Life in Forest vs. the Life in Grassland Ecosystems, by Sina

            On September 23^rd 2011 we visited Nose hill National Park of Calgary on a fairly hot sunny day.  Two major ecosystems present in the park of were the grassland ecosystem observed by Yuchen Tang and Justin Lin, and the forest ecosystem observed and analyzed by Pranav Ambhorkar and Sina Dolati. The 10.0 metres by 1.00 metre forest transect that that we analyzed was located on a hill with increasing elevation. The elevation at the right corner of the most  downhill most point of the forest transect was 1281 metres; the latitude was 51^o 6.799 minutes W, and the longitude was 114^o 7.61 minutes W and was located 70^o clockwise from North (downhill). The 10.0 metres by 1.00 metre grassland transect that that Yuchen and Justin analyzed was also located on a hill with increasing elevation The elevation at the right corner of the most downhill point of the grassland transect was 12001 metres the latitude was 51^o 6.815 minutes N. Longitude 114^o 7.716 minutes. The conclusions we made are based on the plant samples, bug samples and other observation that we made in Nose Hill Park.

Grasslands are normally used for grazing cattle, farming and cultivating crops due the vast concentrated quantity of grass and wheat; whereas wood in the forests is the main valuable resource which is gathered by cutting down trees. Forests are complex ecosystems of multiple levels wherein there is lots of biodiversity whereas grasslands seem to be simpler ecosystems with less biodiversity. The overall humidity is higher in forests and the overall wind penetration is higher in grasslands. The soils of both ecosystems are different in ways that can support the plant life that are present in the ecosystem.

The forest ecosystem is dense, full of plants and shrubs, however the soil found in forests is not very fertile. Even though forests are full of plant life, forests also have high precipitation rates. These high precipitation rates have led to the nutrients in the soil getting washed away. Trees depend on soil for; stability, nutrients, and water. Most nutrient cycling takes place in the top two feet of soil where supplies of air, water and food allow microorganisms to thrive. These include bacteria, fungi and algae. These microorganisms work in conjunction with insects and burrowing animals to break down dead or dying plant and animal life. In the process they release carbon dioxide into the air and nutrients into the soil. A good soil is a living body made up of inorganic material, decaying organic matter, water, air and billions of organisms. Some organisms such as earthworms form partnerships with tree roots helping them to extract nutrients from the soil. Others are important in breaking down organic matter and cycling nutrients, making them available to the next generation of plants and animals. Precipitation in Calgary is especially high in Calgary, making Calgary one of the major Canadian cities with the highest precipitation.  As our transect was located at the bottom of the hill, the rain water running off trees gets trapped in the soil like a sponge where it is retained for trees and plants as a water source with nutrients running off from all around the hill.

The soil Yuchen and Justin found in the grassland was deep and dark.  The upper layers are the most fertile because of the build-up of many layers of dead branching stems and roots.  These organic matters on the surface and in the dead roots provide a great degree of nourishment for the living plants. The rainfall in Calgary is fairly high and considering that the topography of the grassland ecosystem was relatively flat to the forest ecosystem, this would mean that there will be less run off of nutrients from the soil therefore the soil found at the Nose Hill Park’s grassland ecosystem is very fertile.  Also In grasslands, soil leaching is very low due to the scarcity of percolating water and due to low solubility of the minerals in basic solutions and the slowness of their release from humus. The pH of the soil in the grassland ecosystem of nose-hill will be lower due to a relatively plain topography and therefore less run off of acid that comes with acid rains.

            In the 10.0 m x 1.00 m grassland sector, Yuchen and Justin found tens and tens of bugs of various species such as weevils, root flies and lygus bugs. In our forest sector, we found a ladybug, and a very few species of spiders. The Grassland area contained a high concentration of tall grass, and the bugs hiding under the layers were not visible to us until the grass was swept.  The grass and branches in the forest sector had more air space between them. Concentrated grass areas are good hiding places for the insects since the grass easily hides them from threats of predators. The lack of light in the bottom layers also makes locating the bugs harder for the predators. This also explains the abundance of insects in the area. However, in the forest ecosystem that we observed, we barely found any insects. This is due to the low concentration of the plant life. More light and air space between the plants makes the insects more visible and therefore more vulnerable to the predators. (insert pic 5 and 6 here) We found a species of spider that had produced spider webs in a depression on a tree trunk in our sector. While this tree branch provides the space for the spider to live, the depression allows the spider to hide from the sight of possible predators. (insert pic 2 and 3 here)

 We observed a few plants that had spikey branches. These types of plants have adapted to this in order to be equipped with a defense mechanism against trespassers that might step on them. These branches also provide more surface area for the plant, that allows the process of photosynthesis to occur more efficiently.

