Ecosystem Interactions and Ecological Succession

1. Ecosystem Interactions and Ecological Succession

2. Vocabulary • Adaptations • Natural selections • Commensalism • Predator • Secondary succession • Organism that kills another for food • Process by which desirable characteristics become more common in species • Succession that occurs where an ecosystem exists but has been disturbed • Relationship in nature where one species benefits while the other is unharmed • Characteristics that allow organisms to live successfully in their environment

3. Vocabulary • Mutualism • Pioneer species • Succession • Climax community • Niche • Final stage of ecological succession; represents a stable community • Plants or communities that are the 1st to be established during a succession • Relationship in nature where both species benefit • Role of an organism in its habitat; sometimes referred to as its job • Process of ecological change in which a series of natural communities are established and then replaced over time

4. Vocabulary • Symbiosis • Parasitism • Primary succession • Prey • Competition • When one organism lives on or in another organism causing it harm • Organism that is killed for food • Close relationship between two species that benefits at least one of the species • Succession that takes place in an area originally completely empty of life • Struggle between organisms to survive as they use the same limited resources

5. Put the ponds in order of succession from youngest to oldest 2nd 3rd 1st 4th

6. Commensalism; Mutualism; Parasitism • Saguaro cactus and long-eared bats—bats eat the flower which provides food and the pollen from the cactus is carried to another plant on a bat’s nose • Tapeworm that lives inside the digestive system of dogs, wolves, and other mammals • Hawks build a nest in the cactus tree. The cactus tree is not affected by the hawks.

7. Fill-in the blank… • _____ is the end result of natural selection. • Mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism are examples of _____. • When a tick is living on a dog, the dog is the _____. • Pioneer species in primary succession are _____ and _____. • Pioneer species in secondary succession are _____, _____, and _____. adaptation symbiosis host lichens mosses grasses shrubs weeds

8. Questions… • Why can’t 2 organisms occupy the same niche? • What is a series of changes that occur after a disturbance in an existing ecosystem? • What defense strategy was used in the prey activity with the colored chips and cloth? • A shark eats a fish. Which is the prey? They will compete for the same limited resources and one would die off Secondary succession Camouflage Fish

9. Compare and contrast Primary succession Secondary succession • Lichens and mosses • No soil • No previous life • Grasses, weeds, and shrubs • Soil already exists • Previous life once existed

10. Describe the process… • Ecological succession- • Cleared, abandoned field to a mature forest (include pioneer species, shade tolerant, and climax forest)