Plant Disease
During our observations we saw almost equal amounts of native and nonnative plants. This was a very interesting observation because I was not expecting to see so many nonnative plants. Towards the end of our field trips I knew that human activity played a big role in all of this, but I hadn’t considered diseases. I learned that some plants are dying down due to pathogens. For example, researchers discovered that “nearly all of the state's main tree species in mixed-evergreen and redwood-tanoak forests — including the coniferous timber species coast redwood and Douglas fir — may be hosts for P. ramorum” (Hamilton). There were many elements that affected our data and surprisingly disease played a significant role in this. One research actually showed that "greater plant richness dilutes the density of disease hosts and supports a greater number of insects," which are themselves resources for predatory and parasitic insects. This just shows that biodiversity is interconnected and when one category (plants) is affected, the entire ecosystem is affected. In this case, trophic levels are affected, so it's very important for us to consider plant disease as well when we talk about biodiversity. My conclusion was that this will affect biodiversity in the long run. Thus, it remains very important for us to take care of our ecosystem and ensure that plants are living in healthy conditions.
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