Day 3- Competition



Dear Blog,


This is Day 3 of my travel blog.  Today during my journey around the desert I spotted four different sets of species competing against each other for some sort of prize.  It seemed as if these species were competing for resources.  The first competition I noticed was between the desert coyote and the sidewinder rattlesnake species.  Both animals were fighting over food such as the pocket mouse.  They were also fighting over water, since water is very scarce in the desert.  This specific scenario exemplifies interspecific competition, which occurs when members of different species occupy the same niche and have to compete for their needed recourse or materials.

Related image
Desert Coyote 

Image result for sidewinder rattlesnake
Sidewinder Rattlesnake eating Pocket Mouse 


Image result for pocket mouse in the desert
Desert Pocket Mouse 

The second species competition was the red tail hawk verses the diamondback rattlesnake.  Both animals fight to the death for food in order to survive. This competition is also considered to be an example of interspecific competition.

Image result for diamondback rattlesnake
Diamondback Rattlesnake 

Image result for red tail hawk
Red Tail Hawk


A third example of competition between species that I spotted was the sarothrae plant verses the confertifolia plant. Although these two could not physically fight, both plants competed in other aspects.  For example, if rain were to come down suddenly, the water pulse causes the confertifolia plant to grow larger and stronger than the sarothrae, making it able to outlive and survive longer than the sarothrae plant. This shows that the confertifolia plant is better fit to survive in the water-scarce biome that is the desert.  This is also an example of interspecific competition.

Image result for sarothrae plant
Sarothrae Plant 
 
Image result for confertifolia plant
Confertifolia Plant 


Finally, one last example of competition involves cacti.  Water is scarce in the desert, so cactus plants do not grow very close together.  Their roots stretch out from under the soil, and they absorb the largest amount of water possible.  These roots of the cactus plants compete for space below the ground, since space is needed for them to obtain water.  Unlike the other three examples of competition, this example shows an intraspecific relationship because cacti of the same species have to compete for space and water.  However, cacti can also compete with other species for these necessities, and this would be called interspecific competition.
Image result for cacti
Cacti 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Works Cited

Image
Hello Blog! For the last time, sadly... 😥 Throughout my travels in the desert, I learned so much about the biome’s summer and winter climate, competition that occurs in the desert, different symbiotic relationships, limiting factors, animals and plants of the desert along with useful adaptations, human impacts on the desert, the water cycle, the nitrogen cycle, and I got to study a food web and energy pyramid!  I hope you learned about all of these aspects of the desert biome also and found these facts interesting and useful.  If you would like to research some of these things even more, here are the sources that I used when furthering my knowledge about organisms and different things that I saw while traveling the desert.  I’m going to miss the desert, but tune back to my blog when I travel to my next biome.  Next up is the rainforest! Citations:    “Desert Biome: Climate, Precipitation, Location, Seasons, Plants, Animals.”  Earth Eclipse , ...
Read more

Day 5 🌵-Plants & Adaptations

Image
Hey blog,  Today was my 5th day in the desert. My tour guide took me to see the plants of the desert. I was surprised to see this plant life because I thought the desert was too hot to support life. The first plant I saw was a cactus.  This cactus was 10 feet and 100 years old but I learned that cacti can grow up to 20 feet two and live for over 200 years! The type of cactus I saw was a Giant Saguaro cactus, which has adapted to the harsh conditions of the desert biome. It’s shallow roots enable this type of cactus to soak up rain and dew before it evaporates, which is helpful because the evaporation typically overtakes precipitation in the desert. The cacti in the desert also have a spongy interior which allows them to expand and hold a lot of water. I also learned that cacti grow slowly to conserve energy. Cacti in the desert  My tour guide also took me to see the Mugma Trees. The Mugma Tree is another plant that has adapted to live in the desert ...
Read more

Day 8- Food Web and Energy Pyramid

Image
Day 8      Today I learned about a general food web of the desert biome.   I was able to also see some of these animals in action and I noticed there were cacti almost everywhere.  The primary producers include cacti, creosote bushes, thorn acacias, annual flowers, rabbit brush, ocotillo, and the sage brush.  The primary consumers, or plant eaters, are insects, rodents, kangaroo rats, and lizards.  The small predators, carnivores, and insectivores in the desert include scorpions, larger lizards, snakes, and tarantulas.  Finally, the largest predators of the desert are the hawks and foxes.  I posted a picture of the desert food web below.  Food Web in the Desert Biome  I also have a picture of an energy and biomass pyramid of a desert.  The producers include the Whisk Fern, Mesquite Tree, and the Saguaro Cactus.  Some primary consumers include the Mule Deer, Black-Tailed Jackrabbit, Turkey Vulture, and Giant Des...
Read more