Ecological Succession and Community Dynamics

“Ecological Succession” is an ordered progression of structural and compositional changes in communities toward an eventual unchanging condition, the climax community 1 –3. The term “Community” is used in two ways 4. The “Abstract Community” refers to an abstract group of organisms that recurs on the landscape, a definition, which usually carries with it an implication of a level of integration among its parts that in extreme could be called organismal or quasi-organismal; the “Concrete Community” concept refers to the collection of organisms found at a specific place and time. These terms and their meanings are topics of significant debate among ecologists, both historically and today 5, 6. These differences in the meaning and cause of ecological succession strongly affect the formulation of policies for ecosystems management and restoration.