The entire sequence of communities that successively change in a particular area are called

Question

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Correct — B, a sere. In ecology, a sere (or seral series) is the entire sequence of communities that successively replace one another in a given area during ecological succession — running from the pioneer community, through a series of transitional (seral) stages, to the stable climax community. The question's exact wording, 'the entire sequence of communities that successively change,' is the textbook definition of a sere. Each individual transitional community within it is a seral (or seral stage) community.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) Succession is the process or phenomenon of gradual, orderly change in communities over time — not the sequence of communities itself. The sequence produced by succession is the sere; the two are related but distinct, and the question asks for the sequence.  (c) A loose, general phrase for changes within communities; it is not the specific ecological term for the successional sequence of communities.  (d) A pyramid of biomass depicts the amount of living matter at each trophic level at one time — a structure, not a temporal sequence of communities.

Concept: Ecological succession is the gradual, more-or-less predictable change in the species composition of a community over time, ending in a relatively stable climax community. The whole ordered sequence of communities that develop at one site during this process is called a sere; each intermediate community is a seral stage. Seres are named by starting substrate — e.g., a hydrosere begins in water, a xerosere on dry bare ground/rock, a lithosere on bare rock.

State PCS 2020 Q85 — Environment & Ecology PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2020 Q85 — Environment & Ecology PYQ with Answer