EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -On new islands created by volcanic eruptions, in areas exposed when a glacier retreats, or on any other surface that has not previously supported life, primary succession can occur. Primary succession is much slower than secondary succession because it begins where there is no soil.

Detailed explanation-2: -Rocks like limestone and fossil fuels like coal and oil are storage reservoirs that contain carbon from plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. When these organisms died, slow geologic processes trapped their carbon and transformed it into these natural resources.

Detailed explanation-3: -Producers. Primary producers-including bacteria, phytoplankton, and algae-form the lowest trophic level, the base of the aquatic food web. Primary producers synthesize their own energy without needing to eat.

Detailed explanation-4: -Food web is an important ecological concept. Basically, food web represents feeding relationships within a community (Smith and Smith 2009). It also implies the transfer of food energy from its source in plants through herbivores to carnivores (Krebs 2009).