Ecological succession
Ecological succession, is how a specific ecology changes after a disturbance like a fire.[1] In long-term studies, there is a species succession process in the way forests develop.[2]
Notable ecologists
Several scientists are prominent in the history of this theory:
- Adolphe Dureau de la Malle was the first to use the word succession. He wrote about the process of re-growth after trees in a forest had been cut down.
- Henry David Thoreau described succession in an Oak-Pine forest in "The Succession of Forest Trees" in the year 1859.
- Henry Chandler Cowles developed a formal concept of plant-growth succession. Henry's work was based on studies of sand dunes in Danish by Eugen Warming. Cowles proposed the term sere. This is a repeat of changes which are shown in specific environmental circumstances.[3]
- Frederic Clements proposed a theory that seres were highly predictable.[3]
- Henry Gleason proposed that chance factors were very important, even in highly predicable sere areas.[3]
Ecological Succession Media
The Indiana Dunes on Lake Michigan, which stimulated Cowles' development of his theories of ecological succession
An example of secondary succession by stages: Template:Olist*
Secondary succession: trees are colonizing uncultivated fields and meadows.
Pond succession or sere A: emergent plant life B: sediment C: Emergent plants grow inwards, sediment accretes D: emergent and terrestrial plants E: sediment fills pond, terrestrial plants take over F: trees grow
The Schleienlöcher nature reserve in Hard (Austria) with view towards the Pfänder the Gebhardsberg and the Bregenzerwald.
Ecological micro-succession in a bacterial meta-community on-chip. (A) sketch of a micron-scale structured bacterial environment based on microfluidics technology; (B) Fluorescent microscopy image of Escherichia coli (magenta) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (green) inhabiting a device of the type depicted in A and which has been wettened with growth media and inoculated with both species; (C) a sequence of five snapshots of the bacterial community distributed over five patches (of an array with 85) depicting the spatial dynamics of competition between E.
Forest succession depicted over time
References
- ↑ Connell, Joseph and R. O. Slatyer. (1977). "Mechanisms of succession in natural communities and their role in community stability and organization," The American Naturalist, Vol. 111, Issue 982, pp. 1119–44.
- ↑ McEvoy, Thom. (2004). Positive Impact Forestry, p. 32.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Goldsmith, Edward. "Ecological Succession Rehabilitated," Archived 2012-04-15 at the Wayback Machine The Ecologist, Vol. 15, No. 3, 1985; retrieved 2011-12-19.
Other websites
 |
The English Wikibooks has more information on: |
