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DAVID M. GATE8
111. ENERGY EXCHANGE BETWEEN PLANT AND ENVIRONMBNT
A. SIMULTANEITY OF FACTORS
One of the greatest difficulties which has prevailed in ecology, ever
since its inception aa a science, haa been the lack of 8 specific expression
of the processes by which an organism is coupled to the environment.
It is a relatively easy conjecture to assert that environmental factors
such as air temperature, wind, moisture, or sunlight affect a plant or
animal in some way. In fact, ecologists are so certain that these environmental factors do a.Eect organisms directly that they have measured,
observed, and in various ways searched for strongly correlated responses
of plant growth, plant distribution, animal behavior, etc. with these
factors without asking specifically how they might affect the organism.
Why should air temperature have anything t o do with the response of
the organism to its environment? Perhaps air temperature affects the
organism or perhaps it does not. But why should it and by what
mechanism? For example, a plant is warmed by sunshine and the air
also is warmed by sunshine. The plant temperature is only slightly influenced by the air temperature and the primary direct influence of
plant temperature is the sunshine. Yet a correlation of plant growth,
or of plant temperature, with air temperature would yield a high correlation despite the fact that air temperature had little influence on the
plant temperature.
Exactly the same question must be asked with respect to moisture,
wind and radiation. If they each affect the plant or animal then to what
degree does each factor affect it. Any given environmental factor is
acting simultaneously with all of the other factors and must be considered in the context of the others. It is this simultaneity of action of
several factors t h a t makes the study of ecology difficult and challenging.
B. ENEEOY
The single moat essential requirement of all living things is energy.
Energy is the ability to do work. Without energy no work is done and
all life processes would stop. Growth, cell enlargement, cell division,
breathing, pumping of blood, translocation, chemical reactions, and all
other processes require energy. If t,he environment is to influence an
organism it must do so by energy transfer between the organism and
the environment. If not by energy transfer, then by what other process? There is no other process than energy transfer. All interactions
can be reduced to an energy basis. Even wind-blown sand striking the
surface of a plant or animal is crushing cells, striking nerves and stinging, but in essence transferring energy through momentum exchange.
DAVID M. GATE8
111. ENERGY EXCHANGE BETWEEN PLANT AND ENVIRONMBNT
A. SIMULTANEITY OF FACTORS
One of the greatest difficulties which has prevailed in ecology, ever
since its inception aa a science, haa been the lack of 8 specific expression
of the processes by which an organism is coupled to the environment.
It is a relatively easy conjecture to assert that environmental factors
such as air temperature, wind, moisture, or sunlight affect a plant or
animal in some way. In fact, ecologists are so certain that these environmental factors do a.Eect organisms directly that they have measured,
observed, and in various ways searched for strongly correlated responses
of plant growth, plant distribution, animal behavior, etc. with these
factors without asking specifically how they might affect the organism.
Why should air temperature have anything t o do with the response of
the organism to its environment? Perhaps air temperature affects the
organism or perhaps it does not. But why should it and by what
mechanism? For example, a plant is warmed by sunshine and the air
also is warmed by sunshine. The plant temperature is only slightly influenced by the air temperature and the primary direct influence of
plant temperature is the sunshine. Yet a correlation of plant growth,
or of plant temperature, with air temperature would yield a high correlation despite the fact that air temperature had little influence on the
plant temperature.
Exactly the same question must be asked with respect to moisture,
wind and radiation. If they each affect the plant or animal then to what
degree does each factor affect it. Any given environmental factor is
acting simultaneously with all of the other factors and must be considered in the context of the others. It is this simultaneity of action of
several factors t h a t makes the study of ecology difficult and challenging.
B. ENEEOY
The single moat essential requirement of all living things is energy.
Energy is the ability to do work. Without energy no work is done and
all life processes would stop. Growth, cell enlargement, cell division,
breathing, pumping of blood, translocation, chemical reactions, and all
other processes require energy. If t,he environment is to influence an
organism it must do so by energy transfer between the organism and
the environment. If not by energy transfer, then by what other process? There is no other process than energy transfer. All interactions
can be reduced to an energy basis. Even wind-blown sand striking the
surface of a plant or animal is crushing cells, striking nerves and stinging, but in essence transferring energy through momentum exchange.