kills many of the trees that formed the forest canopy
but previously suppressed plants survive, then these understory plants will gain access to an
abundance of environmental resources such as light, moisture, and nutrients, and they will be
able to grow relatively freely.

Competitive displacement is said to occur when a more competitive species causes another to
utilize a distinctly sub-optimal habitat. A number of interesting cases of competitive
displacement have been described by ecologists, many involving interactions of plant species.
In eastern North America, for example, the natural habitat utilized by the silver maple tree
(Acer saccharinum) is almost entirely restricted to forested wetlands, or swamps. However,
the silver maple is more productive of biomass and fruits if it grows on well-drained, upland
sites, and for this reason it is commonly cultivated in cities and towns. In spite of this habitat
preference, the silver maple does not occur in the natural forest community of well drained
sites. It appears that the silver maple is not sufficiently competitive to cooccur in well-drained
sites with more vigorous tree species such as the sugar maple (Acer saccharum), basswood
(Tilia americana), or the red oak (Quercus rubra). Consequently, the silver maple is displaced
to swamps, a distinctly sub-optimal habitat in which there is frequent physiological stress
associated with flooding.

Over long periods of time, competitive displacement may lead to evolutionary changes. This
happens as species displaced to marginal environments evolve to become better adapted to

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those conditions, and they may eventually become new species. Competitive displacement is
believed to be the primary force leading to the evolution of species swarms on isolated islands
such as those of fruit flies (Drosophila spp.) and honeycreepers (Drepaniidae) on the
Hawaiian Islands and Darwin's finches (Geospizinae) on the Galapagos Islands.

In the cases of the honeycreepers and Darwin's finches, the islands are believed to have been
colonized by a few individuals of a species of finch. These founders then developed a large
population which saturated the carrying capacity of the common habitats so that intraspecific
competition became intense. Some individuals that were less competitive in the usual means
of habitat exploitation were relegated to marginal habitats or to unusual means of exploiting
resources within a common habitat. Natural selection would have favored genetically based
adaptations that allowed a more efficient exploitation of the marginal habitats or lifestyles of
the populations of displaced birds, leading to evolutionary changes. Eventually, a condition of
reproductive isolation would have developed, and a new species would have evolved from the
founder population. Competitive displacements among species of finches could then have
further elaborated the species swarms. The various species of Darwin's finches and Hawaiian
honeycreepers are mostly distinguished on the basis of differences in the size and shape of
their bills and on behavioral differences associated with feeding styles.

It must be understood that not all environments are resource limited, and in such situations
competition is not a very important process. There are two generic types of non-competitive
environmentsrecently disturbed and environmentally stressed. In habitats that have recently
been subjected to a catastrophic disturbance, the populations and biomass of organisms is
relatively small, and the biological demand for resources is correspondingly not very intense.
Species that are specialized to take advantage of the resource-rich and competition-free
conditions of recent disturbances are known as ruderals. These species are adapted to rapidly
colonizing disturbed sites where they can grow freely and are highly fecund. However, within
several years the ruderals are usually reduced in abundance or eliminated from the community
by slower growing, but more competitive species that eventually take over the site and its
resources and dominate later successional stages.

Some habitats are subject to intense environmental stress such as physical stress associated
with climate or toxic stress associated with nutrient deficiency or pollution. Because of the
severe intensity of environmental stress in such habitats, the productivity of organisms is
highly constrained, and there is little competition for resources. The arctic tundra, for
example, is an ecosystem that is highly stressed by climate. If the density of individual plants
of the tundra is experimentally decreased by thinning, the residual plants do not grow better
because their productivity was not constrained by competition. However, the intensity of
environmental stress can be experimentally alleviated by enclosing an area of tundra in a
greenhouse and by fertilizing with nutrients. In such a situation, competition among arctic
plants can become a significant ecological interaction, and this change can be experimentally
demonstrated.

Because the effects of competition can be profound and are nearly always measurable in at
least some parameter, the processes surrounding and affecting competition, as well as the

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environmental forces affected or shaped by competition, are an active area for research by
ecologists. Competition is believed to have a strong result on, for example, the process of
speciation. Speciation is the formation of two distinct species from a single one over time.
Therefore, ecologists might compare the divergence of genetic characteristics between
organisms in an area with high levels of intraspecific competition for a limiting resource
versus those that are not.

