Succession

Explain succession on land

you start with bare rock after a glacier melted or when a  island is first  formed formed from molten rock.

First is coloniser such a lichen and mosses. As they die they break down beginning to form soil.

pioneers= larger species such as ferns then begin to grow. There larger roots hold onto soil better which then holds more water.

shrubs and bushes=  even larger plants grow in the depend soil they begin to out compete the pioneers. 

climax= eventually species as large as tree begin to grow now that the soil depth has increase and is fully of nutrients from the dead predecessors. As the diversity in plant species increase so does the diversity in animals as there are more niches availed 

How does primary succession from water differ

Colonisers= in this case these are floating phytoplankton in deep water. When they die they sink to the bottom forming humus which combines with the silt deposited by river to from mud that builds up at the bottom 

Pioneers = As the mud builds up the water becomes shallower allowing rooted aquatic plants to grow like pond weed or lilies species with floating leaves. There roots trap silt. When they die more detritus settels.

swamp and marsh= eventually the sediment rises out of the water to form water logges soil here reeds grasses grow. There roots bind soil togther. increase transpiration begins to dry out the soil

climax= soil dries out so much large vegetation even tree can grow

define climatic climax

Climatic climax = the stable, mature ecosystem that forms under the influence of a region’s climate.

why is climatic climax so rare

due to humans we build towns grow crops keep animals on the land. All this stops the land being able to reach climatic climax.

define artificial plagioclimax

An artificial plagioclimax is a stable community of plants and animals maintained by human activities, which prevents the natural climatic climax from developing.