Animals and plants will move into and inhabit a newly formed area. This process is called
succession and continues until
climax communities develop. In other words, an ecosystem can only support a limited amount of life - be it plant or animal. Anything in excess of this limit will not be able to survive because of natural mechanisms for population control.
This ecosystem may support the same species as other ecosystems that have developed in the same ecological
region, depending on climate and geographical properties.
There are actually two types of succession -- primary
and secondary. Primary succession often takes place when a new piece of
land emerges or comes into existence through events like the slow and
steady retreat of a glacier or the drying up of a riverbed.
Secondary succession is generally the result of the
disturbance of an ecosystem. This can occur either through natural
events such as a forest fire, or through man-made destruction such as
clear-cutting.
One similarity between the two types of succession is
that they both lead to an increase in the biomass of the area.
[What is
an Ecosystem?][How Ecosystems
Develop]
[Changing Ecosystems][Population
Controls]
[Food Webs][Plant
Life]
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