Chapter 20 Succession and Stability Flashcards
Ecological succession would occur after the ______.
retreat of a glacier leaving bare ground
removal of trees after a major avalanche
formation of new rocks from volcanism
Succession taking place on a newly formed volcanic island is ______.
primary succession
A major spring flood in a river removed all of the vegetation along the stream bank but left the soil largely intact. The subsequent return of the community is known as ______.
secondary succession
After surveying a northern forest near glaciers, it becomes apparent that forest dominated with hemlock trees rarely changes in the absence of disturbance. This would be an example of ______.
a climax community
Gleason thought ______ played a larger role in the development of climate communities than Clements did.
chance
After a disturbance, plant communities will change over time. This is known as ______.
succession
When succession takes place on newly exposed geological features, it is known as ______.
primary succession
During community succession, which of the following changes are likely to occur?
changes in the composition of species
increases in species richness
When disturbance severely disrupts a community but not the soil, the succession that takes place is known as ______.
secondary succession
The set of succession study areas at Glacier Bay, Alaska, represents a ______.
chronosequence
An older community that appears to remain stable in the absence of disturbance is called a ______.
climax community
Unlike Gleason, Clements thought the species composition of the climax community was ______.
highly predictable
In the study by Reiners et al. (1971) study, their oldest site was dominated by
picea
In a community undergoing primary succession, species richness ______.
increases rapidly during the first years
Studies on succession have historically focused on ______.
succession leading to a climax forest
The study sites at Glacier Bay, Alaska, include a set of similar forests, but at different ages. This represents a ______.
chronosequence
The Piedmont Plateau of eastern North America has many areas of ______ succession.
deciduous forest undergoing secondary
When fields were abandoned in Piedmont Plateau of eastern North America, one of the first colonizing species was ______.
crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinalis)
Pioneer communities recently established from the retreat of glaciers are typically dominated by
Epilobium, Equisetum, and Salix.
Similar to Glacier Bay, during succession, the species richness of woody plants in the Piedmont Plateau ______.
increases in a logarithmic pattern
During the later stages of primary succession, ______.
species diversity begins to plateau or decline
Similar to forests, species richness in the intertidal zone ______.
increased following a logarithmic pattern
Studies showed the rate of succession was the fastest ______.
in a desert stream
Many areas of the Piedmont Plateau in eastern North America were ______
clearcut and later abandoned. They are now undergoing secondary succession.
Sycamore Creek in Arizona generally has low flows; however, flash floods ______.
remove organisms from the creek
are a source of disturbance
can initiate succession
After about 150 years of secondary succession in the Piedmont Plateau of eastern North America, which types of plants become dominant?
oaks and hickory
Nearly 2 months after intense flooding occurred in Sycamore Creek (Arizona), the diversity of diatoms and algae ______.
began to decline
The increase in species richness in Glacier Bay and the Piedmont Plateau can be described as ______.
logarithmic
During succession, ecosystem properties ______.
change along with the changes in diversity and composition of species
Sousa showed that succession on intertidal boulders was ______.
similar to forest succession; species richness increased with time
Studies by Chapin et al. 1994 at Glacier Bay indicate that
all the major soil horizons increase over time.
The difference in the time of succession between the intertidal zone and primary succession in Glacier Bay as describe by Sousa is about _____.
1,000 years
In Sycamore creek, succession ______.
begins after frequent floods disturb the community
After intense flooding in a stream, what are the first organisms to colonize the streambed?dia
diatoms
In the Hawaiian Islands, Hedin, Vitousek, and Matson used a chronosequence to show that soil organic matter ______.
increased in the soil for the first 150,000 years
During primary and secondary succession, ecosystem properties that can change include ______.
nutrient retention
primary production
biomass
Based on the study of Hedin et al., as the Hawaiian Islands age, total nitrogen ______.
is lower at sites that are 1.1 million and 1.4 million years old compared to sites that are 150,000 years old
During primary succession at Glacier Bay, Chapin et al. 1994 has shown that total soil depth
increases over time.
Weatherable phosphorous, in the Hawaiian Islands, is ______.
typically depleted in about 20,000 years
In the Hawaiian Islands, nutrient availability changes over time when ______.
more phosphorous is retained in the ecosystems
phosphorous becomes the limiting nutrient