Similarly, competition as a major force that structures communities of organisms within

ecosystems is a major area or research. The relative abundances of different organisms in a
community, for example, is determined in part on the levels of competition for resources
found in their habitat. Diversity, another very popular topic of active research in ecology, also
deals with competition. Competitive interactions are believed to increase the amount of
diversity in an environment. In other words, the number of species present in a given
ecosystem increases in areas with increased competition. The current global biodiversity
project, which is attempting to catalog all of the species found on Earth, has helped to
establish the link between diversity and competition.

4.0 ADVANTAGES OF COMPETITION

In Global Forest Ecosystems.

Characteristic plant traits dictate which trees will prevail in the competition for resources in a
location. Life is not easy for the trees in a forest: To avoid being edged out by other trees, they
must prevail in the struggle for resources. Ultimately, the successful trees are those whose
traits are best suited to their location. Now discovered how three characteristic traits wood
density, maximum height and specific leaf area decide which trees will emerge victorious in
the competition between neighbouring individuals. Surprisingly, these correlations are
consistently applicable throughout the world. Moreover, it emerged from the study that the
competition between trees of the same species is always more intensive than that between
trees of different species. Almost one-third of the Earths land surface from the polar circles
to the tropics is under forest cover. The forests accommodate an astonishing variety of tree
species with equally wide-ranging forms and strategies. In the tropics alone, mixtures
comprising up to 53,000 different tree species are found in the same ecosystems.

Ecologists have long been seeking a general approach that would enable them to predict
which of the tens of thousands of tree species that exist in the world can grow next to each
other, which ones compete with each other and which will prevail in the competition for
survival. This depends on how well individual trees grow and, ultimately, which species can
stand their ground in the forest.

Species with greater wood density can well tolerate their neighbours.

Focusing on taxonomic species as was the standard approach adopted up to now, the
researchers identified such globally valid rules by comparing the functional traits of the
species with each other. In an analysis of all of the Earths forest ecosystems, the researchers

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discovered how the competition between the trees is affected by three traits: wood density,
specific leaf area and maximum height. These traits were examined in detail in the study. It
was already known that they have a similar influence on the physiological functions of
individual plants all over the world.

it is not only important that the trees in a location are as diverse as possible so that they can
survive alongside each other, they must also differ from each other in respect of one or more
of the three traits. These traits also provide a good indication of which species are most
resilient to competition. For example, species with a high wood density appear to be
particularly tolerant to their competing neighbours and this enables them to prevail in the long
term. In contrast, trees with lower wood density grow faster, and for this reason lead the field
in the early stages of the competition at least, when trees colonize new area.

Competitive pressure is greatest between trees of the same species

However, a tree must not outperform its neighbours in relation to all traits to be a successful
competitor. For example, the native beech tends to grow rather slowly and does not reach a
particularly impressive height; it has, however, a high wood density and shade-tolerance,
which gives it a major advantage in the ecological competition during the second phase of
forest colonization after around 50-100 years. With its traits, it comes very close to a
combination identified by the study as being very successful in the long-term competition for
survival in global forests. Therefore, from a long-term perspective, shade-tolerant high-
growing trees with medium to high wood density enjoy competitive advantages all over the
world.

It also emerged from the study that the competitive pressure within one and the same species
is always greater than that between trees of different species. This is also rather obvious, as
trees from the same species have more or less identical traits. They thus occupy the same
ecological niche and compete for the same resources in a location. The fact that one of two
trees will ultimately prevail is above all due to the fact that even trees of the same species will
not have identical locations and traits. Experts refer here to intra-species variability, which can
have advantages for individual trees when it comes to obtaining the resources they need.

Furthermore, the fact that the role played by chance in the ecological competition is far from
insignificant, should not be forgotten here irrespective of whether the competitors are from
the same species or not. For example, plants can be damaged by disease or wild animals and
this impairs their chances of survival in the battle with their competitors.

More accurate climate forecasting thanks to more detailed vegetation models.

