MODULE 2

ECOSYSTEM

Overview
• Earth has many different climates—long-term weather patterns—based primarily
on temperature and precipitation differences.
• Characteristic organisms have adapted to each climate within large regions
called biomes
• A biome is a large area characterized by its vegetation, soil, climate, and wildlife.
There are five major types of biomes: aquatic, grassland, forest, desert,
and tundra.
• Some of these biomes can be further divided into more specific categories, such
as freshwater, marine, savanna, tropical rainforest, temperate rainforest, and
taiga.
• Plants, animals, and other organisms evolve adaptations to suit them to the
abiotic factors in their biome. Abiotic factors to which they adapt include
temperature, moisture, growing season, and soil. This is why the same type of
biome in different parts of the world has organisms with similar adaptations.
• This module will introduce the different types of biomes as well as the factors
affecting the distribution of species on different biomes. Furthermore, it will also
 discuss the importance of adaptation through natural selection which organisms
need in order to respond to the environmental changes.
At the end of the lesson the students should be able to:
1. Define biome and discuss how biomes are related to climate.
2. Briefly describe the nine major terrestrial biomes, giving attention to the climate,
soil, and characteristic organisms of each.
3. Summarize the important environmental factors that affect aquatic ecosystems.
4. Describe the various aquatic ecosystems, giving attention to the environmental
characteristics of each.
5. Define evolution.
6. Explain the four conditions necessary for evolution by natural selection to occur.
7. Define ecological succession.
8. Distinguish between primary and secondary succession.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Earth’s Major Biomes

• Earth has many different climates—long-term weather patterns—based primarily
on temperature and precipitation differences.
• Characteristic organisms have adapted to each climate within large regions
called biomes
Biome
• A large, relatively distinct terrestrial region with similar climate, soil, plants, and
animals, regardless of where it occurs in the world.

 Each species has a unique range, the set of locations where members of that
species are found on Earth.
 A species' range depends on the biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living)
conditions it needs for survival and on geography.
 The ranges of species and the distribution of biomes (types of ecosystems) are
shaped by climate.
 A place's climate depends on global patterns of solar energy input and air flow,
as well as features like mountains and bodies of water.
Biogeography (the study of why different organisms are found in certain locations, in
certain numbers) and how species ranges are affected by climate.
What determines a species' range? 
 • Once a species has been introduced to an area, it can only survive in that area if
the conditions are right. 
• Biotic relationships are between living organisms (bio = living).
• For instance, a species may not be able to get a foothold in a given area
because a competing species, predator, or pathogen is already there, or because
no food supply is available.
What determines a species' range? 
• Another factor whether a species can live in area are abiotic, or non-living.
•  An abiotic factor is a non-living part of an ecosystem that shapes its
environment.
• In a terrestrial ecosystem, examples might include temperature, light, and water.
• In a marine ecosystem, abiotic factors would include salinity and ocean
currents.
• However, abiotic factors can also affect where species are found in less direct
ways.
• For instance, climate and soil quality directly affect the type and number of plants
that can grow in a particular area.
• Since energy enters ecosystems via plants and other primary producers, climate
and soil quality indirectly determine what other trophic level, or "food chain links,"
the ecosystem can support.
Climate is a key abiotic factor
• Climate is the key abiotic factor that determines where terrestrial (land) biomes
are found.
• Each biome has a characteristic range of temperatures and level of precipitation
(rainfall and/or snowfall).
• Climate refers to long-term, typical atmospheric conditions in an area, such as
temperature and rainfall.
• Weather refers to the same types of conditions, but on a shorter timescale. 
Types of Climate
• A: Tropical. In this hot and humid zone, the average temperatures are greater
than 64°F (18°C) year-round and there is more than 59 inches of precipitation
each year.
• B: Dry. These climate zones are so dry because moisture is rapidly evaporated
from the air and there is very little precipitation.
• C: Temperate. In this zone, there are typically warm and humid summers with
thunderstorms and mild winters.
• D. Continental. These regions have warm to cool summers and very cold
winters. In the winter, this zone can experience snowstorms, strong winds, and
very cold temperatures—sometimes falling below -22°F (-30°C)
• E: Polar. In the polar climate zones, it’s extremely cold. Even in summer, the
temperatures here never go higher than 50°F (10°C)
Factors Affecting Climate
1.  Climate changes with latitude
• There is a relationship between latitude and temperature around the world,
as temperatures are typically warmer approaching the Equator and cooler
approaching the Poles.
 • At the poles, sunlight travels a longer path through the atmosphere before
reaching the surface.
• That means more light is deflected into space by particles in the atmosphere
(and thus never reaches the surface) at the poles than at the equator
1.1 Atmosphere and climate
• Heat from the equator is transferred around the globe in three cells that connect
with each other, known as the tri-circular model.
• This creates a global pattern of atmospheric pressure and winds.
 
