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2-6: Succession
Ecological succession and role of disturbance
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| stable conditions | When the environment stays mostly the same over time, making it easier for living things to survive. |
| changing conditions | When the environment goes through changes, like temperature shifts or natural disasters, which can affect living things. |
| ecological succession | The natural process of change in an ecosystem over time, where one group of plants and animals is slowly replaced by another. |
| hunting | When animals (including humans) catch and kill other animals for food, which can affect the balance of an ecosystem. |
| seasonal floods | Flooding that happens during certain times of the year, often caused by heavy rain or melting snow, which can change habitats. |
| volcanic eruption | When a volcano explodes and releases lava, ash, and gases, which can destroy ecosystems but also create new land. |
| sea level rise | When the level of the ocean gets higher, often due to melting ice and climate change, which can flood coastal areas. |
| disturbance | Any event that changes an ecosystem, like a fire, storm, or human activity. |
| resilient | The ability of an ecosystem or organism to recover after a disturbance or change. |
| fluctuations | Ups and downs or changes in conditions, like temperature or population size, over time. |
| Tides | the regular rise and fall of ocean water caused by the pull of the moon and the sun on Earth. |
| Biodiversity | the variety of living things in an area, including plants, animals, and microorganisms. |
| Storms | strong weather events with heavy rain, wind, thunder, lightning, or snow that can change the environment quickly. |
| Global warming | the rise in Earth’s average temperature caused by too much greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. |
| Salinity | how much salt is in water. Oceans have high salinity, while freshwater lakes have low salinity. |
| Erosion | when wind, water, or ice wears away rocks and soil and moves them to a new place. |
| Global climate change | the long-term change in Earth’s weather patterns, including temperature, rainfall, and storms, often caused by human activity. |
| Extrapolation | using known information to guess what might happen in the future or in a different situation. |
| keystone species | an animal or plant that has a big effect on its ecosystem. If it disappears, the whole ecosystem can change. |
| Endangered | a species is at risk of disappearing forever because there are very few left. |
| ecological succession | when a disturbed area is colonized by new plant species which are gradually replaced by a community of other plant species |
| primary succession | begins in a virtually lifeless area with no soil such as areas of rubble left by a retreating glacier or fresh volcanic lava flows. |
| secondary succession | occurs when a disturbance destroys an existing community but leaves the soil intact, for example: an abandoned farm field returns to forest. |
| invasive species | organisms that have been introduced into a different community by human activity |
| expelled | forced out or released from a place or organism |
| disrupts | interferes with or prevents something from working normally |
| optimal | the best or most effective condition, amount, or level |
| reintroduction | the process of returning a species to an area where it once lived but had disappeared |
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