Competition in forests, almost 40 scientists from all over the world collated the results of
national forest inventories and monitoring data from test sites containing a total of three
million trees representing over 2,500 species from over 140,000 locations. The comparison of
functional traits can also provide information about which tree species can survive together in
a location. Based on this study, for example, forest managers can improve their planning of
tree species mixtures. Given the need to estimate the impacts of climate change on forest

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ecosystems and vice versa, there is a greater demand now for predictions regarding the
composition of plant communities and the competition between the species they contain. The
studys findings can be incorporated into vegetation models and therefore also in Earth system
models which take the influence of climate on vegetation into account and vice versa. In this
way, they can contribute to improving the forecasting of changes in the climate over the next
century.

5.0 ENGAGE

In the forest, we can see many different of trees with different species and growthWhy DO
THE TREES IN FOREST has different height?? Explain.

-Trees in forest has different height because of sunlight . How much them get energy from the
sunlight to do process respiration an transpiration.

6.0 EMPOWER (EXPERIMENT)

Title: Competition in plant

Objective: To determine competition between plants.

Hypothesis: More sunlight they get for transpiration and respiration so increasing of plants
height and quality of their life.

Method:

1. Use six pots with 15cm diameters.

2. Fill three-fourths of the way with potting soil and those soils needed to be pre-wet for
each of the pots.
3. After filling the soil into all six pots, apply seeds to the soil evenly across the area of
the pot.
4. Bury the seeds of different plant species into the soil in the following manner:
i. One pot with 100% of Amaranthus retroflexus seeds in which 30 seeds were
applied. Repeat a second time to another pot.
ii. One pot with 100% of Glycine max seeds, meanwhile only 10 seeds were
applied. Similarly, repeat a second time to another pot.
iii. One pot mixed with 100% of Amaranthus retroflexus seeds (30 seeds) and 100%
of Glycine max seeds (10 seeds)
iv. One pot mixed with 50% of Amaranthus retroflexus seeds (15 seeds) and 50% of
Glycine max seeds (5 seeds)

Note: To make sure that there is good seed to soil contact, bury the seeds into soil by hand and
a small amount of soil was added on top.

5. Labeled all of the pots properly so that the result would not be mixed up.

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 6. Place these pots in the greenhouse, which an optimum condition are provided for the
plant to grow.
7. The optimum temperature in the greenhouse is between 15oC to 18oC.
8. Every other week,
i. total number of plants emerged from both species
ii. height of 5 random plants of both species
iii. number of leaves of 5 random plants of both species were counted and recorded.
On the six week plant in each pots need to be pruned.
9. Half of the numbers of plant for both species were cut off in order to provide more
space for the growth of other plants and compete with each other. Harvert and analysis
all plant material.
10. For both species in each pot, count the number of plant,measure their height , count
the number of leaf, and detemine the dry weight.
11. Record the all data and analysis of the data by using Microsoft Excel.

Result:

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Conclusion:

Results from merging the dry weight of both Amaranthus retroflexus and Glycine max
indicated that the total measurement of dry weight did not have a great amount of changes.
Besides, the visual image that presented the difference in the values of the slopes for each
different percentage of Amaranthus retroflexus. The regression line that represents the total of
Amaranthus retroflexus and Glycine max was least inclined compare with the other two
slopes. The connection values obtained showed a strong relationship between percentage of
Amaranthus retroflexus and total dry weight.

7.0 ENHANCE (Growth Of Cell Cancer)

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Cancer cells are cells gone wrong in other words, they no longer respond to many of the
signals that control cellular growth and death. Cancer cells originate within tissues and, as
they grow and divide, they diverge ever further from normalcy. Over time, these cells become
increasingly resistant to the controls that maintain normal tissue and as a result, they divide
more rapidly than their progenitors and become less dependent on signals from other cells.
Cancer cells even evade programmed cell death, despite the fact that their multiple
abnormalities would normally make them prime targets for apoptosis. In the late stages of
cancer, cells break through normal tissue boundaries and metastasize (spread) to new sites in
the body.

How Do Cancer Cells Differ from Normal Cells?

In normal cells, hundreds of genes intricately control the process of cell division. Normal
growth requires a balance between the activity of those genes that promote cell proliferation
and those that suppress it. It also relies on the activities of genes that signal when damaged
cells should undergo apoptosis.

