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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 ...
The term pioneer species is also used to refer to the first species, usually plants, to return to an area after disturbance as part of the process of secondary succession. Disturbances may include floods, tornadoes, forest fires, deforestation, or clearing by other means. [18] Pioneer species tend to be fast-growing, shade-intolerant, and tend ...
Forests, being an ecological system, are subject to the species succession process. [41] There are "opportunistic" or "pioneer" species that produce great quantities of seed that are disseminated by the wind, and therefore can colonize big empty extensions. [42] They are capable of germinating and growing in direct sunlight.
Eventually, however, willow and poplar grow more rapidly than alder, leading to a reduction in the abundance of the pioneer species, and eventually, spruce becomes a later-succession species, due to its increased ability (over alder) to grow in shaded areas. [7] Another case of facilitation comes from the colonization of lakeshore sand dunes. [8]
A seral community is the name given to each group of plants within the succession. A primary succession describes those plant communities that occupy a site that has not previously been vegetated. These can also be described as the pioneer community. Computer modeling is sometimes used to evaluate likely succession stages in a seral community. [2]
Ecological succession is the process by which a community changes over time, especially following a disturbance. In many instances, an ecosystem will change from a simple level of organization with a few dominant pioneer species to an increasingly complex community with many
The first trees (or pioneer trees) that appear are typically fast growing trees such as birch, willow or rowan. In turn these will be replaced by slow growing, larger trees such as ash and oak . This is the climax community on a lithosere, defined as the point where a plant succession does not develop any further—it reaches a delicate ...
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 .