MICHIGAN FORESTS FOREVER TEACHERS GUIDE

ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION

"Nothing Succeeds Like Succession", Project Learning Tree Pre K-8 Guide, Seventh Edition, page 306, Activity #80

Overview

Succession is a natural pattern of change that take place over time in a forest or ecosystem.  In this activity, students will study the connection between plants, animals, and successional stages in local ecosystems.

Objectives

• Explore basic relationships between species diversity and ecosystem stability.Identify successional stages in ecosystems based on plant and animal species.
• Draw conclusions about the process of succession based on study test plots in different stages of succession.

Close collateral concepts are shade tolerance of different tree species and how forest management systems are heavily weighted to successional pathways and shade tolerance.

Teacher Guide Link  

Note:  Many of the activities on Michigan Forests Forever website reference Project Learning Tree (PLT) activities.  While the PLT copyrights forbid us to copy the activities onto this page, we have gained permission to outline the activities and give you a general idea of what each activity covers.  There are two activity books, one for Pre K-8, another for high school.  For more information about PLT, visit the website - www.plt.org.

	This website was developed and created by Michigan State University Extension for the teachers of the State of Michigan.

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