Ecological Succession Overview

Overview of Ecological Succession

• Ecological succession is the orderly process by which an ecosystem changes and repairs itself over time following a disturbance.
• In ecology, the word "succeed" means to come after, where one stage of succession follows another.
• Succession is a cyclical process that starts with a stable state, undergoes a disturbance, enters a repair phase, and ultimately returns to a stable state.

Climax Communities

• A climax community is the most stable community in an ecosystem at a given time.
• Examples of climax communities include:
  • Pine hickory forest in the Southeastern United States.
  • Large grassland on the grasslands of North America.

Disturbances and Timeline

• Ecological succession is kicked off by natural or man-made disturbances, including fires, humans, drought, earthquakes, and volcanoes.
• The timeframe for ecological succession ranges from a few hundred years to many tens of thousands of years.
• Human maintenance, such as mowing or weed eating a lawn, serves to interrupt ecological succession.
• Over a period of 5,000 years, natural succession can completely obscure man-made structures.

Questions & Discussion

• A brief side conversation took place regarding traveling to Waikiki to copy lava lavas for church, managing Sunday work schedules, transportation, and the Kailua Youth circle.