Succession: A Closer Look (2024)

FAQs

What is Clements successional theory? ›

Clements' view that succession is a developmental process whose final stage, the climax formation, is determined primarily by regional climate and that all other types of vegetation are some kind of successional stage or arrested successional stage.

Primary succession happens when a new patch of land is created or exposed for the first time. This can happen, for example, when lava cools and creates new rocks, or when a glacier retreats and exposes rocks without any soil. During primary succession, organisms must start from scratch.

The 5 stages of ecological succession are nudation, invasion, competition and co-action, reaction, and stabilization or climax.

Inhibition model

Earlier successional species actually inhibit growth of later successional species and reduce growth of colonizing species already present. Example: Pioneer species might modify the environment through rapid growth and make the area increasingly shady (essentially increasing competition for light).

Gleason and Clements

Clements and his followers developed a complex taxonomy of communities and successional pathways. Henry Gleason offered a contrasting framework as early as the 1920s. The Gleasonian model was more complex and much less deterministic than the Clementsian.

The Gleasonian model was more complex and much less deterministic than the Clementsian. It differs most fundamentally from the Clementsian view in suggesting a much greater role of chance factors and in denying the existence of coherent, sharply bounded community types.

A succession plan identifies critical positions, future staffing needs, documenting and transferring key knowledge, and the people that could fill these future roles within an organization – and developing action plans accordingly.

: the order in which or the conditions under which one person after another succeeds to a property, dignity, position, title, or throne. the sequence of succession to the presidency. b. : the right of a person or line of ancestry to succeed.

Legitimate Succession, 2. Compulsory Succession, and 3. Testamentary Succession.

Pioneer Species – The first organisms to colonize any newly available area and begin the process of ecological succession.

What is the process of succession? ›

Succession is the order of colonization of species in an ecosystem from a barren or destroyed area of land. Mosses and lichens are the first species that inhabit an area. They make the area suitable for the growth of larger species such as grasses, shrubs and finally trees.

Primary succession occurs when new land is formed or bare rock is exposed, providing a habitat that can be colonized for the first time. For example, primary succession may take place following the eruption of volcanoes, such as those on the Big Island of Hawaii. As lava flows into the ocean, new rock is formed.

Primary succession is the type of ecological succession in which organisms colonize an essentially lifeless area. It occurs in regions where the substrate lacks soil. Examples include areas where lava recently flowed, a glacier retreated, or a sand dune formed.

Lava-sterilized landscapes, newly formed sand dunes, and rocks either deposited or scoured by retreating glaciers are examples of settings in which primary succession often occurs, because these places either lack soil or their soil cannot sustain life.

Secondary succession occurs in an area that is previously colonized but disturbed or damaged habitat. For example, after falling a tree in the woods, land clearance, or a fire. Succession will not move further than the climax community.

They tested and taught their theory of plant succession, known as Clementsian ecology, for nearly four decades at their Alpine laboratory in Colorado.

In 1926, Gleason expressed even stronger objections to Clements's theory. First, he argued that Clements's identification of particular kinds of vegetation assumed too much hom*ogeneity, since areas of vegetation are actually similar to one another only to degrees.

Clements was, during his prime, the most influential ecologist in the world. During ten year periods at the University of Nebraska and University of Minnesota he developed and refined the theory for which he is best known: ecological succession.

Succession refers to the change in vegetation over time driven by disturbances and the maturation of plant species. In wetlands, these disturbances include water and salinity level changes along other factors that can alter vegetation.