Refer to the Figures

Essay

Refer to the figures.
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
You are studying the impacts of a volcanic eruption that produces a lava flow that covers part of a grassland (Figure 5). You begin taking samples as soon as the area is safe to work in-about one year after the main eruption has ended. You set up a transect (beginning at "Transect start" in Figure 5), and then collect data on how several abiotic and biotic factors vary across it (Figures 6 and 7).
-Answer the following questions:
a) According to the data in Figure 6, what was the effect of the eruption on the percent of organic material in the soil along the transect?
b) Based on Figure 5, predict how the eruption would have changed the amount of UV reaching ground level along the transect. Graph your prediction (this will be referred to as Figure 8).
c) Based on the available resources, what type of succession would you expect along the transect? In both the blast zone and lava flow areas, how extreme are the conditions faced by the colonizer species? How would you expect the extent of extreme conditions to limit the species that could potentially colonize the areas?