BIOLOGY 3DD3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Schizachyrium Scoparium, Species Pool, Allogenic Succession
Document Summary
Composition of species at any site forms through long process of development during which species arrive, establish and replace some of the residents. Resulting consortia of species are sufficiently consistent (similar across similar sites) to require explanations in terms of systematic processes and constraints. Many factors, phys and bio, interact in various ways to define the course of community and ecosystem change. Generally, species diversity increases and species composition changes. Mechanisms that drive ecological succession are complex, occur at many scales of space and time, and may include facilitation, tolerance and inhibition. Assembly and development of a community are predictable in general terms but specific trajectories may vary in response to minor differences in local factors or due to chance. Disturbance plays a major role in initiating and directing the development of a community, sometimes to the point of defining the observed patterns (non-equilibrium interpretation of community structure and change) Species accumulate and are lost at a new site.