3 atmospheric circulation cells
Hadley Cell
• The first cell is called the Hadley cell.
• At the equator, the ground is intensely heated by the sun.
• This causes the air to rise which creates a low-pressure zone on the Earth's
surface. 
• As the air rises, it cools and forms thick cumulonimbus (storm) clouds. 
• And since cool air can't hold as much moisture as warm air, it rains a lot, enough
to make rain forests.
• The air continues to rise up to the upper atmosphere,
• The air separates and starts to move both north and south towards the poles.
• When it reaches about 30° north and south, the air cools and sinks towards the
ground forming the subtropical high-pressure zone.
• As the air sinks, it becomes warmer and drier.
• This creates an area of little cloud and low rainfall, where deserts are found.
• This giant atmospheric conveyor belt, officially called a Hadley cell, brings us
both tropical rain forests and deserts.
• So the locations of the greens and browns of the Earth come courtesy of a lot of
hot air.
Ferrel Cell
• The Ferrel cell occurs at higher latitudes (between 30 degrees and 60 degrees N
and 30 degrees and 60 degrees S)
Polar cell
• The smallest and weakest cells are the Polar cells, which extend from between
60 and 70 degrees north and south, to the poles.
2. Mountains, elevation, and climate
2.1 Elevation
• places at high elevations tend to have a colder climate than nearby low-lying
areas
2.2 Mountains
 •  They act as barriers for wind flow, which induces enhanced precipitation on the
windward side, and reduced precipitation and warmer temperatures on the
leeward side
3. Lakes, oceans, and climate
• Lakes, oceans, and streams play a vital role in climate processes by serving as
reservoirs for water, which can evaporate from the surface to fall later as rain or
snow.
• Ocean currents act much like a conveyor belt, transporting warm water and
precipitation from the equator toward the poles and cold water from the poles
back to the tropic
 Climate is a key factor that determines where different species can live. 
 Each species needs its own specific set of conditions for survival, many of which
are directly or indirectly related to climate.

