Reproductive Rates, Interesting and Useful

It is interesting how fecundity schedules can provide us with clues into how a species would increase in number by studying its reproductive and survival rates. One common application for fecundity is to calculate the fertility of humans in a given population. Other interesting applications are in the world of plants, animals and other organisms. It would be interesting and useful to use such knowledge in natural agriculture. This could help us spread plants using natural methods.

Small Farm Beating Large Farm?

It is not how many trees you have in your garden or farm, but it is also how many branches those trees have, how many flowers do they make and how many fruits they produce. A farm may have a large area yet poorly producing trees. A much smaller farm yet with more sturdy trees that have vigorous root systems and plenty of resources available for them and appropriate conditions may provide a much more abundant produce than the larger farm.

Decay Sucking Up Nitrogen

Microorganisms consume a lot of nitrogen and little oxygen when decomposing plant remnants. That is why when a piece of wood decays inside a soil, the nitrogen content around it is dramatically reduced. This can cause plants growing nearby to wilt or die due to the reduced nitrogen content in the soil that has been transferred to the microorganisms that are decaying the wood. It is thus advisable not to include a lot of brown (wood) decaying material next to new plants in order not to deprive them from the nitrogen content present in the soil.

Salinity and Agriculture

Salinity is an important factor when planning to grow crops in an agricultural land or when attempting to reclaim desert land in Egypt for agricultural purposes. We consider water salinity and salinity of soil. Some plants withstand salinity more than others. For instance olive trees can withstand high rates of salinity in water and soil. Date palm trees can also withstand high rates of salinity in water and soil. Many other crops and trees cannot stand high rates of salinity. Salinity is measures in parts in a million. So, a water source that has a rate of salinity of 1000 ppm means that for every million parts of water there exists 1000 parts of salt.

A common problem that arises when attempting to reclaim desert land for agricultural purposes is the surfacing of too much salt on the topsoil. When this happens, the soil becomes ruined and agriculture cannot resume there.