Topic 2.5: Flows of Energy and Matter Questions

Which pair gives two environmental gradients that commonly produce banded communities?

Primary succession is happening today on Surtsey, a volcanic island off Iceland, and in front of melting glaciers in the Alps. State two other kinds of newly formed ground on which primary succession can start.

Around a lake, bands of plants run from open water through reeds and fen to woodland. A village pond nearby has turned into a marsh in 50 years. Distinguish between zonation and succession.

Figure 1 is an elevation map of Tamsin Island, a made-up island. Figure 2 is a vegetation map of the same island. With reference to Figures 1 and 2, identify a relationship between altitude and type of vegetation.

Hollin Isle is a made-up island off a northern coast. Figure 1 shows its land cover from 1600 to 2020. Figure 2 shows the area covered by rhododendron, a garden shrub that escaped into the wild in 1880; it forms dense thickets that shade out other plants. With reference to Figures 1 and 2, identify two ways in which the vegetation cover of Hollin Isle has changed over time.

Walking up a mountain in the Alps, a hiker passes through beech forest, then spruce forest, then alpine grassland. Define the term zonation.

In the Alps, plants change from forest to alpine meadow as a path climbs 1,500 m. Below a nearby glacier, bare gravel left by the ice in 1990 is now covered by mosses and willow shrubs. Distinguish between zonation and succession.

Figure 1 is an elevation map of Ventora, a made-up island. Figure 2 is a vegetation map of the same island. With reference to Figures 1 and 2, identify a relationship between altitude and type of vegetation.

A student draws a kite diagram of the seaweeds found along a transect up a rocky shore. Outline what a kite diagram shows.

A class records seaweed cover every 2 m up a rocky shore and presents it as a kite diagram. What does the kite diagram show?

Grey lichens are the first organisms to grow on new lava flows in Hawaii. Outline what is meant by a pioneer species, using the lichens as an example.

Figure 1 is a fact file on farm plots at Sungai Liat. Figure 2 shows the vegetation on the plots at different times after the last crop. With reference to Figure 1 and Figure 2, identify the directional process of change from a cleared rice plot back to tall forest when the farmers leave the plot.

A class records seaweeds in quadrats from the low-tide line to the top of a rocky shore. Another class revisits a patch of cleared rock on the same shore every year for ten years. Distinguish between zonation and succession.

Left alone, most successions in lowland England end in oak woodland. Define the term climax community.

Figure 1 is an elevation map of Kerava Island, a made-up island. Figure 2 is a vegetation map of the same island. With reference to Figures 1 and 2, identify a relationship between altitude and type of vegetation.

Which statement defines zonation?

Figure 1 is a fact file about the zebra mussel. Identify one feature in Figure 1 that shows the zebra mussel is an r-selected species.

Skerra is a made-up island in the Irish Sea. Figure 1 shows its land cover from 1500 to 2020. Figure 2 shows the area covered by gorse, a spiny shrub planted as hedging in 1900 that has spread over the grassland. With reference to Figures 1 and 2, identify two ways in which the vegetation cover of Skerra has changed over time.

Figure 1 is a fact file about the red lionfish. Identify one feature in Figure 1 that shows the red lionfish is an r-selected species.

A field that is no longer farmed slowly turns into woodland over about a hundred years. State two changes that occur in the community as the succession progresses.