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Ecological Succession and Community Dynamics

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Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology

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Definition of the Subject and Its Importance

“Ecological Succession ” is an ordered progression of structural and compositional changes in communities toward an eventual unchanging condition, the climax community [1–3]. The term “Community” is used in two ways [4]. The “Abstract Community ” refers to an abstract group of organisms that recurs on the landscape, a definition, which usually carries with it an implication of a level of integration among its parts that in extreme could be called organismal or quasi-organismal; the “Concrete Community ” concept refers to the collection of organisms found at a specific place and time. These terms and their meanings are topics of significant debate among ecologists, both historically and today [5, 6]. These differences in the meaning and cause of ecological succession strongly affect the formulation of policies for ecosystems management and restoration.

Succession is important in sustainability...

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Abbreviations

Abstract community:

A group of organisms that recurs on the landscape with an implication of a level of integration among its parts that in extreme could be called organismal or quasi-organismal (see: Concrete Community).

Chronosequence:

A space-for-time substitution in which the successional vegetation is ordered in a regular fashion. An example would be the series of vegetation at the foot of a receding glacier or a series of sand dunes ordered in regularly aged series.

Clementsian succession:

An explanation of succession emphasizing the attributes of the community as if it functioned like a single living organism (see: Abstract Community).

Climax community:

An ecological community associated with a particular climate and in a state of dynamic equilibrium with the climate. The American ecologist, F.E. Clements, designated the climax community as the endpoint of ecological succession for a given climate condition and noted the common Greek root κλίμα (clima) or inclination, in both climax and climate as indicating their close relationship.

Concrete community:

The collection of organisms found at a specific place and time (see: Abstract Community).

Gleasonian succession theory:

An explanation of succession emphasizing the importance of the attributes of individual organisms as the fundamental basis.

Indicator species:

Plants or animals whose presence implies the past or present conditions at a given location.

Monoclimax:

The concept that one mature vegetation will eventually be produced by successional processes in a given region.

Polyclimax:

The concept that multiple mature, stable-vegetation types can develop from the successional processes operating in a given region.

SIGMATIST:

A school of vegetation science emphasizing the classification of vegetation.

Time-for-space substitution:

The collection of vegetation data from different locations at which succession has been initiated at different times in the past to piece together the pattern of succession.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Sciences, The University of Virginia, 376 Clark Hall, Charlottesville, VA, 22904-4123, USA

    Herman H. (Hank) Shugart (Professor)

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  1. Herman H. (Hank) Shugart
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Correspondence to Herman H. (Hank) Shugart .

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  1. RAMTECH LIMITED, Larkspur, CA, USA

    Robert A. Meyers

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Shugart, H.H.(. (2012). Ecological Succession and Community Dynamics . In: Meyers, R.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0851-3_568

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