How do ecosystems change over time?

How do ecosystems change over time? ???

Seuss Forest

Year 1:Pioneer Plants: Weeds Seuss Forest What’s going to happen in the next 100 yrs???

Year 1:Pioneer Plants: Weeds Seuss Forest Year 2: Shrubs move in Competition!

Seuss Forest Year 1:Pioneer Plants: Weeds Year 2: Shrubs move in Year 10: Pine trees dominate

Seuss Forest Year 1:Pioneer Plants: Weeds Year 2: Shrubs move in Year 10: Pine trees dominate Year 100: Maples Dominate Maple seedlings out compete pine tree seedlings. What will happen over time? Year 20: A mixture

Cleared Field

Pioneer Plants

Pioneer Community

Shrubs begin to grow

Pines 1st dominant community

Maple climax community

From rock to soil? • Video • Lichens- Every lichen is a partnership usually between a fungus and an algae. The fungus protects the alga from the harsh world outside, and provides it with water and mineral nutrients. The alga makes its own food by photosynthesis, and leaks some of this food, which is then absorbed by the fungus (which cannot make its own food). • What kind of relationship is this?

Examples • Primary Succession: Volcanic islands • Lichens grow on rocks and break them apart to allow plants to start growing

Page 17 • In a natural____________, a series of changes takes place. On a bare field, the ___________ plants grow first. When one type of plant is most numerous, we call it ____________. At the end of a succession, there is a __________ community. Pioneer Succession Dominant Shrubs Climax

A. In a succession, a pine forest comes ( ) a maple forest • B. When weeds and shrubs compete in a field, the shrubs ( ) • C. After ( ) plants are dominant, no more changes occur Before Win Climax

Page 16 • 1.Stage 1 • 2. Grasshoppers die out after stage one because the lack of grasses • 3. High Trees • 4. It shaded them out • 5. Short-Tailed Shrew. • Info: The short-tailed shrew digs through the forest litter or tunnels in moist soil, and is active mostly during early morning and late afternoon. Its diet is principally earth-worms, snails, and insects but fungus, various invertebrates, and occasionally small vertebrate animals are also eaten.

Ticket out • Put these pictures in successional order (if you think picture 3 is the first stage, then list it first) 1 2 3 4

Succession the series of predictable changes that occur in a community over time Interactions Change over time Disturbances Competition Predictable patters Vary in extent and intensity Facilitation (one makes the environment better for another) Forest fire, tree fall, glacier movement, flood... lichens - grass - shrubs - trees Not necessarily a bad thing Tolerance Plant communities, and therefore animal communities, change in an ecosystem over time in response to different disturbances. This change over time is often quite predictable and usually creates a balanced ecosystem through members interacting with each other and their environment

How do ecosystems change over time?