            There is more variety in the species of plants found in the grasslands area. Other than the tall grasses and golden western wheat, a variety of plants has been found by Yuchen in the grassland area such as bull thistles and astargalus birsolcatus. In the forest ecosystem which we studied, we did not find a large variety of plant species. We found two trees and a high number of green and yellow grasses in low densities. We observed that the high levels of the forest ecosystem which includes the leaves of tall trees blocked most of the sunlight and did not allow much light to enter the lower levels. This is possibly the reason for the low variety of plant species at the lower levels of the forest. (insert pic 4 and 5 here)

            The air temperature at 2 metres above ground in the forest ecosystem that we measured a using a thermometer was 21^o C. According to researchers, leaves in different types of ecosystems with different types of climates such as boreal and subtropical climates can regulate the temperature inside their leaves so that photosynthesis can take place at the most efficient rate possible. They have found that the optimal temperature at which green plants and tree leaves can photosynthesize most efficiently is at 21^o C. The air temperature of 2 metres above ground in the grassland ecosystem measured by Yuchen and Justin was 24^o C. We can see that the higher temperature in the grassland ecosystem does not allow the growth of trees. This is one of the reasons that we can observe trees in forests but not in grasslands.

            We did not find any flowering plants in the forest ecosystem, but a few species were identified in the grassland area. This is most likely because of more winds speed of higher speeds that flows through both the ecosystems. Wind penetration and wind speed vary in both grassland and forest ecosystems at nose hill. Wind is a really important factor that affects pollination in flowering varieties. Pollination is a stage of asexual reproduction in plants .The male sex cell is inside a pollen grain which is on the surface of the stigma. The female sex cell (the ovule) is inside the carpel which is located in a different part of the flower. The male and the female sex cells of these plants need to get together for asexual reproduction. As most plants cannot move this wind is needed to accomplish this task. The wind transfers these pollen grains male that end up on the tip of the female gamete. The pollen tube grows through the stigma, style and into the carpel. Eventually it reaches an ovule and the male and female sex cells meet and fuse together. There is less wind penetrated into the lower levels of the forest ecosystem since the leaves of higher levels in the forest blocks the winds, and decreases the wind speed. Due these dense and congested structures at the center of the forest ecosystem, flowering plants do not grow in the center as the pollen grains are not transported from one place to the other due to low wind levels. However, flowering plant can be found at the edges of forests due to the wind coming from outside of the forest ecosystem which occasionally carries pollen grains from variety of flowering plants. The grassland ecosystem is far more open and thus there is more wind penetration and a higher wind speed in this ecosystem. The flowering plants were mainly found in this ecosystem. These plants normally reproduce through pollination. Grasses like the Rye grass usually have their stamens loosely joined to the filaments and vibrate even in the slightest breeze. They release large quantities of very small and light pollen grains which are easily carried away by the wind. Other flowering plants found in the grassland ecosystem that reproduce through pollination with the help of wind, are the bull whistles and the astargalus birsolcatus. These species of plants also can only reproduce in grasslands that have high wind levels.

            As we can observe, there are many factors that distinguish between a forest and grassland ecosystem that are interestingly only a few meters apart from each other!

References

1. Campbell, N., Reece, J. (2005). Biology. San Francisco: Pearson Benjamin Cummings Publishing.

1. Freeman, S. (2008). Biological Sciences. San Francisco: Pearson Benjamin Cummings Publishing.

3. King M. (2004). Pollination .Mankato, Minnesota: Creative education Ltd.

4.  Richard T., Forman T. (1995).Land mosaics: The ecology of landscapes and regions. Cambridge: Cambridge university press.

5. Rafferty F. (2011).Forest and grasslands. New York: Britannica educational services.

The Plants Affect on the Type and Density of the Animals in Grassland, by Sherry

             Everything on the earth is closely related just like a biological chain. The extinction of any kind of species would affect the balance of the entire biological chain. A slight change can also affect the balance of the ecological system, because almost every live organism interacts with each other in one way or another. In this case, plants have found played a significant role in biological chain and ecological system of the grasslands. Plants are especially significant nowadays in our world because of the greenhouse gases and global warming, world temperature, both of which are getting worse.  Plants are one of the amazing creatures that absorb CO₂ gas and release oxygen gas into the air, in order for animals to use, including ourselves. Therefore, not only do plants have a huge impact on animals, but they interact with millions of different species of animals as well. By using data collected of plants and animals alike, the importance of plants and how they affect and interact with different types, density of animals at Nose Hill can be seen.