Cells become cancerous after mutations accumulate in the various genes that control cell
proliferation. According to research findings from the Cancer Genome Project, most cancer
cells possess 60 or more mutations. The challenge for medical researchers is to identify which
of these mutations are responsible for particular kinds of cancer. This process is akin to
searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack, because many of the mutations present in
these cells have little to nothing to do with cancer growth.

Different kinds of cancers have different mutational signatures. However, scientific

comparison of multiple tumor types has revealed that certain genes are mutated in cancer cells
more often than others. For instance, growth-promoting genes, such as the gene for the
signaling protein Ras, are among those most commonly mutated in cancer cells, becoming

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super-active and producing cells that are too strongly stimulated by growth receptors. Some
chemotherapy drugs work to counteract these mutations by blocking the action of growth-
signaling proteins. The breast cancer drug Herceptin, for example, blocks overactive receptor
tyrosine kinases (RTKs), and the drug Gleevec blocks a mutant signaling kinase associated
with chronic myelogenous leukemia.

Other cancer-related mutations inactivate the genes that suppress cell proliferation or those
that signal the need for apoptosis. These genes, known as tumor suppressor genes, normally
function like brakes on proliferation, and both copies within a cell must be mutated in order
for uncontrolled division to occur. For example, many cancer cells carry two mutant copies of
the gene that codes for p53, a multifunctional protein that normally senses DNA damage and
acts as a transcription factor for checkpoint control genes.

How Do Cancerous Changes Arise?

Gene mutations accumulate over time as a result of independent events. Consequently, the
path to cancer involves multiple steps. In fact, many scientists view the progression of cancer
as a microevolutionary process.

Figure 1: Microevolution of a cancer cell

A series of mutations in a cell causes it to proliferate more than its immediate neighbors. As
the cluster of dividing cells grows over time, further mutations turn atypical hyperplasia into a
cancer (carcinoma). The spreading of cancer cells to other tissues and organs (metastasis)
occurs when the adhesion of these cancerous cells breaks down, and they are able to travel
easily to new locations.
2010 Nature Education All rights reserved.

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 Figure 2

To understand what this means, consider the following: When a mutation gives a cancer cell a
growth advantage, it can make more copies of itself than a normal cell can and its offspring
can out perform their noncancerous counter parts in the competition for resources. Later, a
second mutation might provide the cancer cell with yet another reproductive advantage, which
in turn intensifies its competitive advantage even more. And, if key check points are missed or
repair genes are damaged, then the rate of damage accumulation increases still further. This
process continues with every new mutation that offers such benefits, and it is a driving force
in the evolution of living things not just cancer cells (Figure 1, Figure 2).

How Do Cancer Cells Spread to Other Tissues?

During the early stages of cancer, tumors are typically benign and remain confined within the
normal boundaries of a tissue. As tumors grow and become malignant, however, they gain
the ability to break through these boundaries and invade adjoining tissues.

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 Figure 3

Invasive cancer cells often secrete proteases that enable them to degrade the extracellular
matrix at a tissue's boundary. Proteases also give cancer cells the ability to create new passage
ways in tissues. For example, they can break down the junctions that join cells together,
thereby gaining access to new territories.

Metastasis - literally meaning "new place" is one of the terminal stages of cancer. In this
stage, cancerous cells enter the bloodstream or the lymphatic system and travel to a new
location in the body, where they begin to divide and lay the foundation for secondary tumors.
Not all cancer cells can metastasize. In order to spread in this way, the cells must have the
ability to penetrate the normal barriers of the body so that they can both enter and exit the
blood or lymph vessels. Even traveling metastatic cancer cells face challenges when trying to
grow in new areas (Figure 3).

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8.0 REFERENCES

1. Book
Begon, M., J. L. Harper, and C. R. Townsend. Ecology: Individuals,
Populations and Communities. 2nd ed. London: Blackwell Sci. Pub., 1990.
Ricklefs, R. E. Ecology. New York: W. H. Freeman, 1990.
2. Internet
https://www.mpg.de/9924063/competition-global-forest
http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/cell-division-and-cancer-
14046590
https://www.scribd.com/document/330893299/BETTER-SCIENCE-THROUGH-
DATA-LOGGING
http://education.seattlepi.com/examples-competition-between-organisms-
same-species-4346.html

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