Ecosystem Succession

Paper Summary:

This paper examines two instances of ecosystem development--one instance being primary succession, the other instance being secondary succession--and explores how abiotic and biotic factors can create and/or perpetuate a ecological system. The paper concludes briefly by looking at the various mechanisms which hinder or help an ecosystem recover after a catastrophic event.

From the Paper:

"In our course textbook there are two especially interesting illustrations. The first of these depicts primary succession on a glacial moraine in Glacier Bay, Alaska. In this instance, the barren, rocky landscape is colonized by lichens and mosses and shrubs. Afterwards, dwarf trees and more mature shrubs emerge and then spruces come to predominate. In the second illustration, we are confronted with secondary succession in North Carolina wherein, after one year after cultivation, there is the emergence of crabgrass and then the subsequent emergence of annual and perennial weeds. A few years later, pine seedlings and saplings develop and these are followed by young pine forest and by the developing "under-story" of hardwoods. Finally, 150 years after the field was first abandoned, there is a mature hardwood forest present."

More papers on Ecosystem Succession:

• Term Paper # 121223 : "A Grasslands Ecosystem"
• Essay # 45722 : "Ecosystem Structure"
• Comparison Essay # 75636 : "Non-Directive versus Ecosystemic Play Therapy"

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