Competition Plants, like most life forms, require relatively few basic elements: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur; hence they are known as CHNOPS life forms. There are also lesser elements needed as well, frequently termed micronutrients, such as magnesium and sodium. When plants grow in close proximity, they may deplete supplies of these elements and have a negative impact upon neighbours. Competition for resources vary from
complete symmetric (all individuals receive the same amount of resources, irrespective of their size) to
perfectly size symmetric (all individuals exploit the same amount of resource per unit biomass) to absolutely
size-asymmetric (the largest individuals exploit all the available resource). The degree of size asymmetry has major effects on the structure and diversity of ecological communities. In many cases (perhaps most) the negative effects upon neighbours arise from size asymmetric competition for light. In other cases, there may be competition below ground for water, nitrogen, or phosphorus. To detect and measure competition, experiments are necessary; these experiments require removing neighbours, and measuring responses in the remaining plants. Many such studies are required before useful generalizations can be drawn. Early experimental studies demonstrated that competition between plant species can vary depending on environmental conditions such as soil type, influencing species distribution and community structure. Overall, it appears that light is the most important resource for which plants compete, and the increase in plant height over evolutionary time likely reflects selection for taller plants to better intercept light. Many plant communities are therefore organized into hierarchies based upon the relative competitive abilities for light. Along natural gradients of soil fertility, it is likely that the ratio of above ground to below ground competition changes, with higher above ground competition in the more fertile soils. Plants that are relatively weak competitors may escape in time (by surviving as buried seeds) or in space (by dispersing to a new location away from strong competitors.) In principle, it is possible to examine competition at the level of the limiting resources if a detailed knowledge of the physiological processes of the competing plants is available. However, in most terrestrial ecological studies, there is only little information on the uptake and dynamics of the resources that limit the growth of different plant species, and, instead, competition is inferred from observed negative effects of neighbouring plants without knowing precisely which resources the plants were competing for. In certain situations, plants may compete for a single growth-limiting resource, perhaps for light in agricultural systems with sufficient water and nutrients, or in dense stands of marsh vegetation, but in many natural
ecosystems plants may be colimited by several resources, e.g.
light,
phosphorus and
nitrogen at the same time. Therefore, there are many details that remain to be uncovered, particularly the kinds of competition that arise in natural plant communities, the specific resource(s), the relative importance of different resources, and the role of other factors like stress or disturbance in regulating the importance of competition.
Mutualism Mutualism is defined as an interaction "between two species or individuals that is beneficial to both". Probably the most widespread example in plants is the mutual beneficial relationship between plants and fungi, known as
mycorrhizae. The plant is assisted with nutrient uptake (mainly phosphate), while the fungus receives carbohydrates. Some the earliest known fossil plants even have fossil mycorrhizae on their rhizomes. In general, facilitation is more likely to occur in physically stressful environments than in favorable environments, where competition may be the most important interaction among species.
Commensalism is similar to facilitation, in that one plant is mostly exploiting another. A familiar example is the epiphytes which grow on branches of tropical trees, or even mosses which grow on trees in
deciduous forests. It is important to keep track of the benefits received by each species to determine the appropriate term. Although people are often fascinated by unusual examples, it is important to remember that in plants, the main mutualisms are mycorrhizae, pollination, and seed dispersal. Parasitic plants attach themselves to host plants via a
haustoria to the xylem and/or phloem. Many parasitic plants are generalists and are able to attack multiple hosts at the same time, greatly affecting community structures. Host species' growth, reproduction, and metabolism are affected by the parasite due to the nutrients, water, and carbon being taken by the parasite.
Commensalism Commensalism refers to the biological interaction between two species in which one benefits while the other simply remains unaffected. The species that benefits is referred to as the commensal while the species that is unaffected is referred to as the host. For example, organisms that live attached to plants, known as epiphytes, are referred to as commensals. Algae that grow on the backs of turtles or sloths are considered as commensals, too. Their survival rate is higher when they are attached to their host, however they do not harm nor benefit the host. Nearly 10% of all vascular plant species around the world are epiphytes, and most of them are found in tropical forests. Therefore, they make up a large fraction of the total plant biodiversity in the world, being 10% of all species, and 25% of all vascular plant species in tropical countries. However, commensals have the capability to transform into parasites over time by which results in a decrease in success or an overall population decline. in the bottom of the
food web. A large number of plant traits, from thorns to chemical defenses, can be related to the intensity of herbivory. Large herbivores can also have many effects on vegetation. These include removing selected species, creating gaps for regeneration of new individuals, recycling nutrients, and dispersing seeds. Certain ecosystem types, such as grasslands, may be dominated by the effects of large herbivores, although fire is also an equally important factor in this biome. In few cases, herbivores are capable of nearly removing all the vegetation at a site (for example, geese in the Hudson Bay Lowlands of Canada, and nutria in the marshes of Louisiana) but normally herbivores have a more selective impact, particularly when large predators control the abundance of herbivores. Another example is
white-tailed deer in Canadian forests, where high browsing pressure has been shown to limit forest regeneration and alter plant community composition by reducing that recruitment of tree seedlings and sapling. The usual method of studying the effects of herbivores is to build exclosures, where they cannot feed, and compare the plant communities in the exclosures to those outside over many years. Often such long term experiments show that herbivores have a significant effect upon the species that make up the plant community. ==Other topics==