Factors affecting Plants Growth

Growth is also determined by environmental factors, such as temperature, available water, available light, and available nutrients in the soil. Any change in the availability of these external conditions will be reflected in the plants growth. Biotic factors (living organisms) also affect plant growth.

Plants compete with other plants for space, water, light and nutrients. Plants can be so crowded that no single individual makes normal growth.
Many plants rely on birds and insects to effect pollination.
Grazing animals may affect vegetation.
Soil fertility is influenced by the activity of bacteria and fungi.
Bacteria, fungi, viruses, nematodes and insects can parasitize plants.
Some plant roots require an association with fungi to maintain normal activity (mycorrhizal association).

Simple plants like algae may have short life spans as individuals, but their populations are commonly seasonal. Other plants may be organized according to their seasonal growth pattern:

Annual: live and reproduce within one growing season.
Biennial: live for two growing seasons; usually reproduce in second year.
Perennial: live for many growing seasons; continue to reproduce once mature.

Among the vascular plants, perennials include both evergreens that keep their leaves the entire year, and deciduous plants which lose their leaves for some part of it. In temperate and boreal climates, they generally lose their leaves during the winter; many tropical plants lose their leaves during the dry season.

The growth rate of plants is extremely variable. Some mosses grow less than 0.001 mm/h, while most trees grow 0.025-0.250 mm/h. Some climbing species, such as kudzu, which do not need to produce thick supportive tissue, may grow up to 12.5 mm/h.

Plants protect themselves from frost and dehydration stress with antifreeze proteins, heat-shock proteins and sugars sucrose is common).

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Factors affecting Plants Growth