Ecological Succession and Keystone Species

Flashcards covering key vocabulary related to ecological succession, its impact on community characteristics, and the concept of keystone species from the lecture notes.

Secondary succession

Occurs where soil is present but all plants have been removed, with early arriving plants initiating the process.

Climax community

Historically described as the final stage of succession, though it is now recognized that natural and human-caused disturbances can reset it to an earlier stage.

Aquatic ecosystems succession

The process of succession that occurs in aquatic environments, such as rocky intertidal zones after storms or streams after floods.

Keystone species

A species that is not very abundant but has large effects on an ecological community, playing a more significant role than their relative abundance would suggest.

Keystone predators

A type of keystone species that reduces the abundance of a superior competitor, creating space for other species to persist and thereby increasing biodiversity.

Species richness in succession

The number of different species present, which commonly increases over time, can plateau, and sometimes shows a small decline as an ecological community matures.

Biomass in succession

The total mass of organisms in a given area, which commonly increases over time as an ecological community undergoes succession.

Net primary productivity in succession

The rate at which plants add new biomass, which typically exhibits an initial large increase in early to mid-successional stages (e.g., shrub stages) but then sharply declines in climax forests.