MAJOR BIOMES
A. TUNDRA
1. Location:
• Tundra form in two distinct cold and dry regions. 
• Arctic tundra are found on high-latitude landmasses, above the Arctic Circle
• Alpine tundra are located at very high elevations atop mountains, where
overnight temperatures fall below freezing.
2. Features:
• The word “tundra” derives from the Finnish word tunturia, meaning barren or
treeless hill. It is noted for its frost-molded landscapes, extremely low
temperatures, little precipitation, poor nutrients, and short growing seasons.
• Dead organic material functions as a nutrient pool.
• The two major nutrients are nitrogen and phosphorus.
• Nitrogen is created by biological fixation, and phosphorus is created by
precipitation.
• Tundra has low primary productivity
• The soil in the Arctic is largely permafrost or soil that remains frozen year-round
3. FLORA
• low shrubs, sedges, reindeer mosses, liverworts, and grasses
• 400 varieties of flowers
• crustose and foliose lichen
4. FAUNA
• Herbivorous mammals: lemmings, voles, caribou, arctic hares and squirrels
• Carnivorous mammals: arctic foxes, wolves, and polar bears
• Migratory birds: ravens, snow buntings, falcons, loons, sandpipers, terns, snow
birds, and various species of gulls
 • Insects: mosquitoes, flies, moths, grasshoppers, blackflies and arctic bumble
bees
• Fish: cod, flatfish, salmon, and trout
5. THREATS TO PEOPLE
• Though the tundra is remote, it is increasingly threatened as people encroach on
it to build or drill for oil.
• Warming temperatures could disrupt the cold tundra biome
B. TAIGA (BOREAL FOREST)
1. LOCATION
• The taiga is a forest of the cold, subarctic region.
• The taiga lies between the tundra to the north and temperate forests to the south.
2. Features:
• The soil beneath the taiga often contains permafrost—a layer of permanently
frozen soil. In other areas, a layer of bedrock lies just beneath the soil.
3. FLORA AND FUNGI
• Coniferous trees, such as spruce, pine, and fir, are common. 
• The larch is one of the only deciduous trees able to survive in the freezing
northern taiga.
• Instead of shrubs and flowers, mosses, lichens, and mushrooms cover the floor
of a taiga.
4. FAUNA
• Herbivorous mammals: Moose, the largest type of deer in the world
•  Carnivorous mammals: Bears and lynx ; Siberian tiger (largest cat in the world)
• Migratory birds: woodpeckers, finches, nuthatches, chickadees, owls, grouse,
and ravens
• Insects: ants, mosquitoes, spruce bark beetles and aspen leaf miners
(summertime)
• Fish: Alaska blackfish, lake and round whitefish, brook trout, Siberian
taimen, walleye, white and longnose sucker, chum salmon, cisco, lake chub,
lenok
5. THREATS TO PEOPLE
• Taiga ecosystems are threatened by direct human activity and climate change.
• Animals of the taiga, such as foxes or bears, have always been hunted.
• Clearcutting is the most popular type of logging in taigas.
• Warming climate contributes to a partial thawing of the permafrost.
C. RAINFOREST
1. LOCATION
• Rainforests thrive on every continent except Antarctica.
• The largest rainforests on Earth surround the Amazon River in South America
and the Congo River in Africa.
• The tropical islands of Southeast Asia and parts of Australia
support dense rainforest habitats.
• Even the cool evergreen forests of North America’s Pacific Northwest and
Northern Europe are a type of rainforest.
2. Features:
 • A rainforest is an area of tall, mostly evergreen trees and a high amount of
rainfall. 
• They are incredibly diverse and complex, home to more than half of the world’s
plant and animal species—even though they cover just 6% of Earth’s surface. 
• Rainforests help regulate our climate and provide us with everyday products. 
3. FLORA
• Orchids, Philodendrons, Ferns, Bromeliads, Kapok Trees, Banana Trees, Rubber
Trees, Bam- boo, Trees, Cassava Trees, Avocado Trees.
4. FAUNA
• Rainforests are populated with insects (like butterflies and beetles), arachnids
(like spiders and ticks), worms, reptiles (like snakes and lizards), amphibians (like
frogs and toads), birds (like parrots and toucans)
and mammals (like sloths and jaguars).
5. STRUCTURE
Emergent Layer 
• The top layer of the rainforest is the emergent layer. 
Canopy Layer 
• Beneath the emergent layer is the canopy, a deep layer of vegetation roughly 6
meters (20 feet) thick.
• The canopy blocks winds, rainfall, and sunlight, creating a humid, still, and dark
environment below.
Understory Layer
• Located several meters below the canopy, the understory is an even darker,
stiller, and more humid environment. 
Forest Floor Layer 
• The forest floor is the darkest of all rainforest layers, making it extremely difficult
for plants to grow. Leaves that fall to the forest floor decay quickly. 
6. TYPES
A. Tropical rainforests
• are found in Central and South America, western and central Africa, western
India, Southeast Asia, the island of New Guinea, and Australia. 
• Such ample sunlight and moisture are the essential building blocks for tropical
rainforests’ diverse flora and fauna.
• Tropical rainforests are the most biologically diverse terrestrial ecosystems in the
world.
• The Amazon rainforest is the world’s largest tropical rainforest.
B. Temperate Rainforest
• Are found on the coasts of the Pacific Northwest in North America, Chile, the
United Kingdom, Norway, Japan, New Zealand, and southern Australia. 
• Are located in the mid-latitudes, where temperatures are much more mild than
the tropics.
• Are found mostly in coastal, mountainous areas. 
• Tropical rainforests are the most biologically diverse terrestrial ecosystems in the
world.
•  Are much cooler than their tropical cousins.
7. THREATS TO PEOPLE
 •  Rampant deforestation could cause many important rainforest habitats to
disappear completely within the next hundred years. 
• In the Pacific Northwest’s rainforests, logging companies cut down trees
for timber while paper industries use the wood for pulp
D. DECIDUOUS FOREST
1. LOCATION
• Located in eastern North America, Western Europe, and northeastern Asia
2. Features:
• A deciduous forest is a biome dominated by deciduous trees which lose their
leaves seasonally. 
3. FLORA
• Deciduous forests are home to trees such as oak, birch, beech, aspen, elm and
maple.
• Tropical and subtropical forests also have teak trees, palm trees and bamboo.
• Plants found in these forests include flowers, ferns, mosses and herbs.
4. FAUNA
• Animals inhabiting deciduous forests include insects, spiders, reptiles and birds.
Mice, rabbits, foxes, deer, otters, and bears.
• Tropical and subtropical deciduous forests are also home to mammals such as
elephants, monkeys, tigers, and giraffes.