Nose Hill Natural Environmental Park is located in a busy and noisy city --- Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The park has an area of 11.27 km² and is a unique natural environmental park, because in a busy city it is hard to find a park like Nose Hill, where citizens can retreat from city to enjoy the beauty of the nature. Nose Hill Park is home to a variety of species such as large mammal, birds, reptiles, plants and insects. The park is the host to three major kinds of ecological biomes including ponds, forests and grassland, among them grassland has the most biodiversity of species. (Picture 1: The overview picture of grassland and forest biome at Nose Hill Park, taken on Sept 22, 2011 by Sherry Lu) We specifically worked in our transect 10m length  x 1m width, which can be found at a latitude of 50 degrees 6.824 min N, and longitude 14 degrees 7.767 min W. The transect was started at angle of 23° NE which was the bottom right corner of out transect. (Picture 2: The bottom corner section view of our transect in grassland biome at Nose Hill Park, taken by Sherry Xu on Sept 22, 2011)  The large diversity of species could be seen through the large numbers of large mammals, insects and plants that were found.

Grassland is a home to many organisms, through the samples and pictures that have been collected and taken of the organisms in grassland biome, three main categories of species have been identified, large mammals, insects and plants. Firstly, the white-tailed deer was present in the grassland, which was the first large mammal we saw. (Picture 3: The white-tailed deer was seeing in the grassland on Sept 22, 2011 at Nose Hill Park. The picture was taken by Tanica Chan.) (Video 1: The white-tailed deer present in the grassland at Nose Hill Park, when we were crossing over the road. The background voice was Dr. Pike’s; he was telling us to look over to see the deer in the grassland. The video was taped on Sept 22, 2011 by Tanica Chan.) Secondly, the most abundant number of insects were found. Samples of these insects were collected and they are include, grasshopper, threecornered alfalfa hopper, seven-spotted ladybird beetle, running crab spider, assassin bug, march flies, unidentified flies and an unidentified spider. Lastly, also the most important one, many plant samples were also collected. The plants that were found including, crested wheat grass, rose hips, sweet grass, switchgrass, silverberry, small-leaved everlasting, snowberry and puccoon seeds. (Picture 4: The fruit of rose hips was found in our transect in the grassland, latitude 50^o6.824 min, longitude 14^o7.767 min and angle at 23^o clockwise N on Sept 22, 2011 at Nose Hill Park. The picture was taken by Sherry Lu.)

The majority of the animals that were found in grassland at Nose Hill Park have a diet that mostly consists of vegetation and plants, which means their major food resources are primary producers. This includes the white-tailed deer, grasshopper and threecomered alfalfa hopper. Therefore, the most common animals found in grassland are primary consumers, in other words they are herbivores. The plants do affect the type of animals. The second most abundant type of animals found were tertiary consumers, which are spiders and flies. This shows that grassland not only provides vegetation for the primary consumers but also the animals in the higher tropic level, because grassland provides enough food resources for tertiary consumer to eat, such as the primary consumers and secondary consumers.

