Green Foxtail Case Study

Green Foxtail: Some limiting factors for a green foxtail might be competition for resources, predation, lack of moisture, and any occurring natural disaster. The green foxtail would experience a competition of resources because the area in which it is located is very small, but has a lot of plants, meaning that the green foxtail does not have an area to itself. Furthermore, because of how it is located in a small area, bordered by a path, its seeds do not have a high possibility of traveling far when most of the dirt is occupied with another plant, limiting its expansion in population. Competition of resources and predation are both dependent limiting factors. The green foxtail would have to encounter predation such as grasshoppers, aphids, stinkbugs, gamebirds, songbirds, mice, and squirrels due to how they all seek green foxtails as a source of food, limiting the growth of green foxtails. Another limiting factor is the overexposure of sunlight, which is an independent limiting factor. Green foxtails are very flexible by having a various range of being able to live in different
Natural disasters are independent limiting factors that affect buckhorn plantains by destroying them when they are still growing. For example, a flood can completely destroy the growth of a buckhorn plantain by continuously drowning it in water. Predation is a limiting dependent factor of a buckhorn plantain that both stunts its growth and decreases its spread of the population. Predators such as rabbits enjoy feeding on the leaves of buckhorn plantains, not allowing the leaves to mature and for the plant to flourish. Also, birds enjoy eating the seeds of the buckhorn plantain, decreasing the population of the species. Moreover, due to how the buckhorn plantain is on Site 1, which is an area where several people walk on, humans and even animals can step on this species, destroying its leaves and