Question

In a meadow ecosystem, a population of flowers experiences competition for sunlight as nearby trees grow taller and cast more density independent or density dependent

Answer 1

In the scenario you described, where a population of flowers experiences competition for sunlight as nearby trees grow taller, this situation represents **density-dependent** factors.

Density-dependent factors are influences on a population that change in intensity as the population density changes. In this case, as the density of trees increases or as the individual trees grow taller, more flowers must compete for the limited resource of sunlight. This kind of competition is affected by the density of individuals in the environment — the more trees there are or the taller they grow, the more impact they have on the growth and survival of the flowers.

In contrast, **density-independent** factors are those that affect a population regardless of its density, such as natural disasters or extreme weather conditions. Therefore, in this context, the competition for sunlight due to the growth of trees is density-dependent.