Categories	Animal name	Number of animals collected or found	Characteristics	Diet	Trophic level
Large mammal	Common name:                White-tailed deer Scientific name: Odocoileus virignianus	1	A very obvious white tail, also some white spots on the body, brownish yellow colour fur	Whitetail deer feed on a variety of vegetation, mostly grass and some small herbs	Primary consumer
insect	Common name: grasshopper Scientific name: Chorthippus curtipennis	1	Brownish green colour, large hind legs that help them jump long distances, two sets of wings, with the forewings being slender and the hindwings large, also with large eyes in relation to their head and short antennae	Eat  leaves, flowers, stems and seeds	Primary consumer
	Common name: Threecornered alfalfa hopper Scientific name: Spissistilus festinus	1	Entire body green colour, about 1/4 inch long, 2 wings, actively hop and fly when disturbed	Eat fruit trees, shrubs, herbs, and grasses	Primary consumer
	Common name: seven-spotted ladybird beetle Scientific name: Coccinella septempunctata	1	Have 7 spotted black dots on the red elytra (hard shelled wings on the back of the beetle); three spots on either side and one joined at the center top near the thorax and head region.	Eat aphids and any type of mustard plant as well as other early blooming nectar and pollen sources, like buckwheat, cilantro, legumes like vetches and red or crimson clover	Secondary consumer
	Common name:              Running Crab Spider Scientific name:               Tibellus maritimus	1	the second set of legs are the longest, run sideways and has a distinct long black strip on the back, eight equal-sized eyes, in two curved arcs of four each	Eat all insects, whatever it can hunt down	Tertiary consumer
	Common name:              Assassin Bug Scientific name:                  Zelus renardii	8	Brown in colour, 2 hidden wings, sucking mouthparts to feed, and have long, slender antennae, A short, three-segmented of 4 beaks distinguishes them from other true bugs. Their heads are often tapered behind the eyes.	prey on other small invertebrates	Secondary consumer
	Common name: march flies Scientific name: Plecia sp	2	Brown colour, one pair of functional wings. A pair of modified wings called halteres replace the hindwings	lap juices from fruits, nectar, or fluids exuded from animals	Quanternary consumer
	Common name: flies (unidentified) Scientific name: Diptera	2	Black colour, with one pair of functional wings. A pair of modified wings called halteres replace the hindwings, looks like march fly	Assume it lap juices from fruits, nectar or fluids exuded from animals, because it looks like march fly	Assume it is quanternary consumer, because can’t identify and looks like march fly
	Common name: spider (unidentified) Scientific name: Araneae Order	1	Brownish colour, the size is very small, assume it’s not full grown yet, 4 legs are about the same length	Assume it eat small invertebrates, since spider hunt small insects	Assume it is quanternary consumer, most spider eats insects

Table 1: The animals that were observed on Sept 22, 2011 in the grassland biome at nose hill park

A Soil composition of grasslands in Nose Hill Park, by Lily and Selina

            Nose Hill Park is located in Calgary, AB. Created in 1980, this 11 km squared grassland is one of the few remaining remnants of the high plains which originally covered the area. Over thousands of years, the constant erosion by glaciers shaped this hill. There are valleys and lowlands surrounding the hill, which makes the hill itself stand out in height. There is also other evidence of glacier erosion. There are clusters of rocks and debris carried by the glacier and deposited on the hill. Some of these rocks were once part of Mount Edith Cavell, now in Jasper National Park.

            Later, when European explorers came, they started to farm the land. Large areas of present day Nose Hill were used for agriculture. The increasing of population also affected the land use. However, since citizens started preserving this rare grassland, the native species have slowly come back, resulting in our Nose Hill Park today.

            Nose Hill park is a grassland biome. Grasslands are typically low in precipitation and have moderate temperature variations. Grasses are the dominant plants, although there are some trees that can withstand the dryness. Grasslands also have fertile soil because of the numerous plants that die and decay. This fertile soil is great for growing crops, which is why Nose Hill was used for agriculture.

Figure 1. The picture of the transect we were working on in Nose Hill Park, Calgary, Alberta, taken by Lily Hou. The  

            location of our transect was 51° 6.813 minutes N, and 114° 7.780 minutes W, at an altitude of 1195m.

            Since Nose Hill's fertile soil was used for agriculture, we were interested to see what the soil composition is for the grasslands of Nose Hill now after the native species redeemed it. We also wanted to see how soil composition affected the organisms which inhabited the area.

pH	Ammonia (mg/L)	Nitrate (mg/L)	Phosphate (mg/L)
6.11	0.25	0.00	0.00

Table 1. Soil tests on our sample in the grasslands area of Nose Hill.

Figure 2. A soil core sample taken in the transect we were working in. The temperature of the soil was 19°C, taken at 5cm below the ground. The core sample was taken by Lily Hou and Selina Fan. The soil sample had a length of 22cm. The top layer of the soil was loosely packed and had many roots in it. The lower part of the soil was tightly packed and was very close to a layer rocks. There were less roots in the bottom part than the top.

            First, pH has a large effect on soil. pH is defined as the power of hydrogen. The number of hydrogens determines how acidic or basic a solution is. When the pH is less than 7, it is acidic. When it is at 7, it is neutral, and when it is greater than 7 it is basic. Plants, like other living organisms, have an optimal pH in which they can live in, which is usually around neutral. pH also determines what form nutrients will take when in the soil, and also their availability for plants. It also affects the soil bacteria present in the soil that decomposes dead organic material. The optimum pH for these bacteria are 6.3 to 6.8, while the optimum pH for fungi, mold and anaerobic bacteria are more acidic.

