14.6 ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION

14.6 ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION

  • You have learnt in Chapter 13, the characteristics of population and community and also their response to environment and how such responses vary from an individual response. 
  • Let us examine another aspect of community response to environment over time. 
Bcological succession: 
  • The gradual and fairly predictable change in the species composition of a given area is called ecological succession.
  • An important characteristic of all communities is that composition and structure constantly change in response to the changing environmental conditions. 
  • This change is orderly and sequential, parallel with the changes in the physical environment. 
  • These changes lead finally to a community that is in near equilibrium with the environment and that is called a climax community. 
Sere(s): 
  • The entire sequence of communities that successively change in a given area are called sere(s). 
  • The individual transitional communities are termed seral stages or seral communities. 
  • In the successive seral stages there is a change in the diversity of species of organisms, increase in the number of species and organisms as well as an increase in the total biomass.
Types of sere:
  • Halosere: (Community in saline body e.g. a marsh)
  • Xerosere: (Community in dry area)
  • Lithosere: (Community on rock)
  • Hydrosere: (Community in water)
  • Psammosere: (Community on sand)
Process:
  • The present day communities in the world have come to be because of succession that has occurred over millions of years since life started on earth. 
  • Actually succession and evolution would have been parallel processes at that time. 
  • During succession some species colonise an area and their populations become more numerous, whereas populations of other species decline and even disappear.
1. Primary succession:
  • Primary succession is a process that starts where no living organisms are there – these could be areas where no living organisms ever existed, say bare rock
  • Examples of areas where primary succession occurs are newly cooled lava, bare rock, newly created pond or reservoir.
  • The establishment of a new biotic community is generally slow
  • Before a biotic community of diverse organisms can become established, there must be soil. 
  • Depending mostly on the climate, it takes natural processes several hundred to several thousand years to produce fertile soil on bare rock. 
2. Secondary succession
  • Secondary succession occurs in an areas that somehow, lost all the living organisms that existed there. 
  • Secondary succession begins in areas where natural biotic communities have been destroyed such as in abandoned farm lands, burned or cut forests, lands that have been flooded. 
  • Since some soil or sediment is present, succession is faster than primary succession. 
  • Description of ecological succession usually focuses on changes in vegetation. 
  • However, these vegetational changes in turn affect food and shelter for various types of animals. 
  • Thus, as succession proceeds, the numbers and types of animals and decomposers also change. 
  • At any time during primary or secondary succession, natural or human induced disturbances (fire, deforestation, etc.), can convert aparticular seral stage of succession to an earlier stage. 
  • Also such disturbances create new conditions that encourage some species and discourage or eliminate other species.
14.6.1 Succession of Plants
  • Based on the nature of the habitat – whether it is water (or very wet areas) or it is on very dry areas – succession of plants is called hydrach or xerarch, respectively. 
  • Hydrarch succession takes place in wetter areas and the successional series progress from hydric to the mesic conditions. 
  • As against this, xerarch succession takes place in dry areas and the series progress from xeric to mesic conditions. 
  • Hence, both hydrarch and xerach successions lead to medium water conditions (mesic) – neither too dry (xeric) nor too wet (hydric). 
  • The species that invade a bare area are called pioneer species. 
1. Hydrarch succession
  • In primary succession in water, the pioneers are the small phytoplanktons (pioneer species), they are replaced with time by free-floating angiosperms, then by rooted hydrophytes, sedges, grasses and finally the trees. 
  • With time the water body is converted into land. 
  • phytoplanktons > free-floating angiosperms > rooted hydrophytes > sedges > grasses > trees
  • phytoplanktons > submerge plant stage > submerge free floating plant > Reed Swamp stage > Marsh-Meadow stage > Scrub stage > Forest (climax stage)
Make clear and labelled diagram of the various stages of hydrach ...

2. Xerarch succession
  • In primary succession on rocks these are usually lichens (pioneer species) which are able to secrete acids to dissolve rock, helping in weathering and soil formation. 
  • These later pave way to some very small plants like bryophytes, which are able to take hold in the small amount of soil. 
  • They are, with time, succeeded by bigger plants, and after several more stages, ultimately a stable climax forest community is formed. 
  • The climax community remains stable as long as the environment remains unchanged. 
  • With time the xerophytic habitat gets converted into a mesophytic one. 
  • The climax again would be a forest. 
  • lichens bryophytes > bigger plants > several more stages > forest
  • In secondary succession the species that invade depend on the condition of the soil, availability of water, the environment as also the seeds or other propagules present. 
  • Since soil is already there, the rate of succession is much faster and hence, climax is also reached more quickly. 
  • What is important to understand is that succession, particularly primary succession, is a very slow process, taking maybe thousands of years for the climax to be reached. 
  • Another important fact is to understand that all succession whether taking place in water or on land, proceeds to a similar climax community – the mesic.
Ecology - Ramneet Kaur - Medium


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