My Science School

No, The eggs we buy from the market cannot produce chicks. But why?

The eggs that we buy from the market cannot be hatched to produce chicks. This is because these eggs are not fertilized.

A hen begins to lay eggs when she is about 18 to 20 weeks old. She does not necessarily need to mate with a rooster to produce eggs.

These eggs are produced in response to daylight patterns. Usually a healthy hen lays one egg every 26 to 28 hours for a period of 4 to 6 days. Then she rests for a couple of days before resuming her job! The rate of egg-laying slows down naturally as the days become shorter in winter. Therefore commercial poultries provide artificial lighting to ensure optimal production of eggs. Only the fertilized eggs that are produced after mating can be hatched after about 21 days.

Picture Credit : Google 

 

Competition occurs everywhere, be it among peers or siblings. Even in the wild. Competition in the ecology is considered a negative interaction and happens when resources are limited. An ecological interaction in which competition occurs between members of the same species, as they compete for limited resources (for survival and reproduction), is called intraspecific competition.

This occurs when the niches overlap, that is, when the members use the same resources and the resources become limited. In the case of animals, the resources induce  food. water, territory and mates. For plants, the resources they compete for include light, water, root space and minerals.

Competition can be categorised into two-intraspecific and interspecific. The former occurs between individuals of different species. The latter, as explained, occurs between individuals of the same species. And as such, this competition is more intense as they are competing for the same niche! Here the animals are using the same resource which is in limited supply. And the better the competitor, the better are the chances of survival.

This form of competition can further be classified into scramble and contest. Scramble competition is when individuals depend on declining available resources even as the number of competitors increases. This is an indirect form of competition. The contest or interference competition is rather a direct form of competition and here the competitors defend the resources from others.

What happens to a species when there is intraspecific completion?

Intraspecific completion directly impacts the species and suppresses its growth. For instance, the young ones of certain species can take longer to mature in crowded conditions. When there is a high population density, the number of young ones the members of the species can produce decreases. Further, it is often seen that when there is a high population density, many juvenile animals will move away from the regions in which they were born.

This is because they could find territories with more resources and less competition. This dispersal phase can also be detrimental as there is no surety that they will find sufficient resources. They also risk predation as they traverse unfamiliar territories.

It also affects the population size. This is because when there is a high population density, growth is affected, fecundity (the biologic capacity to reproduce) is suppressed and survival is impacted. As such the population starts declining. Once the population has lowered, fecundity starts getting better and survival chances increase. The population then starts growing.

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Cow dung has several uses - as fuel, mosquito repellent, thermal insulator, and even as a component in mud brick housing. But, its most common and popular use is perhaps as manure. As a natural agricultural fertilizer, such manure eliminates the use of harmful chemicals, keeping the soil healthy. You may also have heard of vermicomposting where the likes of earthworms consume organic waste and excrete what we can use as manure. But these aren't the only creatures whose poop have their uses. Come, let's find out more about this.

Whale poop

Whales are at the top of the food pyramid, meaning these large creatures play a huge role in keeping their marine ecosystem going. In fact, so huge that even their poop is important. Whales feed on deep sea creatures and move to the surface to breathe and And this poop is loaded with nutrients such as phosphorus. What whales do is essentially bring nutrients from the deep sea to the ocean surface. Phytoplankton and algae consume whale poop, and these organisms become food to zooplankton such as krill. Zooplankton, in turn, are food for the likes of fish and birds. And, through the latter, nutrients are carried from water to land.

Guano

The poop of birds (particularly seabirds) and bats is called guano. Just like whale poop, guano too is rich in nutrients - such as nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, and potassium. Around the mid-19th Century, it was discovered that "nitrogen added to soil would drastically improve crop yields - particularly in the form of guano". Gradually over the years, its popularity spread the world over. This organic fertilizer can be used for raising vegetables, nut- and fruit-bearing trees, and even for ornamental plants and lawns.

Frass

Frass is the poop of insect larvae. Frass deposits on soil are said to have a great impact on soil fertility due to their high nutrient and labile carbon (which breaks down easily and is nutritious) content. Frass also contains "small concentrations of micronutrients", which may further be beneficial for crops. Since the world is contemplating ways to increase protein-rich insect consumption among humans, reports suggest that interest in increasing insect population is high. Which could also mean increase in frass availability.

Did you know?

Since there are "huge declines in whale, seabird and fish populations", the movement of nutrients from water and land "has slowed". Researchers "reckon that only a quarter as much phosphorus makes it to surface waters today compared with the past. And the flow of phosphorus to land has nearly stopped- at just 4 percent of historic levels". But this scenario is still reversible if we focus on restoring species, learn to share the planet with them- rather than locking them up in zoos or even confining them to protected areas and let them roam the world.

Picture Credit : Google