Primary succession
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Primary succession is one of four types of ecological succession of plant life, and occurs in an environment in which new substrate, devoid of vegetation and usually lacking soil, is deposited (for example a lava flow). (The other type of succession, secondary succession, occurs on substrate that previously supported vegetation before a disturbance destroyed the plant life.) In primary succession pioneer plants like mosses and lichen start to "normalize" the habitat, creating conditions nearer the optimum for plant growth; pedogenesis is the most important process. These pioneer plants are then dominated by plants better adapted to less austere conditions, such as grasses and shrubs. A good example of primary succession takes place after a volcano has erupted. The barren land is first colonised by pioneer plants which pave the way for later, less hardy plants, such as hardwood trees, by facilitating pedogenesis, especially through biotic acceleration of weathering and the addition of organic debris to the surface regolith.
[edit] See also
- Pioneer plant or bacteria.
