succession

Question 1

autogenic

Answer 1

‘self driven’ dependent on properties of species involved and their effects on the environment - stimulus for change is internal, e.g. soil improvement from plants

Question 2

allogenic

Answer 2

‘driven from outside’ dependent on environmental and biological factors not directly associated with developing community - stimulus for change external, e.g. flood

Question 3

pioneer species

Answer 3

species able to colonise available spaces and tolerate harsh conditions, mostly wind/water dispersed, not efficient at nutrient use - replaced by early successional species

Question 4

r species

Answer 4

species that exhibit high reproductive rates followed by high mortality rates = populations with highly fluctuating numbers

Question 5

k species

Answer 5

organisms that have a low reproduction rate and high probability to survive to maturity

Question 6

retrogressive succession

Answer 6

community regresses and becomes more simplistic

Question 7

progressive succession

Answer 7

community becomes more complex with time

Question 8

transient climaxes

Answer 8

when a climax community is not persistent, develop on ephemeral habitats e.g. temporal ponds

Question 9

zoochory

Answer 9

process by which animals spread plant seeds/spores

Question 10

cyclic succession

Answer 10

a pattern of vegetation change in which a small number of species tend to replace each other in a cyclical cycle

Question 11

species richness

Answer 11

number of different species in an ecological community