5. TYPES
A. Tropical /Subtropical Deciduous Forest
• Trees in tropical deciduous forests lose their leaves in the dry season and regrow
them in the rainy season.
• Tropical and subtropical deciduous forests have a very tight temperature range
between 68°F to 77°F.
• Tropical and subtropical forest canopies are dense and have several layers.

B. Temperate Deciduous Forest

• In temperate deciduous forests, trees lose their leaves in the fall and regrow
them in the spring.
• Temperate deciduous forests also have precipitation in the form of snow.
• Temperate forest canopies let more light reach the forest floor, creating more
plant and animal diversity.
6. THREATS TO PEOPLE
•  Logging, conversion of the land into agriculture, deforestation for housing
development, forest fires, and farming
E. GRASSLAND
1. LOCATION
• In the U.S. Midwest, they're often called prairies.
• In South America, they're known as pampas.
• Central Eurasian grasslands are referred to as steppes, while African grasslands
are savannas.
• In fact, grasslands often lie between forests and deserts.
2. Features:
 • Grassland biomes consist of large open areas of grass.
• Trees can be present, but they are infrequent. 
• In grassland regions, the climate is ideal for the growth of grasses only.
• The low precipitation rates are enough to nourish grasses but not enough for a
forest of trees. 
• Prairies are grasslands with tall grasses while steppes are grasslands with short
grasses. Prairie and
3. FLORA
• The various species of grasses include purple needlegrass, blue grama, buffalo
grass, and galleta.
• Flowers include asters, blazing
stars,coneflowers, goldenrods, sunflowers, clovers, psoraleas, and wild indigos.
4. FAUNA
• The fauna (which do not all occur in the same temperate grassland) include
gazelles, zebras, rhinoceroses, wild horses, lions, wolves, prairie dogs, jack
rabbits, deer, mice, coyotes, foxes, skunks, badgers, blackbirds, grouses,
meadowlarks, quails, sparrows, hawks, owls, snakes, grasshoppers,
leafhoppers, and spiders.

