Download SUCCESSION AND LIMITING FACTORS

SUCCESSION AND LIMITING FACTORS
OBJECTIVES: COS 14b Describing the process of ecological succession
14a Relating natural disasters, climate changes, nonnative species, an
human activity to the dynamic equilibrium of ecosystems.
LEARNING TARGET: I can distinguish between primary and secondary succession and
relate to pioneer species and climax communities.
BEFORE
I.
Warm-up
A. Distinguish between primary succession and community succession (Primary
succession occurs on surfaces that are bare rock or where glaciers have
melted where there is NOT soil. Secondary succession is where an
ecosystem has been restored from a ecological disturbance.)
B. Distinguish between pioneer species and climax community? (Pioneer species
first to populate an area during primary succession. Climax community
stable community of the dominant plants/animals of the ecosystem.)
C. Relate exponential growth and logistic growth to ecological succession.
(Logistic growth resembles the logistic growth curve because at the end of
the logistic growth there is a stable community at the carrying capacity
much like a climax community of secondary succession. All growth begins as
exponential growth.)
LEARING TARGET: I can distinguish between density-dependent and density-independent
limiting factors.
DURING
II.
III.
DENSITY-DEPENDENT LIMITING FACTORS
A. Affect populations that are LARGE
B. Examples
1. competition (food, water, shelter, territory, mates, sunlight, space)
2. disease (spreads when organisms are living close to one another)
3. parasitism (parasites can move from organism to organism when
there is crowded conditions)
4. predation (predators flock to where there are large numbers of
prey because easier to catch when population is large)
DENSITY-INDEPENDENT FACTORS
A. Affect populations regardless of size (small or large equally affected)
B. Examples
1. natural disasters
2. seasonal cycles
3. weather
4. human activities (cutting trees, mining)
LEARNING TARGET: I can explain conservation methods to help manage ecosystem
populations.
AFTER
IV.
Conservation Management of Wildlife
A. Predator—Prey Introduction
B. Deer—Wolf Predation Case Study Graphing