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Environmental filtering, also called establishment limitation, implies that although seeds may be distributed to a site, those seeds may be unable to survive due to various characteristics of the site. The predicted impact of these two factors varies under different models of ecological succession.
Early ecological succession theory maintained that the directional shifts from one stage of succession to the next were induced by the plants themselves. [1] In this sense, succession theory implicitly recognized priority effects; the prior arrival of certain species had important impacts on future community composition.
One example of primary succession takes place after a volcano has erupted. The lava flows into the ocean and hardens into new land. The resulting barren land is first colonized by pioneer organisms, like algae, which pave the way for later, less hardy plants, such as hardwood trees, by facilitating pedogenesis, especially through the biotic acceleration of weathering and the addition of ...
At low levels of disturbance, more competitive organisms will push subordinate species to extinction and dominate the ecosystem. [1] At high levels of disturbance, due to frequent forest fires or human impacts like deforestation, all species are at risk of going extinct. According to IDH theory, at intermediate levels of disturbance, diversity ...
"Auto-" meaning self or same, and "-genic" meaning producing or causing. Autogenic succession refers to ecological succession driven by biotic factors within an ecosystem and although the mechanisms of autogenic succession have long been debated, the role of living things in shaping the progression of succession was realized early on.
Due to the highly variable climatic regimes across the Great Plains, many aspects of climate change are not expected to affect all areas of the eco-region equally. In regards to precipitation, this means an exacerbation of extremes where dry areas in the south are expected to get drier and wetter areas in the north to get wetter.
Based on the assumption that only particular species with qualities ideal for "early succession" can colonize the newly exposed landforms after an ecological disturbance. These "colonizing" qualities include: highly effective methods of dispersal, the ability to remain dormant for long periods of time, and a rapid growth rate.
Ecosystems may transition from one stable state to another, in what is known as a state shift (sometimes termed a phase shift or regime shift), when perturbed. Due to ecological feedbacks, ecosystems display resistance to state shifts and therefore tend to remain in one state unless perturbations are large enough.