5. TYPES
A. Savanna
• Savannas are present in areas that have a warm climate with a rainy season and
a dry season.
• Most of the precipitation falls during just a few months of the year
• Savannas and their abundant wildlife are famous in Africa, but savannas can
also be found in South America, Asia, and Australia.
B. Temperate Grassland
• Temperate grasslands, on the other hand, are known for their rich soil that yields
abundant growth of grasses.  
• Temperate grasslands are found in places such as North America and Eastern
Europe.
•  Trees and large shrubs are absent.
• Temperatures vary more from summer to winter, and the amount of rainfall is
less in temperate grasslands than in savannas.
6. THREATS TO PEOPLE
•  Conversion of the land into agriculture,  illegal hunting has resulted in the loss of
many large animals, including elephants.
F. CHAPARRAL
1. LOCATION
• Chaparral biome is found in small sections of most continents, including the west
coast of the United States, the west coast of South America, the Cape Town area
of South Africa, the western tip of Australia and the coastal areas of the
Mediterranean.
2. Features:
 • It is also called the Mediterranean Forest, Woodland, and Scrub biome. 
• The chaparral is characterized as being very hot and dry.
• The winter is very mild and is usually about 50°F (10°C).
• Most of the rain in this biome comes in the winter.
• The summer is hot and dry at up to 100°F (37.5°C).
3. FLORA
• Most chaparral plants have large, hard leaves, which hold moisture.
• Toyon, chamise, poison oak, scrub oak, Yucca and other shrubs, trees and cacti.
4. FAUNA
• In California: Coyotes, jack rabbits, mule deer, alligator lizards, horned toads,
praying mantis, honey bees and ladybugs.
• In Europe: wild goats, sheep, cattle, mouflon, horses, lynx, wild boar, rabbits,
vultures and eagles. 
5. THREATS TO PEOPLE
• The biggest threat to a chaparral biome is wild fires and human development.
• Also habitat destruction, air pollution, water pollution, climate change, and global
warming.
G. DESERT
1. LOCATION
• Deserts are often found towards the west of continents.
Some deserts are found on the western edges of continents.
• Although most deserts, such as the Sahara of North Africa and the deserts of
the southwestern U.S., Mexico, and Australia, occur at low latitudes.
• Desert, cold deserts, occur in the basin and range area of Utah and Nevada and
in parts of western Asia.
2. Features:
• Deserts are found on every continent and cover about one-fifth of Earth’s land
area. 
• Some deserts are mountainous. Others are dry expanses of rock, sand, or salt
flats.
• The regions that are deserts today were not always so dry.
• Humidity—water vapor in the air—is near zero in most deserts.
• Light rains often evaporate in the dry air, never reaching the ground.
• Rainfall is usually very low and/or concentrated in short bursts between long
rainless periods.  
• Desert humidity is usually so low that not enough water vapor exists to form
clouds.
• Even in a desert, water and wind eventually wear away softer rock.
• Wind is the primary sculptor of a desert’s hills of sand, called dunes.
3. FLORA
• Some desert plants, such as cactuses, have shallow, wide-spreading root
systems.
• A large saguaro is a living storage tower that can hold hundreds of liters of water.
4. FAUNA
• Animals that live in deserts include lizards, geckos, toads, jackrabbits, camels,
snakes, spiders and meerkats.
5. TYPES
A. Subtropical Deserts
• A subtropical desert is a type of ecosystem, or biome, that is characterized by
high temperatures, very low precipitation and warm soils. 
B. Coastal Deserts
• Coastal deserts are found on coasts, where the land meets the ocean.
C. Rain Shadow Deserts
• A rain shadow is a patch of land that has been forced to become
a desert because mountain ranges blocked all plant-growing, rainy weather
D. Interior Deserts
• Interior deserts, which are found in the heart of continents, exist because no
moisture-laden winds reach them.
E. Polar Deserts
• Parts of the Arctic and the Antarctic are classified as deserts.
• These polar deserts contain great quantities of water, but most of it is locked
in glaciers and ice sheets year-round. 
6. THREATS TO PEOPLE
• Human activities are a primary cause of desertification. These activities
include overgrazing of livestock, deforestation, overcultivation of farmland, and
poor irrigation practices. 
• Aquatic ecosystems include oceans, lakes, rivers, streams, estuaries, and
wetlands.
• Within these aquatic ecosystems are living things that depend on the water for
survival, such as fish, plants, and microorganisms.
Aquatic ecosystems contain three main ecological categories of organisms:
A. free-floating plankton
B. strongly swimming nekton, and
C. bottom-dwelling benthos.
Plankton are usually small or microscopic organisms.
 They tend to drift or swim feebly, so, for the most part, they are carried about at
the mercy of currents and waves.
Nekton are larger, more strongly swimming organisms such as fishes, turtles, and
whales.
Benthos are bottom-dwelling organisms that fix themselves to one spot, burrow into the
sand or simply walk about on the bottom.

Freshwater Ecosystem
• It include lakes and ponds (standingwater ecosystems), rivers and streams
(flowing-water ecosystems), and marshes and swamps (freshwater
wetlands).
• Freshwater ecosystems occupy only about 2 percent of Earth’s surface.
• They help recycle precipitation that flows into the ocean as surface runoff.

A. Standing-water ecosystem
• A body of fresh water surrounded by land and whose water does not flow; a lake
or a pond.
 • Zonation is characteristic of standing-water ecosystems.
• A lake is a standing-water ecosystem surrounded by land.

Zonation refers to the patterns that are observed in a community over a distance,

based on the distinct fauna and flora found along the area. 
•  Littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the
shore.
• Limnetic zone includes all the waters beyond the littoral zone and down to the
light compensation level.
• Profundal zone if found at the bottom or in deep area of freshwater ecosystems
which lies beyond the depth of effective light penetration
• Benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water.

Eutrophication is predominantly caused by human actions due to their dependence on

using nitrate and phosphate fertilizers.

B. Flowing-water ecosystem
• A freshwater ecosystem such as a river or stream in which water flows in a
current.
• Human activities such as pollution and dam construction have adverse
impacts on rivers and streams.

C. Freshwater Wetlands
• Areas where standing water covers the soil or an area where the ground is very
wet
• Freshwater wetlands include marshes, dominated by grass like plants, and
swamps, dominated by woody trees or shrubs

Brackish Ecosystems: Estuaries

• An estuary is an area where a freshwater river or stream meets the ocean.
• In estuaries, the salty ocean mixes with a freshwater river, resulting in brackish
water.
• Brackish water is somewhat salty, but not as salty as the ocean.
• An estuary may also be called a bay, lagoon, sound, or slough.

