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Ecological succession is the process of change in the species that make up an ecological community over time. The process of succession occurs either after the initial colonization of a newly created habitat, or after a disturbance substantially alters a pre-existing habitat. [ 1 ]
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 ...
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.
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.
Henry Allan Gleason (1882–1975) was an American ecologist, botanist, and taxonomist.He was known for his endorsement of the individualistic or open community concept of ecological succession, and his opposition to Frederic Clements's concept of the climax state of an ecosystem.
The cyclic model of succession was proposed in 1947 by British ecologist Alexander Watt.In a seminal paper on vegetation patterns in grass, heath, and bog communities, [4] Watt describes the plant community is a regenerating entity consisting of a "space-time mosaic" of species, whose cyclic behavior can be characterized by patch dynamics.
Secondary succession is the secondary ecological succession of a plant's life. As opposed to the first, primary succession, secondary succession is a process started by an event (e.g. forest fire, harvesting, hurricane, etc.) that reduces an already established ecosystem (e.g. a forest or a wheat field) to a smaller population of species, and as such secondary succession occurs on preexisting ...
An image of ecological succession, starting with pioneer species and ending with an old-growth forest that is dominated by climax species, which is denoted by VIII. Climax species, also called late seral , late-successional , K-selected or equilibrium species, are plant species that can germinate and grow with limited resources; e.g., they need ...