Ecological Succession Notes

150 years

Eventually, barring further disturbances, the oak and hickory trees will become dominant and form a dense canopy, returning the community to its original state- its pre-fire composition. This process of succession takes about

empty land or bare rock

even land that is now very diverse once started out as what

primary succession

newly exposed or newly formed rock is colonized by living things for the first time

climax-pattern theory

no single factor determines the climax community; recognizes a variety of climaxes governed by responses of species populations to biotic and abiotic conditions. According to this theory the total environment of the ecosystem determines the composition, species structure, and balance of a climax community.

allogenic succession

the abiotic components of a community alter or modify the community (ex. Climate change, fires, floods)

autogenic succession

the biotic (living) components of a community alter or modify the community

climax community

they also thought that the end result of succession was a stable, unchanging final state called ____ largely determined by an area's climate

Polyclimax theory

(A. Tansley) recognized that the local climax may be governed by a variety of one or more factors, particularly soil conditions, but climate, topography, and fire are also important. Due to the varying impacts of these factors, there is a constellation of similar climax communities that could occur in a given region.

grasses

After an event such as a fire or a tree fall in a forest, early successional species are the first to reappear. Which is an example of early successional species?

Monoclimax theory

All communities head toward a climax community; all succession in a given region will eventually lead to the same final stage,which is determined by the prevailing climatic conditions (hence the term Climatic Climax).According to Clements, the same climax community will develop under similar climatic conditions.He further postulated that no other combination of species can replace the climax in that climate;thus, in each climatic zone, the climax communities will have the same dominant species

32 acres of land

How many acres are added to the Big Island in Hawaii each year because of lava?

With primary succession , you start with no life (like land formed from lava flow on Hawaii); with secondary succession, there once was life that was disturbed (like by a fire)

What is the main difference between primary and secondary succession?

succession

a series of progressive changes in the composition of an ecological community over time

secondary succession

an area previously occupied by living things is disturbed - disrupted- then recolonized following the disturbance.