When Fresh water meets Saltwater

• When fresh water and saltwater meet in an estuary, they do not always mix very

readily.
•  Fresh water flowing into the estuary is less salty and less dense than water from
the ocean, it often floats on top of the heavier seawater.

Population Responses to Changing Conditions over Time: Evolution

 • Scientists think all of Earth’s remarkable variety of organisms descended from
earlier species by a process known as evolution.
• Charles Darwin (1809–1882), a 19thcentury naturalist, proposed the mechanism
of evolution that today’s scientific community still accepts
• A population, inherited traits favorable to survival in a given environment tended
to be preserved over successive generations, whereas unfavorable traits were
eliminated

Adaptation is the biological mechanism by which organisms adjust to new

environments or to changes in their current environment.
• Darwin proposed the theory of evolution by natural selection in his monumental
book The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, which was published
in 1859.
• It discusses on the process by which organisms change over time as a result of
changes in heritable physical or behavioral traits.

Natural selection
• It is the process through which populations of living organisms adapt and
change.

Photo credit: expii.com

Four phenomena or conditions are the basis of natural selection.

1. High reproductive capacity.

• Each species produces more offspring than will survive to maturity.
• Natural populations have the reproductive potential to increase their numbers
continuously over time
 2. Limits on population growth, or a struggle for existence.
• This states that individuals will compete for limited resources.
• The successful ones will survive to pass on their own characteristics and traits to
the next generation at a greater rate. 
3. Heritable variation
• The individuals in a population exhibit variation.
• Each individual has a unique combination of traits, such as size, color, and
ability to tolerate harsh environments.
• It is important to remember that the variation necessary for evolution by natural
selection must be inherited so that it can be passed to offspring.
4. Differential reproductive success.
• Individuals that possess the most favorable combination of characteristics are
more likely than others to survive, reproduce, and pass their traits to the next
generation

Population Responses to Changing Conditions over Time: Evolution

• Darwin could not explain how this occurs or why individuals within a population
vary.
• Beginning in the 1930s and 1940s, biologists combined the principles of genetics
with Darwin’s theory of natural selection.
• The Modern Synthesis describes the fusion of Mendelian genetics with Darwinian
evolution that resulted in a unified theory of evolution.
• It is sometimes referred to as the Neo-Darwinian theory. 
• It explains Darwin’s observation of variation among offspring in terms of
mutation, or changes in DNA.
• Mutations provide the genetic variability on which natural selection acts during
evolution

Community Responses to Changing Conditions over Time: Succession

• Community of organisms does not spring into existence full blown.

• By means of ecological succession, a given community develops gradually
through a sequence of species.
• Certain organisms colonize an area; over time, others replace them, and
eventually the replacements are themselves replaced by still other species
Ecological succession
• The process of community development over time, which involves species in one
stage being replaced by different species.
Henry Cowles was the first ecologist to thoroughly characterize successional patterns,
which he did in his classic 1899 study of sand dunes along the shores of Lake Michigan.
• Cowles described the chronosequence of vegetation along sand dunes, moving
from bare sand beach, to grasslands, to mature forests.
 Primary succession occurs in an area that has not been previously occupied by a
community. Places where primary succession occurs include newly exposed rock
areas, sand dunes, and lava flows.
• The first organisms to appear in areas of primary succession are often mosses or
lichens.
• These organisms are known as pioneer species because they are the first
species present.
• Primary succession on bare rock from a pioneer community to a forest
community often occurs in this sequence: lichens à mosses à grasses à
shrubs à trees.
• The process of primary succession can take hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Secondary succession occurs in areas that have been disturbed.

• The causes of these disturbances may be natural or human-made.
• Secondary succession may occur in abandoned crop fields, cutover forests,
areas damaged by wind storms or floods, and other previously occupied regions.
• Plant and animal communities already existed before the disturbance that leads
to secondary succession.
• The process of secondary succession can reestablish an ecosystem’s climax
communities in as few as 50 years.
• The ecosystem’s animal populations are also established more quickly during
secondary succession.

PRACTICE TASK 1
Research for a climate change and biodiversity documentary in youtube or any legal website.
Make a reflection out of this video in a bond paper.
• Your reflection paper must consist of the following:
a. Introduction
b. Reaction
c. Conclusion
d. Reference/s
Note: Proper citation will be observed.
PRACTICE TASK 2

How this types of evidence support the evolution?