Talk:Ecological succession

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To-do list for Ecological succession: edit · history · watch · refresh

Here are some tasks you can do:
  • Expand: Create a distinct lead section and expand the article to include more sections (e.g. changes during succession, mechanisms of sucession)
  • Other:
    • Give more further readings
    • Improve on images, including some charts and maybe diagrams, and some more photos of different types and stages of successions.
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It is requested that a diagram or diagrams be included in this article to improve its quality.
For more information, refer to discussion on this page and/or the listing at Wikipedia:Requested images.

Any ecology text should supply models for suitable diagrams (e.g. biomass accumulation graphs, nutrient retention, species richness etc)

Contents

[edit] Moved addition

Part of this page was based on information once at an article called Vegetation succession. The page history of this is now at Talk:Ecological succession/Page history.

Moved the following idiosyncratic addition (it was also not integrated properly into article) from the main article. Addition is also full of external links to the author's website, rather than internal wikilinks to wikipedia articles which makes it look like a case of self-promotion. --Lexor 14:11, 28 Jan 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Ecological succession as a derivative of the Second Law of Thermodynamics

addition by Folke Günther

Ecological succession is the spontaneous transformation of an ecosystem from a simple type (e.g. a grassland) into a complex type (ultimately: a tropical rainforest)

The process is driven by the Second Law of thermodynamics which is basic to any type of biological transformation.

Typical for a young (immature) ecosystem is:

  • parasitism
  • linear flows
  • low diversity
  • leakage
  • matter export
  • high excess production
  • low exergy consumption capacity

A typical example of this is a grassland or agricultural land

A mature ecosystem is characterized by

  • high diversity
  • mutualistic interactions (i.e. interactions that in some way or another is beneficial for both parts)
  • closed loops of nutrients
  • high exergy consumption capacity
  • all produced matter is consumed in the system

A typical example of this is a tropical rainforest, but other old forest ecosystems also approach this state.

A corollary of the above is that tropical rainforests do not provide oxygen, they breath it all up!

If an ecosystem is disturbed, it goes backwards in succession.

Looking at human-inhabited ecosystems then, the urban-agricultural system represent a young/immature system, while a self-sufficient village type represent a mature state.

For a closer discussion of this, see thermodynamics and ecosystems and related links.

[edit] Simple vs. Complex

If a tree falls in a forest, and no ecologist is there to see it, does it make a gap? Yes, and this gap will lead to an increase in diversity, in contrast to the generalisation made above in regards to the 2nd law. It has also made it more complex, if we use information theory to quantify complexity. Sucession will undo this disturbance, leading the ecosystem towards a less diverse and less complex state. Other examples point to different trajectories, but I am wary of the statement in the first paragraph that requires complexity to necessarily increase. Daniel Collins 19:44, 21 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Seondary succession

I've just created a stub for Secondary succession, following a request at WP:AFC. I'm not a biologist though, so it would be good if someone knowledgeable about the subject could expand it. Also, it may be the case that this page covers the same subject better, so that a redirect may be more useful. Leithp (talk) 14:35, 7 December 2005 (UTC)succession can be bad some times to

[edit] The wiki for stochastic

I read again the Stochastic page, (I put the wiki in for stachastic), and I think I see why the succession is not always predictable. I see the actions going according to these three Functions:

1–the Environmental factors (including genetic factors).
2–Time (occurs over finite, changing, periods), and can speed up, or slow.
3–the Generations, (of all the involved species).

Michael,in the Sonoran Desert, Mmcannis 15:34, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Readability

Hey folks, I know this is an involved sophisticated topic in a specific field, but it's hard for the layperson to follow this article with all the terms of art used. If someone can make take a pass at slowing it down a bit for noobs, that would be loverly. jengod 22:19, 28 December 2006 (UTC)