Succession animation

Succession animation

Communities change a great deal over time especially after natural disasters like fire , flood , and even earthquakes . These disturbed areas can be colonized by a variety of species . These may be replaced as yet other species come and grow there . Primacy succession occurs when nothing exists in a particular area , like the lava from a volcano that forms land , and over time it grow something like mold or moss . This is secondary succession because it occurs where a disturbance has destroyed an existing community but left the soil intact . For

example an area which has been deforested undergo secondary succession when the trees grow again . Succession is seen constantly whether in water or on land It is the natural progression of the earth and it is a form of evolution

Question 9

Salamanders which live in the water usually have an appearance of eel because they have different needs then those salamanders which live on or mostly on land . The difference in appearance is an example of what Darwin call the survival of the fittest . Aquatic Salamanders with an eel like body were better suited to survive in the water . Therefore they were able to survive and reproduce . Whereas , salamanders who had limbs died off and were not able to reproduce

Mussels

Evolution usually takes a very long time to see . This is why the mussels which have now become a nuisance in the Great Lakes is quite a find for scientists . Mussels ' nature predators are crabs which have the ability to snap open the muscles and crab their shells . This is an important predator prey relationship because it keeps the mussel population in check while feeding the crabs which actually act as food for humans in the regions . The ideas of the food and energy chains are central to the concept of evolution and the maintenance of balance within a community and therefore within a ecosystem . However , mussels have evolved quite rapidly an in the last 30 years scientists have been able to observe drastic changes in the muscles . These changes are exactly what Darwin would have called survival of the fittest or natural selection . Mussels with hard shells are now dominate in the mussel community . Why ? Because they are the only mussels to survive the attack of a crab . Hardness of the shell is built into genetic code or DNA which means that only mussels with hard shells survive to mate , and reproduce . This is because mussels with soft shells are eaten by the crab and are not able to produce offspring (because they are dead This is great for the mussel - happy as a clam because it can live freely now . Of course this is a major issue for the crab , lake wildlife , and humans . Mussels are now able to grow out of control without a natural predator . In doing so they have devastated the water in which they live , sucking up resources and food that other animals needs to survive . They are no longer...