Succession and the Effect of Pioneer Plants in Fallow Farm Fields |
 
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Look at the two series of photographs of successional stages of abandoned farm fields.
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Describe what you think the temperature and moisture conditions would be like at ground level at each successional stage.
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How do the plants change the environmental conditions during the process of succession?
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How do these environmental changes affect the establishment of new plant communities.
- Are these examples of
primary or secondary sucdcession? - What is the difference?
Succession at U of I research site
Secondary succession in abandoned agricultural fields (Buell-Small Succession Study - New Jersey)
What do you think would happen if the "weedy" fields that develop a few years after a field is abandoned were burned every few years? Would a forest eventually develop?