            The availability of nutrients is also affected. Nitrogen is required by plants in a “fixed” form (ammonium NH₄⁺ and nitrates NO₃^-). The bacteria that “fix” the nitrogen into the soil tend to work the fastest in neutral pH, while in more acidic soil it is slower. Nitrogen is most abundant from pH 6.0 to 8.0; once outside that range the quantity decreases. Also, phosphorus (in phosphates) is important to plant growth. This is most abundant when the soil is around pH 9.0, then it decreases as the pH gets more acidic.

pH in soil can be affected by many factors. Precipitate, such as acid rain, could increase the acidity. Also, human impact, such as waste, fertilizer run off, and exhaust from cars could change the pH drastically. Luckily, the area that we studied did not have much human impact because it was away from the trails.

However, the nitrate levels in our soil were at 0.00 mg/L. This might be because its autumn. The cold weather may have slowed the fixing of nitrogen as well. Plants used up all the nitrates available in the soil, and will soon die and release nitrates back to the soil. So, we inferred that the nitrates are stored in the plants.

Phosphate levels were also at 0.00 mg/L. This may also be because the phosphates stored inside plants. Also, since there is little precipitation, phosphates in rocks don’t get washed away to the soil. Nitrates and phosphates are both present in fertilizer, but since our area is not near any human activities, excess nitrates and phosphates are not present in the soil

Ammonia in soil is produced from the decaying of plants and animals. When there’s ammonia in the soil, it means the plants and animals around the location of the soil sample are dying and decomposing. This is a good thing, because the plants growing in that soil will benefit from the ammonia in the soil. Amino acid, which is the building block of proteins, is essential to both plants and animals, and nitrogen is needed to make amino acids. As we all know, there are around 78% nitrogen in the air we breath. However, most living organisms aren’t able to use this nitrogen straight from the air. The nitrogen need to be “fixed” before they can be used by organisms. The nitrogen in the atmosphere can be fixed either by lightning, or bacteria living in the roots of plants. These bacteria combine the nitrogen gas in the atmosphere with hydrogen ions in the soil, and produce NH_3(g), which is ammonia. Ammonia is changed into ammonium from the addition of hydrogen ions in the soil.

Figure 3. A picture taken by Selina Fan of a Canadian Gooseberry plant found in our transect at Nose Hill Park.

            As seen in Figure 1 and Figure 3, there aren’t any tall trees in the area we were. This is because there isn’t enough ammonia in the soil to support tree growth, as trees need a lot of nutrients. The low level of ammonia in the soil means only small plants, such as grass and bushes can grow in the area. Due to the limitation of the producers that can be grown in the area, the organisms found in the area are also limited. Only certain organisms can survive off of these plants. For example, lions can’t survive only on these plants, therefore there aren’t any lions or bigger organisms. We only found small insects, such as grasshoppers, spiders and ladybugs.

Figure 4. The insects we captured in our transect, using the insect capturing net and Ziplock bags.

.           After examining all the chemical properties of the soil sample found in our transect, we discovered that the soil had sufficient nutrient to support small plants, and small organisms. There isn’t much human impact in our transect, because we didn’t find any traces of litter. The low level of excess nutrients in our soil sample suggested the absence of fertilizer application and human impact.

 

References:

http://www.eutechinst.com/tips/ph/15_soil_ph.pdf

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex6607

http://nippyfish.net/bettas-101/all-about-water/ph-ammonia/

Interactions in the Nose Hill pond, by Sarah

     Interactions between organisms occur every time organisms have some sort of come into contact with each other. These interactions can be harmful, beneficial, or inconsequential for one, both, or all of the organisms. Here we will be examining six types of interactions between the organisms present in the nose hill pond.

     Figure 1.  This picture is of the pond, which is located at the southwest corner of Nose Hill. The picture was taken by me on Sept. 22, 2011.

     There are many types of interactions that take place between organisms on the hill. The interactions that will be examined in this blog are: predation, parasitism, mutualism, commensualism, intraspecific competition, and interspecific competition.

First, some definitions:

Predation (the predator/prey relationship): when a predator kills another organism (its prey)   

   for eating.

        Predator: any organism that kills other organisms for food (Freeman, 2008)

        Prey: an organism that is killed and eaten by another organism.

Parasitism: a symbiotic term relationship between two organisms that is beneficial to the                 

   parasite but detrimental to the host (Freeman, 2008)

        Parasite: an organism that lives on or in a host species and that damages its host.

        Host: an individual or species on or in which a parasite lives. (Freeman, 2008).

Mutualism: a symbiotic relationship between two organisms that benefits both (Freeman,       

   2008).

