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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 ]
The sequences of succession are thus entirely dependent on life-history characteristics such as the specific amount of energy a species allocates to growth. [ 3 ] The climax community is composed of the most "tolerant" species that can co-exist with other species in a more densely populated area.
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 ...
Eugenius Warming's work with ecological plant geography led to the founding of ecology as a discipline. [6] Charles Darwin's work also contributed to the science of ecology, and Darwin is often attributed with progressing the discipline more than anyone else in its young history. Ecological thought expanded even more in the early 20th century. [7]
The concept of ecologic succession also applies to underwater habitats. If a space becomes newly available in a reef surrounding, haplosclerid and calcareous sponges are the first animals to initially occur in this environment in greater numbers than other species. These types of sponges grow faster and have a shorter life-span than the species ...
Ecological succession, a fundamental concept in ecology, refers to more-or-less predictable and orderly changes in the composition or structure of an ecological community Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ecological succession .
In scientific ecology, climax community or climatic climax community is a historic term for a community of plants, animals, and fungi which, through the process of ecological succession in the development of vegetation in an area over time, have reached a steady state. This equilibrium was thought to occur because the climax community is ...
In his 1916 publication, Plant Succession, and his 1920 Plant Indicators, Clements metaphorically equated units of vegetation, (now called vegetation types or plant communities) with individual organisms. [12] He observed that some groups of species, which he called "formations", were repeatedly associated together. [12]