Describe the three factors ecologists have identified that affect how and at what rate succession occurs.
What will be an ideal response?
The first factor that affects how and at what rate succession occurs is facilitation. This is when one set of species makes an area suitable for species with different niche requirements, and often less suitable for itself. For example, lichens and mosses gradually build up soil on rocks in primary succession, which allows grasses and other plants to move in and crowd out the lichens and mosses. The second factor is inhibition, in which some species hinder the establishment and growth of other species. For example, needles dropping off some pine trees make the soil beneath the trees too acidic for most other plants to grow there. The third factor is tolerance, whereby plants in the late stages of succession succeed because they are not in direct competition with other plants for key resources. For example, shade-tolerant species can live in shady forests because they do not need as much sunlight as the trees above them do.
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Practitioners of shifting cultivation usually begin the process of clearing a new field when
A) the government tells them to do so. B) they are certain the last frost is past. C) the soil of the old field is depleted of nutrients. D) the women vote to do so. E) seasonal and annual rainfall patterns shift.
Orogenesis occurs along mobile belts
a. True b. False
Match the following pyroclastic materials in order from smallest to largest
A) Neither smallest nor largest B) Smallest C) Largest 1) Volcanic bombs 2) Ash 3) Lapilli
Which nation of the Middle East has attempted, albeit unsuccessfully, to gain membership into the European Union?
A) Turkey B) Israel C) Iran D) Morocco E) Lebanon