What is vegetation succession?
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What is vegetation succession?
Vegetation succession is the process by which the evolution of plant communities at a site occurs over time. It involves a series of progressive changes, from pioneer species to climax vegetation.
What are the two main types of succession?
The two main types of succession are primary succession and secondary succession.
What is primary succession?
Primary succession occurs on bare surfaces, such as bare rock, after a volcanic eruption or glacier retreat.
What is secondary succession?
Secondary succession occurs in areas where a biological community has already existed but has been disturbed or destroyed, such as after a forest fire, flood, or human activities like farming.
What is the difference between a sub-climax and a plagio-climax?
The difference between plagio and sub-climax succession depends on human involvement.
Plagiocliamax is when human activity changes the vegetation, which then changes the climax community.
A sub-climax occurs when a natural event halts succession, with natural succession resuming at a later date.
What are pioneer species?
Pioneer species are the first species to colonise new surfaces and are often lichens and herbs. They start the ecological succession process.
What is the climax community?
A climax community is the final stage of succession, where the ecosystem becomes stable and experiences little change in species composition.
Name the four types of seres.
There are four types of seres:
Lithosere: rock.
Psammosere: sand .
Halosere: salt water.
Hydrosere: fresh water.
What is a sere?
A sere is the entire community that has developed in successive seral stages, giving the site or area its particular characteristics.
What are arresting factors?
Arresting factors are localised interruptions that change the final climax community. They include factors such as climate, altitude or soil.
What is a lithosere?
A lithosere is a plant succession that begins on a bare rock. It involves stages like lichen colonisation, then mosses, grasses, shrubs, and eventually forest trees.
What is a hydrosere?
A hydrosere is a succession that begins in an area of fresh water, such as a pond, and progresses through seral stages from aquatic plants to marshes and eventually to a terrestrial forest.
True or False?
Temperate deciduous woodlands are the most common type of natural climax woodland in the UK.
True.
Temperate deciduous woodlands, with oak, beech and elm as the dominant climax species, are the most common type of natural climax woodland in the UK.
Define the term ancient woodlands.
Ancient woodlands are areas that have had tree cover for hundreds of years and remained undisturbed by human development.
What does broadleaf woodland mean?
Broadleaf woodland means a forest composed of trees that do not have needles and are the most common type in the UK.
What is a temperate rainforest?
Temperate rainforest is a very rare type of woodland in the UK, found in some coastal areas with high rainfall and humidity and low temperature variations, often in ravines and gorges.
What is the definition of a canopy layer?
The canopy layer is the uppermost layer of the woodland, formed by mature tree crowns, where the majority of the woodland's primary productivity occurs.
Define understory.
The understory is the layer of vegetation beneath the forest canopy, typically consisting of younger trees, shrubs, and shade-tolerant plants.
What is detritus?
Detritus is dead plant and animal material that falls to the woodland floor and decomposes due to detritivores and fungi, raising soil and humus levels.
True or False?
The woodland floor has high sunlight levels and low humidity.
False.
The woodland floor has low sunlight levels and high humidity, aiding in the rate of decomposition and nutrient transfer between the stores.
What is the sub-canopy?
The sub-canopy is the layer of vegetation that grows in spaces between the taller trees in the main canopy, which has more water and light available.
Define humus.
Humus is the dark, organic material in soils produced by the decomposition of plant and animal matter.
What is primary productivity?
Primary productivity is the rate at which plants and other photosynthetic organisms produce organic compounds in an ecosystem, primarily through photosynthesis.
What are the three distinctive vertical layers of deciduous woodlands?
The three distinctive vertical layers of deciduous woodlands are the canopy, understory, and woodland floor.
Define plagioclimax.
Plagioclimax is a community that occurs when human activity has permanently changed the final community of an ecosystem, stopping natural succession.
What is the difference between sub-climax and plagioclimax?
Sub-climax occurs when succession is interrupted by natural local factors.
Plagioclimax occurs when human activity has permanently changed the final community of an ecosystem.
True or False?
Secondary succession occurs when an arresting factor is removed and vegetation restarts its progress.
True.
Secondary succession occurs when an arresting factor (natural or human) is removed and the vegetation restarts or continues its progress.
Define afforestation.
Afforestation is the re-planting of trees, typically for commercial purposes such as timber or paper goods production, often resulting in monoculture plantations.
What is the impact of grazing on plant succession?
Grazing impacts plant succession by causing small plants and saplings to be eaten or destroyed by trampling before being able to grow, resulting in fast-growing grasses and weeds dominating the area.
What is heathland?
Heathland is a drier, mostly well-drained, lowland area less than 250 m in altitude, characterised by open country devoid of trees with a rich carpet of heather.
True or False?
Heaths and moorlands are examples of natural climax communities.
False.
Heaths and moorlands are manmade and examples of plagioclimax communities.
What is controlled burning in the context of heather moorland management?
Controlled burning in heather moorland management is the practice of burning small patches of heather every 10–15 years to maintain a balance between woody stem growth and edible evergreen leaves and to encourage new growth for grazing.
Define heather.
Heather is a low-growing, evergreen shrub that thrives in acidic soil with woody stems that act as ground cover to reduce competition from other species.
Define moorland.
Moorland is a wetter, upland area greater than 250 m in altitude, usually with a peat layer several metres thick, characterised by open country with heather and specialised plants.