Summary of a scientific article - Assignment Example

Article Review Ecology is a diverse field, which extends into many different disciplines in the field of biology. All of the different disciplines are interconnected and the relationship among biological systems and the wildlife that inhabit it. There are complex biochemical process that occur simultaneously which stimulate and promote the expansion of ecosystems. In this particular study, ecologists were paying particular attention to the flora of a region and its relation to the different soil attributes in how this plays a role in stages of growth and colonization.

In particular, scientists were interested in looking at how the complex interactions of shrubs played a role in nitrogen, phosphorus, and other biochemicals in the soil, which in turn effects other flora growth and fauna expansion. Through different sampling and harvesting techniques, levels of nitrogen and phosphorus were analyzed through soil samples and harvesting flora. The scientists were looking at how the different interactions of shrubs played a role in the levels of nutrients in the soil.

They then had samples planted in respective areas in order to determine how different conditions might play a role in the nutrient levels of the soil which effect future growth. These questions were addressed through biochemical analysis. Then statistical data was run in the form of repeated measures ANOVA in order to determine statistical significance of the raw data. They were able to see that there was significance in portions of the data when the biochemical assays were analyzed. There was a correlation between certain shrubs and the amount of nutrients that are found in the specific sample sizes.

What this is able to show is that in territorial reclamation of a plant species after devastation, such as a fire, can be important when trying to rebuild an ecosystem. It also serves as a model for both exotic and domestic species. There are a few confounding variables with the experiment such that the data might show that it is only applicable with certain plant species in a specific set of conditions. One of the big questions that remained unanswered was the effect of these plant species on different types of terrain.

The samples and testing were collected from a specific part of California, meaning that this data might not be a valid predictor of the more exotic types of species. It also does not take into account the other vital ecological roles that elements such as natural geography and fauna might play in distributing and disrupting the amount of minerals in the soil.