Ecological Succession
Govind Tiwari
Ecological succession
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2
• Primary succession is succession that begins in an area
where the soil has not yet formed. Eg. a newly quarried
rock face.
• Secondary succession is succession that begins after
an event clears the community but leaves the soil
intact. Eg. land clearance or a fire.
• Succession is directional and stages of it is
characterised by the presence of different
communities, are known as 'seres‘.
• Changes in communities from one sere to another is
gradual and it finally end up with a climax community.
• When large organisms in the climax community, such
as trees, die and fall down, then new openings are
created in which secondary succession will occur.
Succession on bare ground
Bare ground conditions favours
Pioneer plant species.
Pioneer species are often also
'opportunist' species which are
able to rapidly exploit a sudden
new opening in ground plant
cover.
Example . Mosses
These mosses provide a
microhabitat to variety of
invertebrates such as mites and
spiders.
Pioneer species are often
characterized by having light
seeds, which are easily
transported by the wind.
Ecological Niche
• Physical space occupied by the organism and
functional role it plays in the community.
• How an Individual meets its needs for food
and shelter, how it survives, and how it
reproduces.
Symbiosis
• Symbiosis literally means 'living together”. It is a close, long-term
interaction between two different species.
• There are many different types of symbiotic relationships that
occur in nature. This relationship can be either external or
endosymbiotic, whereby an organism resides in another's body or
cells.
Amensalism
Parasitism
Commensalism
Mutualism
Predation
Antisymbiosis
Competition
Mutualism
• Both species benefit from the
interaction,(+,+).
• Mutualistic arrangements are most likely to
develop between organisms with widely
different living requirements.
Mutualism
Bees and Flowers
Spider Crab and Algae
Oxpecker (bird) and
Zebra/Rhino
Acacica ants and
Bullhorn Tree
Nitrogen fixing
bacteria and Plants
Amensalism
One organism is inhibited and
the other is unaffected. (-,0)
There are two basic
modes: competition, in which
a larger or stronger organism
excludes a smaller or weaker
one from living space or
deprives it of food,
and antibiosis, in which one
organism is unaffected but
the other is damaged or killed
by a chemical secretion.
Black Walnut tree
The Bread mold Penicillium
Commensalism
one organism benefits from the
other without affecting it. (+,0)
The commensal—the species that
benefits from the association—
may obtain nutrients, shelter,
support, or locomotion from
the host species, which is
unaffected.
The commensal relation is often
between a larger host and a
smaller commensal.
Remora and sharks
Orchids and trees
Parasitism
one benefits at the
expense of the other,
sometimes without killing
the host organism. (+,-)
Brood Parasitism
Read: Social Parasitism
Predation
Predation is an interaction between
species in which one species uses
another species as food. (+,-)
Successful predation leads to an increase
in the population size of the predator and
a decrease in population size of the prey.
Cannibalism is simply predation on
another individual of the same species.
Predators have evolved a variety of
techniques to catch, subdue, or exploit
their prey (e.g., fast running speed, sharp
teeth and talons and camouflage) while
prey have evolved a variety of predator
defence mechanisms to allow them to
escape their predators or reduce their
desirability as prey (e.g., fast speed,
camouflage, wary behaviour, physical
defences, and chemical defences)
