Succession Notes. Range of Tolerance Optimum Range Stress Zone Intolerance Zone.
Transcript of Succession Notes. Range of Tolerance Optimum Range Stress Zone Intolerance Zone.
Succession Notes
Range of Tolerance
• Optimum Range• Stress Zone• Intolerance Zone
Limiting Factors
–Sunlight–Water/Humidity–Nutrients
Succession
• The change in biological communities of an area over a long period of time
Two Types of Succession:
Primary – Initial establishment & development of a community – occurs on barren rock volcanic eruption, glacial
retreat, pavement
Secondary – Reestablishment of a community – remnants of previous community is still there
abandoned field, after fire, flood, or hurricane
Primary Succession:
Secondary Succession:
Stages of Succession:
• Bare Rock– No soil, no available
nutrients, no active life……not a community
Stages of Succession:
• Lichens & Mosses – Pioneer Species
• First to colonize rocks • secrete acid onto rock
which liberates nutrients that can be absorbed
• catches wind-blown dirt• can take 100s to 1000s
of years• very vulnerable to
erosion• least diverse and least
stable
Stages of Succession:
• Grasses & Shrubs – Early Succession
Plants• don’t need deep soil• like full sun • shrubs move in and
shade out grasses, killing them
Stages of Succession: • Softwood
– Early Mid-succession Plants• trees that need a lot of sunlight• Cedar, pine, aspen, locust • Trees displace grasses and shrubs
Stages of Succession: • Mid-succession Plants
– Tulip, ash, red maple, birch– Displace the soft woods
Stages of Succession: • Mixed Hardwood
Mature Forest– deciduous trees; oaks,
maples, hickories, beech– saplings are shade-tolerant
for the first few years– when an adult tree dies it
leaves a hole in the canopy– saplings race to the top,
grow tall quickly-not widethen grow slowly
– Most Diverse, least likely to erode, very productive
– Dominant species is reproducing, therefore climax stage
Questions
1. What is the difference between primary and secondary succession?
2. What types of events can cause secondary succession?
3. What are some abiotic and biotic factors that play a part in succession?
4. How can humans cause succession?
Big Question
How does the ecosystem change as it moves through the stages of succession?