Aim: How do living and nonliving environments change over time ?

Earth Changes byFaults and their related earthquakes;

Volcanic activity;

Folded mountains;

Weathering EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL IMPACT PROCESSES

Everything changes nothing stays the same

• Changes in the Universe affect the Earth

• Changes on Earth affect the ecosystems on Earth

Ecosystems are constantly changing in response to natural and human disturbances

Primary SuccessionOccurs on newly exposed

surfaces, such as this rock.

Deposited by volcano or exposed by an earth quake.

Primary Succession

• Pioneer species

• First species to populate the area

• Lichens (symbiotic relationship between a fungus and an algae)

Primary succession

• Mosses soon appear, and grasses take root in the thin layer of soil

• Each organism in a succession changes the environment to make it possible for the next to thrive.

• Eventually tree seedlings and shrubs sprout among the plant community

Primary succession

• mosses may grow into thick cushiony carpets with great water-holding capacity, which act like sponges. These provide an ideal new environment for the germination and establishment of the seeds of other competing plants,

Climax Community

• The climax community for our original bare patch of earth would be oak woodland. As part of the natural sequence of life, trees mature and eventually die. When they fall to the ground, an opening is provided in the woodland and the process of succession will start all over again on this new opening.

Pond succession

• ecological succession from pond to woodland

• The depression in the pond will gradually fill with soil and seedlings from plants in the surrounding area will grow

• The area will look like the woodland that surrounds it in time

Succession in a woodland after a fireSecondary Succession

• Any fire has pronounced effects on a forest

Secondary succession

• Within a short period of time after the fire, the preexisting forest type will be replaced by new species

How does succession occur on a reef ball ?

• A reef ball is made from concrete poured into a fiberglass mold

• It is dropped into the sea to provide a surface for primary succession

Reef balls are used to restore Coral environments

Tropical Marine Ecosystem

Latitude

Temperature

Substrate

Coral reefs are the habitat for many

diverse marine species

Food Web in a Marine Environment

THE CREATION OF A FOOD CHAIN

• Phytoplankton and algae form on the reef ball and represent the organisms at the base of the energy pyramid.

• Invertebrates are attracted to the reef ball and form the basis of the food chain

• Fish need a great deal of food to sustain themselves, and the reef ball structures provide the place for invertebrate life