Why Plants Need Space, Too

All living things need certain resources to live and grow. What does your body need to be healthy? Plants need sunlight, nutrients, water, and air. The roots bring nutrients and water from the ground to the tree. The leaves absorb the sun's rays for energy. When plants don't have enough space, they cannot meet their needs. So, the plants protect their resources by using allelopathy.

Here are four major reasons that trees need their own space:





















Plants need to protect themselves from harm. Fire is always a threat to plants in the wild. If trees are too close to each another, fire can spread from one to another very easily. So, trees create space for themselves in order to remain safe.
In some areas, there is not a lot of water. The fewer plants there are around you, the more water your roots can pull from the soil.
If you are a plant, you need lots of dirt for your roots to grow in. So, you want to have as much dirt to yourself as possible. One way to do this is to make everyone else's roots die off using allellopathy.
Plants need sun to live. If other plants grow nearby, their shade means less sunlight for the tree. If only you could think of a way to make the other plants move away...

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