Succession Types and Animal Behavior

1. The two types of succession are primary succession and secondary succession. Primary succession is the biotic succession which occurs on lifeless, unoccupied areas. Primary succession starts from scratch. Primary succession takes an extremely wrong time for completion, about 1000 years or more. It occurs in regions in which the soil is incapable of sustaining life. There is no humus in the beginning. Secondary succession occurs in a previously inhabited area which has artificially or naturally been disturbed. IN secondary succession, there is still soil with nutrients and some organisms still live there. This process is quicker than primary succession. There is humus present since the very beginning. They both create their communities with many changes over time. They both lead to a climax community which is a stable community. In both, succession begins with the colonization and activity of the pioneer species.

2. Diagram

1. The fire burns the forest to the ground

2. The fire leaves behind empty, but not destroyed soil

3. Grasses and other herbaceous plants grow back first

4. Small bushes and trees begin to colonize the public area

5. Fast growing evergreen trees and bamboo trees develop to their fullest, while shade-tolerant trees develop in the understory

6. The short-lived and shade intolerant evergreen trees die as the larger deciduous trees overtop them. The ecosystem is now back to a similar state to where it began.

1.Innate behavior is instinctual and genetic. It results from the genes inherited by an organism from its parents. Some examples of behaviors that aren’t learned are birds migrating south, bears hibernating, bats hanging upside down to sleep, dogs drooling, etc. Learned behaviors are behaviors that must be directly taught or learned from experience. Some examples of learned behavior are teaching a dog how to roll over or fetch a toy, young wolves learning how to be better hunters by watching and copying the skills of older wolves in their pack, and how some monkeys have learned to wash their food by watching and copying the behavior of other monkeys, etc.

2. The experiment I will conduct will be how a female stalk-eyed fly picks the mate the want to reproduce with. PROBLEM: What type of male fly are females most likely to mate with? HYPOTHESIS: If females had to choose a fly to mate with, then she would choose the healthier flies. MATERIALS: 300 female flies, 150 male flies with short eye stalks, 150 male flies with long eye stalks, 3 jars PROCEDURE: Take 100 females who are ready to mate in a jar with 100 of the short stalked flies. Take another 100 females and put them in a jar with 100 males who have long eye stalks. Then record the frequency