ROUND 2 SPEED RACE
PRELIMINARY STAGE 2026
Contest 40
Konongo Odumase SHS: 45
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Girls’ SHS: 31
Juaben SHS: 28
Contest 41
St. Monica’s SHS: 40
Amenfiman SHS: 37
Tema Methodist Day SHS: 15
Contest 42
Accra High School: 33
Ghana SHS, Tamale: 32
Sunyani SHS: 31
QUESTION
Which ecological association contributes directly to ecological succession in a community?
ANSWER: Competition
EXPLANATION
As a community develops, species continually compete for limited resources such as light, space, water and nutrients. Better-adapted or more competitive species progressively outcompete and replace earlier (pioneer) species, driving the community through successive stages toward a stable climax community — this competitive replacement is the ecological association that directly drives succession.
PRACTICE QUESTIONS
1. What is ecological succession?
ANSWER: The gradual change in the species of a community over time.
2. What is a pioneer species?
ANSWER: The first species to colonise a new or bare area.
3. What is a climax community?
ANSWER: The final stable stage of succession.
4. What are seral stages?
ANSWER: The intermediate stages of succession.
5. What is primary succession?
ANSWER: Succession that begins on bare ground with no soil.
6. What is secondary succession?
ANSWER: Succession that begins where soil is already present after a disturbance.
7. Which resources do plants compete for?
ANSWER: Light, water, space and nutrients.
8. What is facilitation in succession?
ANSWER: Early species make conditions better for later species.
9. Give the typical sequence of plants on bare rock.
ANSWER: Lichens, mosses, herbs, shrubs and trees.
10. What happens to species diversity during succession?
ANSWER: It generally increases.
11. What happens to biomass during succession?
ANSWER: It increases.
12. What happens to the soil during succession?
ANSWER: It becomes deeper and richer in humus.