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Phytoplankton: Directional Succession and Forced Cycles

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The Mosaic-Cycle Concept of Ecosystems

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 85))

Abstract

Plankton communities undergo conspicuous temporal change in species composition. Such change occurs over long-term scales in water bodies undergoing environmental change (e.g., eutrophication) and within individual years. The latter has been termed “seasonal succession” by plankton ecologists. Despite its cyclic character, plankton succession has more similarities with succession than with seasonal apsectation in terrestrial vegetation: Numerous generations are involved; the abundance of individual populations and, thus, the species composition of the community undergo drastic change; community composition passes several quite distinct stages; rescaled to the generation time of the organism and the duration time of stages several months of plankton succession are analogous to several centuries of forest succession.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Limnologie, Postfach 165, 2320, Plön, Germany

    U. Sommer

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  1. U. Sommer
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fachbereich Biologie, der Universität Lahnberge, Karl-von-Frisch-Straße, 3550, Marburg/Lahn, Germany

    Hermann Remmert

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© 1991 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Sommer, U. (1991). Phytoplankton: Directional Succession and Forced Cycles. In: Remmert, H. (eds) The Mosaic-Cycle Concept of Ecosystems. Ecological Studies, vol 85. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75650-4_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75650-4_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-75652-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-75650-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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