BIL 330 Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Intertidal Zone, Resource Consumption, Limiting Factor
Document Summary
Resource: anything an organism consumes or uses that causes an increase in population growth rate when it becomes more available. Ecological factors that cannot be consumed (e. g. , temperature) are not considered resources. Resources for plants can include sunlight, water, and soil nutrients. Resources for animals can include food, water, and space. Mussels and barnacles in the intertidal zone compete for space on rocks. As space decreases, the growth and fecundity of adults declines. Renewable resources: resources that are constantly regenerated (e. g. , seeds, sunlight). In contrast, competitors can affect the supply of resources and demand for resources that originate within the ecosystem. Leibig"s law of the minimum: law stating that a population increases until the supply of the most limiting resource prevents it from increasing further. Silica is a limiting resource for diatoms, such as asterionella formosa and. The two species have different demands of this limiting resource. Asterionella populations reach carrying capacity when they draw silica down to 1 m.
