What is Pond and Forest Succession

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What is Pond and Forest Succession?
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Ponds and forest change throughout time. This is
called succession.
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• Succession can be defined as
• the gradual and orderly process of change in an
  ecosystem brought about by the progressive
  replacement of one community by another until a
  stable climax is established

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Life of a Pond
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When a pond is first developing, there is little
more than water that has collected in an area.
Over time, birds and land animals come to the
pond as a source of water. When they come to the
pond, they carry seeds with them which are then
dropped into the pond.
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The first set of animals to come to a pond and
bring seeds are called POND PIONEERS.
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As more and more animals and arrive, more plants
begin to grow and the debris on the bottom of the
pond begins to build up.
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As more and more plants begin to grow, more
insects begin to come to the pond ecosystem.
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Pondweed begins to grow along the bottom of the
pond.
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Emergent plants begin to grow out of the water at
the edges of the pond.
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Over hundreds of years, plants and animals die
and decompose piling on the floor of the pond.
This raises the pond floor up and causes it to
become shallower.
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Once the pond becomes shallow enough, emergent
plants begin to grow all the way across the floor
of the pond.
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When these plants begin to grow throughout the
entire pond, a marsh begins to form. So a pond
can turn into a completely different ecosystem,
but it takes hundreds of years to do so.

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The marsh continues to fill in with dirt and
debris from decomposed organisms. Trees begin to
grow in the water.
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At this point the marsh becomes a swamp. The
swamp may dry out over time. It can then become
a forest or grassland.
pond
marsh
swamp
forest