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What is a pioneer species?
The species which colonise an area and are able to tolerate the harsh enviornmental conditions present
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What is a climax community?
The mature or stabilised stage in a succession, where the dominant species are completely adapted to environmental conditions
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What is autogenic succession?
Autogenic succession is the changes in environmental conditions which leads to changes in species composition in an ecosystem caused by the biological processes of the organisms themselves
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Name and describe the two types of autogenic succession
- Primary succession - the colonisation of land which has not previously been inhabited and no soil exists
- Secondary succession - when an existing ecosystem (with soil already present) has been damaged or destroyed (eg by forest fire) and it becomes recolonised by other pioneer species
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Which type of autogenic succession would take longer and why?
Primary autogenic succession as soil must be formed
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What is allogenic succession?
Allogenic succession is when a climax or mature community is disturbed by environmental factors unrelated to the organisms present eg hurricanes, forest fires, volcano
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What is degredative succession?
- Degredative succession is associated with the process of decomposition. This is when a fixed amount of energy/nutrients (eg a dead plant) is released back into the ecosystem by decomposers such as bateria and fungi
- Degradative succession is also known as heterotrophic succession since no autotrophs are involved in the process
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During autogenic succession what happens to the speices diversity, habitat variety, productivity, complexity of food webs, stability and productivity?
They all increase
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Loss of complexity in ecosystems can be brought about by...?
- Monoculture
- Eutrophication
- Toxic pollution
- Habitat destruction
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