19.6 Succession

• Biodiversity: the range and variety of living organisms within a particular area
• Biomass: the total mass of living material, normally measured in a specific area over a given period of time
• Climax community: the organisms that make up the stable, final, community that exists in a balanced equilibrium
• Community: the organism of all species that live in the same area
• Conservation: method of maintaining ecosystems and the living organisms that occupy them. It requires planning and organisation to make best use of resources. while preserving the natural landscape and wildlife.
• Habitat: the place where an organism normally lives.
• Hostile/harsh: when abiotic conditions in an environment are at the extremes
• Niche: all the conditions and resources required for an organism to survive and reproduce (AKA its 'role' in the ecosystem)
• Pioneer species: a species that can colonise bare rock or ground
• Primary succession: the progressive colonisation of bare rock or other barren terrain by living organisms
• Secondary succession: the recolonisation of an area after an early community has been removed or destroyed
• Succession: the changes in an ecosystem, over time, in the species that occupy it