EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Primary succession is ecological succession that begins in essentially lifeless areas, such as regions in which there is no soil or where the soil is incapable of sustaining life (because of recent lava flows, newly formed sand dunes, or rocks left from a retreating glacier).

Detailed explanation-2: -Primary succession happens when a new patch of land is created or exposed for the first time. This can happen, for example, when lava cools and creates new rocks, or when a glacier retreats and exposes rocks without any soil.

Detailed explanation-3: -Primary succession does not have usable soils, whereas secondary succession occurs after a disturbance which leaves soil intact.

Detailed explanation-4: -Lava-sterilized landscapes, newly formed sand dunes, and rocks either deposited or scoured by retreating glaciers are examples of settings in which primary succession often occurs, because these places either lack soil or their soil cannot sustain life.

Detailed explanation-5: -The labels I-VII represent the different stages of primary succession. I-bare rocks, II-pioneers (mosses, lichen, algae, fungi), III-annual herbaceous plants, IV-perennial herbaceous plants and grasses, V-shrubs, VI-shade intolerant trees, VII-shade tolerant trees.