Costal Sage Ecosystem
The coastal sage scrub ecosystem that we researched in is a community of soft chaparral plants, which evolved either from trees or herbs in dry climates most similar to that of a Mediterranean shrub land. The climate has hot, dry summers with at least one month of protracted drought and cool, moist winters. The moisture is kept deep in the soil where the shrub obtain its most of its nutrients from compared to the shoot. Vegetation in this area gives its adaptation s to fire and to low about of nutrients in the soil. This system consists of plants mostly deciduous and rarely evergreen plants with multiply woody stems that measure at a height from 4.5 to 8 m high and the diversity of organisms are quite low. The shrubs in this type of environment has many advantages and its' success is dependent on their ability to compete for nutrients, energy, and space. They have structural modifications to improve light interception, heat dissipation, and evaporation. They also have features that gives them a competitive advantage over trees and grasses because shrubs are perennial plants, which needs fewer nutrients aboveground and more through their roots. Population of shrubs is greater than that of herbs becaus
In 10 grams of soil sampled in the coastal sage community, the average percent of water contained in 10 grams is around 3.23%. From the dry soil, the amount of organic content was 2.22% in 10 grams of wet soil. The amount of organic content is important for the amount of nutrients in the soil. Next, we sampled about 100 grams of soil to determine the different amount of soil particles. There is about .94% of coarse gravel/sand, 2.04% of medium sand, 77.57% of very fine sand/silt, 17.02% silt/clay, and 2.89% of clay. The soil texture just tested explains how well the soil support the plant. We then tested for the pH in the soil and our average pH was 6.87, which is relatively neutral. Next, we tested for the soil inorganics, nitrogen and phosphorus, which are important nutrients for plants to grow and reproduce. Nitrogen and phosphorus are important elements in making proteins. There are low amount of nitrogen and phosphorus tested, which means that the soil in this environment lacks these important nutrients. e herbs in the coastal sage evolved to let their seeds lie dormant in the soil until they are released by means of fire. This area is highly flammable with many ground litter and are heavy seeder in which many species require the heat and scarring action of fire to induce germination. After the fire, the dormant seeds are germinated and grow into an aboveground plant as a source of food for grazers. There are many abiotic differences in the coastal sage community compared to that of a desert on a sunny day. For temperature readings of maximu
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1058
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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