A.D. Tropical Environments - Plant Succession Flashcards
What is an ecosystem?
interrelationship between plants and animals in their biotic or abiotic environment
What is a community?
groups populations interacting with each other in a common habitat
What is the productivity of an ecosystem?
how much organic material is produced per annum
What is the net primary productivity?
amount of organic material made available for populations
What is the net primary productivity affected by?
- water availability
- heat
- nutrient availability
- age and health of plant species
Define biomass:
the measure of stored energy
Define biodiversity:
the variety of species and genetic diversity in an ecosystem
What is a succession in plant communities?
changes in a plant population due to environment
start of succession: few nutrients, low biodiversity, limited organic matter
end of succession: seral climax - dynamic equilibrium with environment
What happened to the plant communities in Krakatoa?
-1883 volcanic eruption led to a subclimax of vegetation
-temperature drop by 1.2 celsius
-vegetation destroyed by ash cloud
-3 years later, mosses, flowering plants started growing
-plants adaptations: self pollination
seeds of plants protected in the soil during eruption
used nutrients from the magma
What is edaphic control?
the distribution of vegetation determined by soil, not climate
What is plagioclimax?
when a community gets influenced by human activity
What happened to the vegetation in Montserrat?
- gases, heat, lasers destroyed the forest and its fauna, flora
- acid rain caused leaching of nutrients
- continuous volcanic activity prevented reforestation
Explain the process of vegetation recovery?
- seed germination in the preserved ground
- colonisation by surrounding forests
- new seeds bloom and adapt to high temperatures, no shade
- they will grow quickly due to high sunlight
- provide better conditions for future generations
Describe embryo and fore dunes:
- persist above high tide but small
- colonised by some pioneer plants - Lyme grass
- humus build up from decay
- low organic and nutrient content
- poor water retention
- most alkaline
Describe Yellow dunes:
- above the beach
- less salty and more stable
- more vegetation: Marram grass
