A new island formed by volcanic action may eventually become populated with living organism as a result of?

Ecological succession

Succession as progressive change in an ecological community. Primary vs. secondary succession. The idea of a climax community.

Key points

Succession is a series of progressive changes in the composition of an ecological community over time.

In primary succession, newly exposed or newly formed rock is colonized by living things for the first time.

In secondary succession, an area previously occupied by living things is disturbed—disrupted—then recolonized following the disturbance.

Introduction

Have you ever looked at a landscape with a complex, diverse community of plants and animals—such as a forest—and wondered how it came to be? Once upon a time, that land must have been empty rock, yet today, it supports a rich ecological community consisting of populations of different species that live together and interact with one another. Odds are, that didn't happen overnight!

Ecologists have a strong interest in understanding how communities form and change over time. In fact, they have spent a lot of time observing how complex communities, like forests, arise from empty land or bare rock. They study, for example, sites where volcanic eruptions, glacier retreats, or wildfires have taken place, clearing land or exposing rock.

In studying these sites over time, ecologists have seen gradual processes of change in ecological communities. In many cases, a community arising in a disturbed area goes through a series of shifts in composition, often over the course of many years. This series of changes is called ecological succession.

Succession

Ecological succession is a series of progressive changes in the species that make up a community over time. Ecologists usually identify two types of succession, which differ in their starting pExplanation: