{"id":28800,"date":"2025-10-30T21:30:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T21:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vividscience.org\/?page_id=28800"},"modified":"2025-10-30T23:04:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T23:04:17","slug":"disturbance-succession","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vividscience.org\/index.php\/online-envirobio\/change\/short-term\/disturbance-succession\/","title":{"rendered":"7a4 Disturbance & Succession"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n \n Disturbance & Succession <\/span>\n\n \n \n Dramatic Change & Slow Recovery <\/span>\n <\/h1>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Disturbance & Succession Objectives:<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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  • List examples of natural and human-created disturbances.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Describe different ways trees can survive fires.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Explain what succession is and provide examples, including succession after a fire disturbance.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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    Smokey Bear has appeared repeatedly in this course as an icon of reducing accidental human impact on ecosystems.\u00a0 This section will focus on sudden disturbances, including wildfires.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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    A disturbance<\/strong> is a rapid change in an ecosystem, and it can be natural or caused by human activity.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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    An example of a natural disturbance is the eruption of Mount Saint Helens in 1980.<\/p>\n

    Source: USGS Archives<\/em><\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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    An example of a human-induced disturbance is the construction of a dam.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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    Foster Reservoir created by the Foster Dam on the South Santiam River, Oregon<\/strong><\/h5> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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    If you live in the Western United States you may have personally experienced the impacts of the numerous recent wildfires, particularly forest fires.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

    We took these photos in our yard in September 2020 at the middle of the day with no filter.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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    The temperature dropped from 93 degrees Fahrenheit to 71 degrees in a few hours, the color was due to the high quantity of particles in the air.\u00a0 The effects of the fire disturbance were just starting locally, over 45 miles from the edge of the nearest fire.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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