Lesson 3: Species in the environmental complex

Liebig s Law of the Minimum
• Liebig recognized that plant growth is controlled by plant
nutrients, and whichever nutrient is in most limited supply
controls the plant s growth.
• This concept was later expanded to cover other environmental
factors such as water, light, temperature.
• He noted that plants had varying ranges of tolerance for a given
factor.
• “The growth or distribution of a plant is
dependent on the one environmental factor most
critically in demand.”