Types of Succession

Question 1

What are the two types of succession?

Answer 1

primary and secondary succession

Question 2

What is primary succession?

Answer 2

• starts from newly formed land e.g. volcanic rock / sand dune
• very harsh abiotic conditions e.g. no soil / humus, little water / nutrients
• very slow

Question 3

What is secondary succession?

Answer 3

• starts from land where vegetation has been cleared e.g. deforestation
  -less harsh abiotic conditions e.g. soil exists - so there are more water and
  nutrients available for growth
• much faster
• pioneer species can be larger

Question 4

What is deflection succession?

Answer 4

• (it is when succession has been stopped at a certain point
  and different set of organisms live there as a result)
• a community that remains stable as human activity prevents further succession
  taking place e.g. mowing / grazing
• stops succession as tall plants cant grow as their tips are cut off
• they cannot out-compete the low growing grass
• grassland becomes climax community - deflected
• species composition will be different in grassland

Question 5

What are climax communities?

Answer 5

different ecosystems have different abiotic conditions - they
develop into different climax communities e.g. tropical rainforest vs
temperate deciduous forest