ExploringtheWildwoodsofSaskatoon: TheEcologyofaPlantedForest(96 pages)
Place-Based Activity Worksheets Book Two
By Norm Lipinski http://friendsareas.caSuccession Worksheet
Name:
1. The diagrams below illustrate the stages of primary succession, but they are out of order. Write a number in the blank below each diagram to give the correct sequence of succession, with 1 for the earliest stage and 8 for the deciduous forest climax stage1 .
1diagrams by Joshfn, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
2. Identify the following as examples of primary or secondary succession. Write your answers in the blanks provided.
a) Approximately 12,000 years ago glaciers retreated from Saskatoon, leaving rocks and debris of various sizes behind. primary
b) A logging company takes all the trees out of a large forested area, leaving a large clearing. secondary
c) A farmer decides to let a cultivated field go back to nature. secondary
d) A landslide in the mountains covers all the vegetation in a valley and creates a new lake. primary
e) A golf course owner cleans all the vegetation out of water body in order to create a water trap. Over time, the vegetation returns. secondary
ExploringtheWildwoodsofSaskatoon: TheEcologyofaPlantedForest(96 pages)
Place-Based Activity Worksheets Book Two
By Norm Lipinski http://friendsareas.ca3. Succession can also occur in lakes and ponds. Chappell Marsh, for instance, will slowly fill in with dust from the air, sediment brought in by erosion and decaying plant matter. The area of open water will get smaller and smaller. Willow and Poplar will grow on the edges of the pond. Eventually most of the marsh area will become a bluff of Poplar and grasses.
a) How will this succession affect the organisms that call the pond home?
The community will slowly change. The animals that rely on open water will die or relocate first. Birds that nest on the edge of the water will find fewer and fewer places to do so. Nests that relied on water for protection from predators will be more vulnerable. More dry periods will occur, causing death of moisture sensitive species. Eventually the area will become home to primarily terrestrial species.
b) Which members of the pond community are most likely to die out? Fish, plankton, water insects, plants that root or float in water
c) Which members of the pond community could adapt or relocate?
Waterfowl, mammals that need water (muskrat, beaver), amphibians (if they can find a moist route out).
“Trees and forests are the ideal environment for man, and he should study how to help his brother tree or communities of trees and forests. The evolution of the animal and vegetable kingdoms of earth have culminated in men and trees, and they are interdependent.”
RichardSt.BarbeBaker,IPlantedTrees.