Have you ever been relaxing, maybe watching a good movie, and then someone came into the room making all kinds of noise? All of a sudden, your peace and quiet was interrupted by a disturbance. How do you get back to that relaxing state and continue watching your movie?
In different ways, this also can happen to plant communities. A plant community is a group of different plants living together in the same area. The plants are living rather peacefully in a stable community until some type of disturbance upsets it. Disturbances vary from natural causes, such as volcanic eruptions and flooding, to human causes, such as logging or accidental fires.
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After the disturbance, a predictable process--ecological succession--follows in an orderly manner until the plant community reaches a climax or stable community again. Ecological succession begins with simple plant communities, which are replaced with more complex plant communities over time. The type of succession depends on the disturbance. If the disturbance destroys the soil, for example, the succession involves more stages of plants and takes more time to return to a stable community. If the soil is not destroyed, the succession involves fewer stages of plants and takes less time to reach a climax community.
Question
What initiates ecological succession?
