RS 478 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Primary Succession, Secondary Succession, Seral Community

• School: CSU
• Department: Rangeland Ecosystem Science
• Course: RS 478
• Professor: Mark Paschke

Document Summary

We must understand the processes that control recovery because we cannot re- assemble broken pieces of ecosystems. Other species may disperse into the disturbed area either by wind, water or simply walking there. Initial colonizers grow rapidly to exploit available resources. In reality, primary versus secondary succession are ends of a continuum. Many successions are difficult to classify as either, and true primary succession is rare. Competition for resources: what drives succession, attributes of organisms: following initial establishment, succession leads to a gradual change in species composition and ecosystem structure. Species in various life stages have different physiological attributes which contribute to succession. Initial colonizers: (founder effects/initial flora/ecesis) long-term successional trajectory of vegetation is strongly influenced by the species composition of the initial colonizers because there are fewer opportunities for colonization as succession proceeds. In some cases, one or a few pathways predominate.