Q23 which among the following can effectively be examples of ‘Secondary Succession’?
i) Renewal of a forest after a fire
ii) Renewal of a crop after harvesting
iii) Flooded land
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
23 Ans D
Explanation:
• Secondary succession refers to the concept of an ecosystem reviving itself after all or a portion has been destroyed. The concept refers primarily to plant life and can be the result of a natural or man-made event. The primary concept is that the life was previously on the soil, eliminating the need for deposition of new seeds or soil. Secondary succession is a much more rapid process than primary succession because the soil and nutrients are already available.
Examples of secondary succession include:
• The renewal of a forest after a fire: The fire itself destroys a majority of different types of trees and plant life. Because seeds and roots and other plant and tree parts remain in and on the soil, gradually the plants and trees begin to grow again and eventually return to the state of the original ecosystem.
• The renewal of a crop after harvesting: A crop is completed harvested when it becomes ripe. Without new seeds being planted, the crop can regenerate the following year due to the plants and seeds that remained after harvesting.
• A forest renews after logging: A large amount of trees were chopped down by loggers in order to create building materials. Over time, trees grow in and the area returns to its previous state.
• A volcanic eruption: In an area where a volcano erupts, lava may cause some damage to the plant and tree life. Over a span of years, however, if there was land that had been affected by the eruption but not necessarily covered in new volcanic rock, the seeds and plant parts and roots in the soil could renew.
• On the island of Lawahii, several centuries ago, a fire erupted that caused the destruction of all plants and vegetation. Many years later, the plants and vegetation had grown back in, as the nutrients, seeds and soil remained.
• Renewal after disease: A plant population can be very negatively affected by a variety of infectious plant diseases. If the entire population dies, but the soil and roots remain, it is possible for secondary succession to occur and for the population of those plants to to return.
• A flood can ruin farmlands. However, because the soil remains after the waters recede, over the course of many years a natural secondary succession can occur and the vegetation that had previously grown there can grow again