Review Questions

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1. How do ecologists distinguish between primary and secondary succession?

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2. When using a chronosequence to document the pathway of succession, what are the assumptions?

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3. How would a trade-off between dispersal ability and competitive ability affect which types of species could colonize small as opposed to large gaps in a community?

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4. Why should we not expect a single climax community within a biome?

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5. Compare and contrast the concepts of facilitation, inhibition, and tolerance in the context of ecological succession.

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6. If two plant species have similar dispersal and competitive abilities, what factor might help determine which species occupies an early seral stage?

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7. Compare the classic and modern explanations for the succession of ponds and lakes.

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8. When a community experiences succession, why does the species richness of a community initially increase, then plateau, and finally decline?

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9. Why do early- and late-succession species tend to possess different adaptations?

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10. Why are transient climaxes not stable?

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