succession

Question 1

succesion

Answer 1

series of changes within a community with time from its origin eg.baron rock/sand/water to its climax community

Question 2

pioneer species

Answer 2

organisms that first colonise an area

Question 3

Sere

Answer 3

-complete succession from a pioneer community to a climax community

Question 4

Seral stage

Answer 4

a particular stage in succession with its own distinctive community of organisms

Question 5

Climax community

Answer 5

-final stage in an ecological succession
-stable and changes very little
-eg. woodland

Question 6

Hostility

Answer 6

-abiotic factors are unfavourable, few species adapted to survive in these conditions
-diversity is low and abiotic factors dominate the distribution of species
-eg. sand dunes wind

Question 7

Abiotic environment

Answer 7

non living parts of an environment eg. temperature

Question 8

Diversity

Answer 8

relationship between the number of individual organisms and the number of a species within a community

Question 9

High diversity

Answer 9

-stable ecosystem and complex food web
-population of one species in the ecosystem drops then others will be able to increase in numbers and fill the niche so the community is not affected much by the change

Question 10

Low diversity

Answer 10

-unstable ecosystem and less complex food web
-if one species dies out then the whole ecosystem is disrupted

Question 11

Primary succession

Answer 11

-slower then secondary
-occurs in area devoid of vegetation and lacking soil

Question 12

Secondary succession

Answer 12

-faster than primary
-occurs after forest fires/clearance of agricultural land
-spores/seeds/vegetative organs may remain viable in the soil
-succession does not begin with pioneer species but with species from intermediate seres

Question 13

Deflected succession

Answer 13

-climax community is prevented from establishing as a result of management practices by humans
-the community is called a plagioclimax

Question 14

Describe and explain how succession occurs (5 marks)

Answer 14

-pioneer species (named) colonises environment (named) which is resistant to hostile conditions
-pioneer species dies and decays forming a nutrient rich soil known as humus
-conditions become less hostile to live in (name how)
-more species can live in the environment (name species)
-increase in stability/biodiversity
-repeats over time until a climax community is formed and represented by a species (name)