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Succession
2.6.5 Describe the concept and processes of succession in a named habitat.
Students should study named examples of organisms from a pioneer community, seral stages and climax community.
The concept of succession, occurring over time, should be carefully distinguished from the concept of zonation, which refers
to a spatial pattern.

Succession is a natural change in the structure and species composition of a community. It is thought of as a
series of changes. These changes occur through time. In some communities, such as sand dunes, all the seres
are present as the succession is a continual process as the bare sand is colonised, but more often there will only
be one sere present at one time, such as in the colonisation of a newly created volcanic island. So succession is
temporal. This must be distinguished from zonation which is spatial, for example, how the vegetation changes
as altitude increases from the plains of Tamil Nadu to the peaks of the Western Ghats or from Zug to the top of
Pilatus or Lauterbrunnen to the top of the Jungfrau.

At its most extreme, this sequence of succession starts on bare, uncolonised ground which has never had any
vegetation growing on it before or in newly formed lakes. This is known as primary succession. Bare areas are
rare but hey occur on sand dunes, the lava flows of volcanoes, new volcanic islands, landslips and the glacial
debris left by melting glacier ices. The remains of glacier tills left by retreating ice sheets and lakes formed in
hollows and blocked glacial valleys were very common at the end of the last ice age.
The sequence of vegetation types which occur in primary succession is often called a sere.
Hydrosere – series of aquatic communities found in a lake
Xerosere – sequence on dry land
Lithosere – if a xerosere develops on bare rock.

Most bare areas today are exposed because existing vegetation has been destroyed by fire or covered with
flood silt or volcanic ash. The vegetation re-colonising the area will be affected by conditions not available in
primary succession. This includes the remnants of soil, organic matter, seeds and even some plants which have
survived the changes. This sequence of changes on disturbed land is called secondary succession.

Xerosere
Primary Succession occurred on vast expanses of land after the retreat of the last ice age c. 13000 years ago.
The study of the early phases of such succession comes from direct observation of recently exposed sites and
by investigating fossil pollen records from regions exposed at the end of the last glacier period.
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2.6.6 Explain the changes in energy flow, gross and net productivity, diversity and mineral cycling in different
stages of succession.
In early stages, gross productivity is low due to the initial conditions and low density of producers. The proportion of energy
lost through community respiration is relatively low too, so net productivity is high, that is, the system is growing and
biomass is accumulating.
In later stages, with an increased consumer community, gross productivity may be high in a climax community. However,
this is balanced by respiration, so net productivity approaches zero and the production : respiration (P:R) ratio approaches
one.

Bare rocky areas are often invaded first by animals such as spiders which can hide in the cracks between
boulders. Such animals are carnivorous or scavengers and live by feeding on insects which have been blown in
by mistake.
The process of succession usually starts when autotrophs begin to live in the area. The structure and nutrient
content of exposed ground will affect which species become the first colonisers.
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Time

Colonisers Early succession Later succession

Primary Sere Secondary Sere Late Successional

Vegetation

Mosses and lichens Dicotyledons and grasses Dicotyledons with root Oak and birch scrub then
On boulders or bare rock on finer pebbles, sand, nodules deciduous woodland
clay or ash On young developing soil On well-developed brown earth

Autogenic changes: increase in humic content, peat accumulation, litter fall and decay, pH change, nutrient change, reduction in wind
exposure and thus evapotranspiration; shade increases, competition increases, increased sources of seeds.

Number of species, e.g. woody plants or birds, increases until a

steady state is reached. The species composition also changes until
the climax community is reached.

Biomass accummulation

Biomass accumulates rapidly, then declines slightly during before reaching a steady state.

Gross productivity
Gross productivity low
initially due to low density
of pioneers
Community respiration

Net community respiration also low As the consumer community increases,

so net productivity is therefore high gross productivity remains high but so does
and thus systems is growing and community respiration so net productivity
biomass accumulating. approaches zero as production: respiration
ration approaches 1.

Net productivity
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2.6.7 Describe factors affecting the nature of climax communities.

Climatic and edaphic factors determine the nature of a climax community. Human factors frequently affect this process
through, for example, fire, agriculture, grazing and/or habitat destruction.

Succession generally ends with a community whose populations remain stable until disrupted by disturbance.
This late successional community is called the climax community. The nature of this community is determined
by climate and edaphic factors, e.g. the biomes for a particular climatic region such as broad leaved tropical
forest or temperate deciduous woodland. Analysis of lake core samples and peat bogs which record the
vegetation history of an area have been useful in studying the factors affecting the climax communities. At
each stage in succession, a particular sere may be very stable but eventually allogenic factors will alter the
environment and change will occur. It is not definite that what we see as the late successional vegetation is a
final climax or simply what is present now with time scale hampering our understanding. Certainly these
communities are constantly changing and regenerating in a patchwork form.

Diverted Seres
Sometimes the natural sequence of succession is halted or diverted by some external factor which influences
the vegetation structure or community composition. The autogenic changes are usually prevented in two ways:
by removal of vegetable matter which would normally build up and alter the substrate; and by the exclusion of
invading plants of the next seral stage.
Both these environmental constraints are applied by grazing animals and by fire, resulting in stable grassland
communities maintained by heavy grazing pressure or regular fires. In England, elimination of rabbits, by the
first exposure to myxomatosis, allowed scrub to invade chalk grasslands, then autogenic changes (increased
acidity) prevented the re-colonisation if the scrub was cleared. Insect species dependent on the short turf
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declined and the large blue butterfly eventually became extinct in 1979 due to the decline in the mutual ant
species which required turf less than 1 cm tall. Carnivores also suffered with foxes, stoats, weasels and birds of
prey failing to breed, but consequently there was an overabundance of small mammals such as voles which
resulted in the rise of the carnivores again to their previous levels. Grasses are more able to withstand fires
than shrubs and trees and regular fires can maintain grasslands. Where close cropping by herbivores occurs,
the fire prone long grass is absent and can result in unpalatable shrub. This occurs with hippopotamuses.

Humans regularly divert the natural climax community. These are known as sub-climax communities. In arable
areas, the only wild vegetation to succeed are the annual weeds which can set seed rapidly. Grazing land also
prevents the natural succession to scrub. If in this land is left to secondary succession it is unlikely to return to
the normal climax community, especially in the more ecologically vulnerable tropics. Tropical forests known to
have been cleared 800 years ago in Brazil and left to regenerate are still recognisable as they do not have the
native forest growing there.

Assignment: Succession Case Study