Commensualism: a symbiotic relationship between two organisms where one organism

        benefits and the other organism is not significantly affected.

Intraspecific competition: when two or more organisms of the same species vie for the same

        limited resource.

Interspecific competition: when two or more organisms of different species vie for the same

        limited resource.

Here is a list of the organisms that were identified on Nose Hill

-stagnant pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis

-flatworm Procotyla fluviatilis

-damselfly larvae Agriocnemis femina femina         

-water boatmen Corixidae notorectidae 

-dytisscidae hydaticus (species of predatory water beetle: common name unknown)

-promenetuss umbilicatellus (small species of snail: common name unknown)

-freshwater leech macrobdella decora

-mallard duck anas platyrhynchos

-cattail typha latifolia

-larger duckweed spirodela polyrhiza

-hornwort ceratophyllum demersum

-mares-tail hippuris vulgaris

-Pondweed potamogeton amplifolius

-deer (identified by tracks left in mud)

Other species of birds, smaller than the mallards, were observed flying around the pond and hiding in the cattails; however, these birds were moving too quickly or were too far away for identification. Evidence of nests, in the form of small, condensed pieces of material, were also found.

       Each of these organisms interacts constantly with all of the other organisms. In the interest of     keeping this blog relatively short, the examination presented on these species will focus on the organisms highlighted in the list.

Interactions

Predation

     Predation is when one organism eats another. Here are two examples from Nose Hill:

-          Pondweed is eaten by mallard ducks. Therefore, the duck is the predator and the pondweed is the prey. The ducks are further classified as herbivores, because they are eating plants rather than other consumers.

-          Flatworms eat smaller organisms, such as amoebas and water fleas. In this example, the flatworm is the predator and the smaller organisms are the prey. These flatworms are predatory, because they eat other consumers instead of eating producers/plants.

Parasitism

Parasitism is when an organism (the parasite) feeds on another organism (the host) without killing the host.

-          An example of parasitism in the Nose Hill pond environment is the freshwater leech. The leech attaches itself onto another mammal, such as a deer or mallard. In this example, the leech is the parasite and the other animal is the host.

Commensualism

       Commensualism is when one organism benefits from the relationship while the other organism is neither benefitted nor harmed. Here is an example of commensualism in the pond:

-          Deer, birds, leeches, flatworms, and pond snails all use cattails as shelter from predators and weather conditions. The animals benefit by gaining shelter, while the cattails experience no significant benefit or harm.

Mutualism

      A mutualism relationship is an interaction in which both organisms gain. Some examples from Nose Hill are:

-When birds take the fluffy seeds produced by cattails and use them to build tests. The bird gets a nice, comfortable nest in which to raise its offspring, and the cattails seeds are spread by the bird. Therefore, both organisms are benefitted.

-Pond snails, which are scavengers, consume and decompose dead cattails and other wastes in the water. The pond gets food to survive and reproduce, while the cattail benefits from the nutrients released by the snail during decomposition.

Intraspecific competition

     Intraspecific competition is competition between two members of the same species. For example:

-          Cattails grow in groups on the side of the nose hill pond. These cattails compete for space and the nutrients in the soil and water. They compete both for space for themselves and space for their seeds.

-          Leeches compete for hosts. The only hosts available for these leeches are a few ducks and the occasional deer or other mammal that come to feed and drink. This means that the leeches compete to gain a suitable host.

Interspecific competition

     Interspecific competition is competition between members of different species.

-          The different plants in the nose hill pond compete for space to grow and nutrients in the soil and water.

-          Birds compete for the fluff that is released every year by the cattails, for use in building their nests.

The examples of interactions given here are only a few of the wide variety of interactions constantly ongoing in the nose hill pond. However, they should serve to give a good idea of the different interactions that are occurring in the pond.

References

Freeman (2008) Biology. San Francisco: Pearson Benjamin Cummings

Royer, F.; Dickinson, R. (2007) Plants of Alberta. Edmonton: Lone Pine publishing.

Lahring, H. (2003) Water and wetland plants of the prairie provinces. University of Regina:   

     Canadian Plains Research centre.

http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/aimg40.html

http://www.everythingabout.net/articles/biology/animals/arthropods/insects/bugs/water_boatman/

http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/organism_menu.htm

http://www.oisat.org/control_methods/natural_enemies/predators/damselfly.html

Clifford, H. (1991) Aquatic invertebrates of Alberta. Manitoba: DW Frieson & sons.

http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/common_cattail.htm