Succession and Natural Selection

Reviewing the succession animation that is provided shows a secondary succession. The difference between a primary succession and a secondary succession is the vegetation that lives there. Primary succession does not have any vegetation that lives on the land at all; it consists of lava rock and dirt that can not grow any vegetation habitat. The secondary succession is land that originally had vegetation on it and through changes in rivers and streams the vegetation has died. The ground over time will repair its self so that new trees, bushes, and other vegetation can exist on it again.
I do not honestly understand Darwin’s theory all that much but my guess would be that because they are in the water, weight does not really matter so they would not need as many limbs to propel them through the water. So it would seem that they would be able to move faster without extra limbs to hold them back. Once these Salamanders started to evolve with fewer limbs, the more they procreate, the more it would evolve thus the elimination of the hind limbs. The less they have to carry; I would think they could move faster in the water. With the ability to be faster in the water can help them in two ways, one, when they are searching for food the faster they are the better they can hunt. Two, when they are hunted they can get away faster.

Reference:

Axia college. Week Three CheckPoint: Succession and Natural Selection, retrieved from Axia college, SCI/275 Environmental Science course website.