Ecosystem Ecological Succession

LECTURE 3
Pradeep Singh
M.Sc Botany, B.Ed
8+ yrs teaching experience
Mentored 2 Lac+ students & Teachers
Best Teacher Award - 2017, HTLC New Delhi

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Ecosystem Ecological Succession

LECTURE 3
Ecological succession

Ecological Succession

The gradual and fairly predictable changes in the species composition of a given
area.
Ecological succession

❖ Ecological succession or biotic succession

is the natural development of a series of
biotic communities, one after the other, in
the same area.

❖ The first biotic community, which develops

in a bare area is called the pioneer
community.

❖ Climax community is the stable and final

biotic community that develops at the end
of biotic succession and is in perfect state.
Ecological succession
Ecological succession

Pioneer Community Climax Community

1. First biotic community which develops in bare area. 1. Final biotic community that develops in an area.

2. Pioneer community consists of a fewer small sized 2. Climax community consists of numerous large and small
organisms. sized organisms.

3. The area is hostile for pioneer community. 3. The area is favorable for the climax community.

4. It develops soil. 4. It grows on build up soil.

5. Growth is fast. 5. Growth is slow.

6. It is soon replaced by the next seral community. 6. Climax community is stable. It is not replaced by any other
community.
Seral Communities

❖ The entire sequence of communities that successively change in a given

area are called sere(s).
❖ In the successive seral stages there is a change in the diversity of species
of organisms, increase in the number of species and organism as well as
increase in the total biomass.
Seral Communities

❖ The series of development stages of biotic succession in an arid area is

termed as xerosere.
❖ Such a succession is known as xerarch succession.
❖ Xerosere is of further two types :
I. Lithosere:
Sequence of successional stages on a bare rock.
I. Psammosere:
Sequence of successional stages on sand.
Seral Communities

❖ The various stages of biotic succession taking place in a water body are
collectively termed as hydrosere

❖ Such a succession is known as hydrarch succession.

Primary Succession

Primary Succession

❖ It is a biotic succession that occurs on a previously sterile or primarily bare

area.

❖ It is quite hostile to first life or pioneer community. Primary succession takes a

very long time. It is often one thousand to several thousand years. It is
because soil formation takes several hundred to several thousand years
depending upon the substratum and the climate.
E.g: Newly cooled lava, bare rock, newly created pond of reservoir.
Primary Succession

Secondary Succession

❖ It takes place in the previously inhibited but damaged area. It completes

quickly, because the area already has soil and some vegetation.

❖ Destruction of the previous community or secondarily bared area can

occur due to
(a) Forest fire
(b) Recently cleared area left to itself
(c) Harvested crop fields left uncultivated for several years.
(d) Heavily overgrazed area left to itself.
(e) Landslide or earthquake.
(f) Severe drought for successive years.
E.g: Grassland etc.
Secondary Succession

Secondary Succession

❖ The secondarily bared area has a built in soil organic matter. It is

biologically fertile so that succession is completed quickly.

❖ Secondary succession takes 50 - 100 years to complete in case of

grassland and 100 - 200 years for development of a forest.
Hydrarch Succession

Hydrarch Succession

❖ It takes place in wetter areas (water) and the and the successional series
progress from hydric to the mesic conditions.
Xerarch Succession

Xerarch Succession

❖ It takes place in the dry areas and the scries progress from xeric to mesic
condition.
Ecological succession

The stages of Hydrarch succession are as follows:

Phytoplanktons (Pioneer community)

Floating Angiosperms

Rooted hydrophytes

(Seral communities)
Sedges

Grasses

Shrubs and Trees (Climax community)

Ecological succession
Ecological succession

The stages of Xerarch succession are as follows:

Lichens (Pioneer community)

Bryophytes (Mosses)

Herbaceous Plants (Seral communities)

Shrubs (Bushes)

Trees (Climax community)

Ecological succession
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