succession

Examples of succession in the following topics:

• Ecological Succession

  • When disturbances occur, succession allows for communities to become re-established over periods of time.
  • Succession describes the sequential appearance and disappearance of species in a community over time.
  • In primary succession, newly-exposed or newly-formed land is colonized by living things.
  • During primary succession in lava on Maui, Hawaii, succulent plants are the pioneer species.
  • Secondary succession is shown in an oak and hickory forest after a forest fire.

• Sexual Selection

  • Sexual selection, the selection pressure on males and females to obtain matings, can result in traits designed to maximize sexual success.
  • These differences are called sexual dimorphisms and arise from the variation in male reproductive success.
  • In either case, this variation in reproductive success generates a strong selection pressure among males to obtain those matings, resulting in the evolution of bigger body size and elaborate ornaments in order to increase their chances of mating.
  • In such cases, females tend to have a greater variation in their reproductive success than males and are, correspondingly, selected for the bigger body size and elaborate traits usually characteristic of males.
  • Sexual selection can be so strong that it selects for traits that are actually detrimental to the individual's survival, even though they maximize its reproductive success.

• Plant Reproductive Development and Structure

  • Plants have developed various strategies, both sexual and asexual, to ensure reproductive success.

• The Two Parts of Photosynthesis

  • Light-dependent and light-independent reactions are two successive reactions that occur during photosynthesis.

• Plant Adaptations to Life on Land

  • Successful land plants have developed strategies to face all of these challenges.
  • The most successful adaptation solution was the development of new structures that gave plants the advantage when colonizing new and dry environments.
  • The evolution of a waxy cuticle and a cell wall with lignin also contributed to the success of land plants.

• The Major Divisions of Land Plants

  • Seed-producing plants include gymnosperms, most notably conifers, which produce "naked seeds," and the most successful of all modern-day plants, angiosperms, which are the flowering plants.

• Plant Responses to Wind and Touch

  • When an insect brushes against these trigger hairs, touching two or more of them in succession, the leaves close quickly, trapping the prey.

• Characteristics of the Animal Body

  • In addition, animal body plans have evolved in response to environmental pressures, as observed in fossil records, in order to enhance survival and reproductive success.

• Signal Summation

  • Temporal summation means that the effects of impulses received at the same place can add up if the impulses are received in close temporal succession.

• The Complement System

  • Binding of complement proteins occurs in a specific and highly-regulated sequence, with each successive protein being activated by cleavage and/or structural changes induced upon binding of the preceding protein(s).