How Do Abiotic Factors Affect Different Plant Species?

Procedure

1. Gather six plastic cups. Use a pencil to punch three holes in the bottom of each cup. Fill three cups with equal
amounts of sand and three cups with the same amount of potting soil. CAUTION: Wash your hands well with
soap and warm water after handling soil or plants.
2. Plant five rice seeds in one sand-filled cup and five rice seeds in one soil-filled cup. Plant mongo seeds in each
of the other two cups. Plant 5 tomato seeds on the remaining cups. Label each cup with the type of seeds and
soil it contains.
3. Place all the cups in a warm, sunny location. Each day for two weeks, water the cups equally and record your
observations of any plant growth.

Analyze and Conclude

1. Analyze Data In which medium did the rice grow better—sand or soil? Which was the better medium for the
growth of mongo?
2. Infer Soil retains more water than sand does, providing a moister environment. What can you infer from your
observations about the kind of environment that favors the growth of rice? What kind of environment favors the
growth of mongo?
3. Draw Conclusions Which would compete more successfully in a dry environment—rice or mongo? Which would
be more successful in a moist environment?

Prepare 8-10-minute presentation to answer the question presented in the “Analyze and Conclude” section of this
activity. Provide photographs coming from your experiment. This will be presented on October 11, 2023. You may
graph your data and show the photograph of your setup. You are also free to use technology in presenting your
work. Please be guided with following scoring rubrics