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Transcript
SUCCESSION
Natural Change Over Time
What Is Succession?
A series of predictable changes
over time in the kind of plants
growing in an area.
Climax Communities
• Are the relatively stable communities
at the end of succession
• Vary with location and biome
• Persist until there is some kind of
environmental change.
– Environmental changes are called
disturbances
Disturbances
• Can be caused by natural events like
fire, windstorm, volcanic eruption,
landslides, etc.
• Can be caused by human activities
such as clearcutting or filling
• Can be caused by animal activities
such as grazing or pest infestation
Primary Succession
• Occurs when plants become established
on land completely devoid of soil and
vegetation
Mount St. Helens, 1980
When there is no soil, the
first colonizers are lichens
and mosses– soil makers
Primary Succession
Lava Flows, Hawaii
Primary Succession
Kettle Bog
Shallow ponds gradually
fill in with soil
Secondary Succession
• Occurs when the dominant plants in the
community are removed allowing new
plants to colonize.
• The first plants are called
pioneers – annual, fastgrowing, full sunlight,
many seeds
Landslide caused
by Hurricane Mitch
Primary or Secondary?
How about these?
Gap from fallen trees
Gypsy
moths
Chestnut blight
Tree Tops Valley progression
The climax community is an evergreen forest
Eastern Forests
Often climax community is hardwood.
Typical forest succession
• Non-vascular plants
(lichens and mosses) lichens and mosses
make soil enabling…
• Annuals and weeds
• Herbaceous (not woody)
plants and grasses annuals and weeds
produce, seeds, humus
and shade allowing…
Typical forest succession
• Woody shrubs, grasses,
tree saplings perennials and shadetolerant species to grow
that develop into …
• Young forest - young
trees and other woody
plants that eventually
produce …
• Mature trees
What happens to the animals?
• As the ecosystem changes, the animals
change to accommodate the available food
and shelter.
For Help
AMSTI-GLOBE
www.amsti.org/globe
The GLOBE Program
www.globe.gov
Lynn Vaughan
Jerry Cobbs
AMSTI-GLOBE
Resource Specialist
[email protected]
AMSTI-GLOBE
Technology Specialist
[email protected]
Robin Nelson
AMSTI-GLOBE
Administrator
[email protected]