Name _____________________________________ Hr________ Date____________
Chapter 3 Section 1 --- STUDY GUIDE ----- Due __________________
SECTION 3.1 OBJECTIVES
 Identify some common limiting factors
• Explain how limiting factors and ranges of tolerance affect distribution of organisms.
• Sequence the stages of ecological succession.
• Describe the conditions under which primary and secondary succession take place.
1. Define: LIMITING FACTOR
2. Describe 4 LIMITING FACTORS that might cause trees not to grow above about 10,000 feet (known as the
timberline) in the mountains.
3. Predation is a powerful limiting factor. In the early 20th century, the US government wanted to increase the deer
population of the Grand Canyon for tourism. To accomplish this, government officials killed out the Canyon’s wolf
population. Describe 2 effects that this action most likely had on the deer population.
4. Analyze the effect of drought as a LIMITING FACTOR on producers, herbivores and carnivores in a community. Use
a specific example.
5. Why is a limiting factor so important?
6. Define: TOLERANCE Give an example
7. What is meant by the term “tolerance range”? give an example
8. What term is used for the best conditions for an organism’s existence?
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9. Sketch a standard bell curve similar to the one in the Limits of Tolerance figure in your book; include the Optimum
range label. Below your figure, place the following in the correct location on the standard bell curve.
 Not enough sunlight
 Right amount of sunlight
 Too much sunlight
 Not enough water
 Right amount of water
 Too much water
10. Define: SUCCESSION
11. Describe the general process of succession.
12. Describe the conditions that define PRIMARY SUCCESSION.
13. Define: PIONEER SPECIES Give an example
14. What is a “lichen”? Where do they grow? Describe the importance of lichens in primary succession. What do they
do for an ecosystem? How does this help succession to occur?
15. Define: CLIMAX COMMUNITY
16. Sketch and label the events of succession from bare rock to climax community.
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17. Describe the conditions that define SECONDARY SUCCESSION.
18. How did the 1988 Yellowstone fire make the ecosystem of the park healthier? Discuss the limiting factor that was
changed and its effects.
19. Create a concept map or diagram about succession with the words below. (see pg. 1093 to make a concept map)
Climax community
grass
lichens
soil
Fire
lava
pioneer species
trees
20. Arrange the following in order by placing a number in front of each. The first event will be #1. Sequence changes
that might occur over 100 years in a meadow.
_____ Grass grows freely.
_____
Larger trees grow.
_____ Grasses become taller, thicker,
_____
More trees grow.
_____
Scrub bushes and perennials appear.
_____
Small animals and birds begin to live
wildflowers appear.
_____ Grasses disappear.
_____ Larger animals such as deer begin to live there.
_____ Larger bushes and small trees enter the area.
there.
_____
The meadow is now a forest.
21. The plants now beginning to grow on Mount St. Helens where the last eruption destroyed the previous communities
are an example of _______________________________________.
22. Answer the 3 questions on the Problem-solving Lab 3.1 on page 68.
1.
2.
3.
23. Do the Skill Review on p. 69, #7. Do this on the graph grid on the back of this page.
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1. The interactions of abiotic and biotic factors result in conditions that are suitable for some organisms
but not for others. _________________________________________________________________
2. Food availability and temperature can be biotic factors for a particular organism. ___________________
3. A limiting factor is any biotic or abiotic factor that promotes the existence, numbers, reproduction, or
distribution of organisms. _____________________________________________________________
4. At high elevations where the soil is thin, vegetation is limited to large, deep-rooted trees.
5. Factors that limit one population in a community may also have an indirect effect on another population.
6. Tolerance is the ability of an organism to withstand fluctuations in biotic and abiotic environmental
factors. ____________________________________________________________________________
7. A population of deer would become larger as conditions move away from optimal toward either
extreme of the deer’s range of tolerance. ________________________________________________
8. Different species may have different ranges of tolerance. _____________________________________
Use each of the terms below just once to complete the passage.
climax
primary
decades
pioneer
succession
species
succeed
slows down
The natural changes and (9) ___________________ replacements that take place in the communities
of ecosystems are know as (10) ___________________ . It can take (11) __________________ or even centuries for
one community to (12) ___________________ , or replace, another. When new sites of land are formed, as in a lava flow,
the first organisms to colonize the new area are (13) ___________________ species. This colonization is called (14)
___________________ succession. The species inhabiting the area gradually change. Eventually, succession (15)
___________________ and the community become more stable. Finally, a mature community that undergoes little or no
change, called a (16) ___________________ community, develops.
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