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NAME: ________________________________BLOCK: __________DATE:_________
Succession
Directions: Determine if the statement is true. If it is not, rewrite the italicized part
to make it true.
_______1.
The interactions of abiotic and biotic factors result in conditions that are
suitable for some organisms but not for others.
_______2.
Food availability and temperature can be limiting factors for a particular
organism.
_______3.
A limiting factor is any biotic or abiotic factor that restricts the existence,
number, reproduction, or distribution of organisms.
_______4.
At high elevations where the soil is thin, vegetation is limited to small
shallow rooted trees.
_______5.
Factors that limit one population in a community may also have an
indirect effect on another population.
_______6.
Tolerance is the ability of an organism to withstand fluctuations in biotic
and abiotic environmental factors.
_______7.
A population of deer would become smaller as conditions move away
from optimal toward either extreme of the deer’s range of tolerance.
_______8.
Different species may have different ranges of tolerance.
Directions: Use each of the terms below just once to complete the passage.
Climax
Succession
primary
species
decades
slows down
succeed
pioneer
The natural changes and _____________ replacements that place in the communities of
ecosystems are known as ______________. It can take _____________ or even centuries
for one community to ______________, or replace, another. When new sites of land are
formed, as in a lava flow, the first organisms to colonize the new area are ____________
species. This colonization is called ____________ succession. The species inhabiting the
area gradually change. Eventually, succession ____________ and the community
becomes more stable. Finally, a mature community that undergoes little or no change
called a _____________ community develops.
Directions: the statement below describes the secondary succession that occurred
within an area of Yellowstone National Park. Number the events in the order in
which they occurred.
______17.
Grasses, ferns, and pine seedlings inhabited the area.
______18.
Annual wildflowers grew form the bare soil.
______19.
A fire burned thousands of acres of land.
______20.
A climax community of lodgepole pines developed.
______21.
Bare soil covered the area.
Directions: Answer the following questions completely using he picture of primary
succession on the next page.
22. What do ecologists mean by the term succession?
23. How is secondary succession different from primary succession?
25. What is a climax community, and which organisms in the picture represent this type
of community?
26. Based on the picture, if you hiked through a patch of land that contained a pine forest
into an area that contained only ferns, shrubs, and grasses, would you be moving from an
older to a younger community or vice versa? Explain.
27. Which parts of the ecosystem had to be established before the primary succession
shown in the picture could occur?
Primary Succession
Succession Diagram