Soil Profile
The soil is shallow, rocky, and gravely and has no sub-surface preserves of water. The lack of water leads to small amount of vegetation and that in turn leads to a limited amount of decomposing litter. This lack of decomposing plants results in a lack of hummus. This all ties together to have poor nutrients in the soil. The rate of evaporation exceeds the rate of acquired precipitation, this causes translocation to occur. Coarse sand particles are evident.
Succession
Important Vocabulary
Ecological succession is a series of more-or-less predictable changes that occur over time.
Primary succession begins in an area with no remnants of an older community.
Secondary succession occurs when existing communities are not completely destroyed by disturbances.
Pioneer Species are the first species to colonize barren areas that were affected by primary succession.
Affecting dynamic equilibrium
Dynamic equilibrium is where there is an equal amount of opposite factors that piece together to result in a neutral outcome, bringing a biome to a state of equilibrium. Succession has a role to play in affecting the dynamic equilibrium.
Primary Succession
Above is an example of primary succession. The cause of this ecological succession is a drought that killed off any plants that were living in the already harsh environment. After several rain cycles, small plants such some flowering ferns and other similar plants begin to sprout out of the ground in no particular groups. The land is becoming more inhabitable and more plants are able to start growing. They are growing closer together and in denser clumps. Many years later, the once barren desert now flourishes with plant life (as shown in the fourth picture).
Cases of secondary succession have been known to develop in old, abandoned coal towns in south western America, but do not normally show up else where in a desert biome.
Differences
- Primary succession starts on bare surfaces while secondary succession starts in an area which had been previously inhabited.
- Primary succession is a slow process; secondary succession is comparatively faster.
