Write an essay on process of ecological succession
7 mark question
Answers
Answer:
Ecological succession is the steady and gradual change in a species of a given area with respect to the changing environment. It is a predictable change and is an inevitable process of nature as all the biotic components have to keep up with the changes in our environment.
The ultimate aim of this process is to reach equilibrium in the ecosystem. The community that achieves this aim is called a climax community. In an attempt to reach this equilibrium, some species increase in number while some other decrease.
In an area, the sequence of communities that undergo changes is called sere. Thus, each community that changes is called a seral stage or seral community.
All the communities that we observe today around us have undergone succession over a period of time since their existence. Thus, we can say that evolution is a process that has taken place simultaneously along with that of ecological succession. Also, the initiation of life on earth can be considered to be a result of this succession process.
If we consider an area where life starts from scratch by the process of succession, it is known as primary succession. However, if life starts at a place after the area has lost all the life forms existing there, the process is called secondary succession.
It is obvious that primary succession is a rather slow process as life has to start from nothing whereas secondary succession is faster because it starts at a place which had already supported life before. Moreover, the first species that comes into existence during primary succession is known as pioneer species.
Answer:
Ecological succession is the process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time. The time scale can be decades (for example, after a wildfire), or even millions of years after a mass extinction.
Succession after disturbance: a boreal forest one year (left) and two years (right) after a wildfire.
The community begins with relatively few pioneering plants and animals and develops through increasing complexity until it becomes stable or self-perpetuating as a climax community. The "engine" of succession, the cause of ecosystem change, is the impact of established organisms upon their own environments. A consequence of living is the sometimes subtle and sometimes overt alteration of one's own environment.