Sequence of Species

Abstract

Floristic-composition diversity and variation with a progressing succession are often interpreted as the result of a dynamic equilibrium between colonization, continued presence and retreat of species. Species-turnover is often related to plant properties as: growth type, reproduction mode and life-history (Drury and Nisbet 1973, Horn 1976, Connell and Slatyer 1977). It is these properties that decide which species will be components of only one or several phytocoenoses succeeding one another in the course of succession. The following species group have been distinguished according to their presence during the succession processes in abandoned meadows (Figure 2.4): (1) species present in the initial or terminal succession phase; (2) species present in all succession phases, but varying in their proportions in the phytocoenoses; (3) species present throughout the succession process as a whole, but not in every succession phase (Table 2.5).