54 3 Community Ecology Habitat Disturbances Habitats with an intermediate amount of disturbances seem to have a higher number of species and more diversity than habitats with very little or an extreme number of disturbances If there was very little disturbance to a habitat the species that excel under the normal conditions will become more prominent than any other species making the community less diverse If there was a lot of disturbance very few species would be able to adapt or handle the constant changes therefore resulting in a fewer number of species Fire is a common natural disturbance in most habitats After a fire the soil has added nutrients also trees have burned down leading to more sunlight available to the ground level The species that originally were adapted to this area were adapted to the cool shady environment provided before the fire so the new conditions are not ideal for them However the new environment might be ideal for a new species like weeds to come in and colonize the environment Eventually the new species will excel and grow rapidly changing the environment even more in the process The weeds will change the environment by growing roots that stabilize the soil and hold water this in turn changes the environment even more A continual succession of organisms will follow this process changing the environment more and more until it becomes more like the original environment that the original species liked The problem is that the original species now has competition in the form of weeds and the other organisms that moved in This is an example of Ecological Succession new species come in and change the environment making it livable for another species Major predictors of diversity water temperature and light Most living things like warm wet areas that are full of sunlight These conditions result in more diversity and most likely mean there is more food available
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