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Understanding Ecological Succession: Types and Processes in Ecosystems

Ecological succession is the natural, gradual change in species composition in an area over time. It can be classified into two types: primary and secondary succession. Primary succession occurs in lifeless areas without soil, beginning with pioneer species like lichens that help form soil. Secondary succession takes place in previously inhabited areas with existing soil, often following disturbances like fires or floods. Both types lead to a climax community, representing the stable endpoint of the succession process, which can vary greatly depending on the environment.

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Understanding Ecological Succession: Types and Processes in Ecosystems

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  1. Changes in Ecosystems:Ecological Succession

  2. Definition: Succession • Natural, gradual changes in the number and types of species that live in an area; • 2 Types; primary or secondary • The gradual replacement of one plant community by another through natural processes over time

  3. Primary Succession • Begins in a place without any soil • Sides of volcanoes, bare rock, sand dunes • Starts with the arrival of living things such as lichens that do not need soil to survive • Called PIONEER SPECIES

  4. Why Pioneer species? • Fast growing • Small plants • Disperse many seeds over large area http://botit.botany.wisc.edu • EXAMPLES • Lichens • marram grass, which grows on sand dunes • Bunch grasses • Wild flowers http://www.saguaro-juniper.com/

  5. Primary Succession • Soil starts to form as lichens and the forces of weather and erosion help break down rocks into smaller pieces • When lichens die, they decompose, adding small amounts of organic matter to the rock to make soil

  6. http://www.life.uiuc.edu

  7. Primary Succession • Simple plants like mosses and ferns can grow in the new soil http://www.uncw.edu http://uisstc.georgetown.edu

  8. Primary Succession • The simple plants die, adding more organic material • The soil layer thickens, and grasses, wildflowers, and other plants begin to take over http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu

  9. Primary Succession • These plants die, and they add more nutrients to the soil • Shrubs and trees can survive now http://www.rowan.edu

  10. Primary Succession • Insects, small birds, and mammals have begun to move in • What was once bare rock now supports a variety of life http://p2-raw.greenpeace.org

  11. Secondary Succession • Begins in a place that already has soil and was once the home of living organisms • Occurs faster and has different pioneer species than primary succession • Example: after forest fires, landslides, hurricanes, floods, farming, logging, or mining

  12. http://www.geo.arizona.edu

  13. http://www.ux1.eiu.edu

  14. http://www.agen.ufl.edu

  15. Climax Community • A stable group of plants and animals that is the end result of the successionprocess • Does not always mean big trees • Grasses in prairies • Cacti in deserts

  16. Review Succession

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