Four opportunities for studies of ecological succession

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2010.12.007

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Volume 26, Issue 3, March 2011, Pages 119-123

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2010.12.007 Get rights and content

Lessons learned from the study of ecological succession have much to offer contemporary environmental problem solving but these lessons are being underutilized. As anthropogenic disturbances increase, succession is more relevant than ever. In this review, we suggest that succession is particularly suitable to address concerns about biodiversity loss, climate change, invasive species, and ecological restoration. By incorporating modern experimental techniques and linking results across environmental gradients with meta-analyses, studies of succession can substantially improve our understanding of other ecological phenomena. Succession can help predict changes in biodiversity and ecosystem services impacted by invasive species and climate change and guide manipulative responses to these disruptions by informing restoration efforts. Succession is still a critical, integrative concept that is central to ecology.

Section snippets

Succession is still a vital part of ecological studies

Succession, the sequential replacement of species following a disturbance (Box 1), has been a central theme throughout the 110 year history of ecology [2]. However, its lessons have not been adequately integrated into efforts to tackle modern environmental problems. Too often, succession is considered an esoteric study of plant dynamics on abandoned agricultural fields [5] or volcanoes 6, 7. In fact, succession provides a broad conceptual background to address most temporal dynamics of

Promising methodological approaches

The increased use and sophistication of experiments can elucidate the mechanisms driving succession. Experimental manipulations of abiotic factors, especially nutrients and moisture, have shown that vegetation reacts less stochastically than was often expected 21, 22, although detailed predictions of vegetation change still remain elusive [23]. The manipulation of biotic factors by the introduction and removal of individual species or functional groups of species has shown the importance of

Biodiversity loss

The first opportunity for successional studies stems from the justified concern about increased rates of reduction of species richness and local species extinctions, primarily through destruction and usurpation of habitat by humans and changing management in remaining habitats. Changes in biodiversity during succession have been evaluated in many studies, often demonstrating a peak in early but not initial stages of succession [2], suggesting the importance of early stages of succession for the

Conclusion

Succession provides a conceptual framework in which to examine many ecological topics of immediate concern. Use of modern tools, such as experiments employed across resource gradients, meta-analyses of multi-site data sets, mathematical modeling, and expert systems, links studies of succession to a better understanding of the ecological implications of biodiversity loss, climate change, invasive species, and restoration. We can imagine a study that investigates succession after invasion of a

Acknowledgments

K.P. was supported by the following grants: MSM 6007665801, AVOZ 60050516 and GACR P505-11-0256. L.R. W. was supported by the Department of Botany at the University of Hawaii at Manoa through the Wilder Chair Program and the NSF-funded Luquillo Experimental Forest Long-term Ecological Research Program (grant DEB-0920910). We thank Marcel Rejmánek, Rob Marrs and anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments.

References (64)

R.H. Marrs
The importance of long-term ecological data collected systematically from multiple sites: The UK's Environmental Change Network
Biol. Conserv.
(2009)
P. Amarasekare et al.
Patch dynamics and metapopulation theory: the case of successional species
J. Theor. Biol.
(2001)
R.J. Hobbs
Novel ecosystems: implications for conservation and restoration
Trends Ecol. Evol.
(2009)
M.A. Davis
Vegetation change: a reunifying concept in plant ecology
Persp. Plant Ecol. Evol. Syst.
(2005)
F.E. Clements
Plant Succession: An Analysis of the Development of Vegetation
(1916)
L.R. Walker et al.
Primary Succession and Ecosystem Rehabilitation
(2003)
D.A. Wardle
Ecosystem properties and forest decline in contrasting long-term chronosequences
Science
(2004)
D.A. Peltzer
Understanding ecosystem retrogression
Ecol. Monogr.
(2010)

S.S. Talbot

Post-eruption legacy effects and their implications for long-term recovery of the vegetation on Kasatochi Island, Alaska

Arct. Antart. Alpine Res.

(2010)

E.A. Johnson et al.

Testing the assumptions of chronosequences in succession

Ecol. Lett.

(2008)

L.R. Walker

The use of chronosequences in studies of ecological succession and soil development

J. Ecol.

(2010)

D.A. Wardle

Plant removals in perennial grassland: vegetation dynamics, decomposers, soil biodiversity and ecosystem properties

Ecol. Monogr.

(1999)

J.H. Connell et al.

Mechanisms of succession in natural communities and their roles in community stability and organization

Am. Nat.

(1977)

D. Tilman

The resource-ratio hypothesis of plant succession

Am. Nat.

(1985)

S.T.A. Pickett

A hierarchical consideration of causes and mechanisms of succession

Vegetatio

(1987)

L.R. Walker et al.

Interactions among processes controlling successional change

Oikos

(1987)

B.C. Patten et al.

Complex Ecology: The Part-Whole Relation in Ecosystem

(1995)

D.C. Glenn-Lewin

The individualistic nature of plant community development

Vegetatio

(1980)

R.M. Callaway et al.

Competition and facilitation: a synthetic approach to interactions in plant communities

Ecology

(1997)

L. Gómez-Aparicio

The role of plant interactions in the restoration of degraded ecosystems: a meta-analysis across life-forms and ecosystems

J. Ecol.

(2009)

H.C. Cowles

The physiographic ecology of Chicago and vicinity: a study of the origin, development, and classification of plant societies

Bot. Gaz.

(1901)

D. Tilman

Plant Strategies and the Dynamics and Structure of Plant Communities

(1988)

J.G.Y. Mitchley

Vegetation establishment on chalk marl spoil: the role of nurse grass species and fertilizer application

J. Veget. Sci.

(1996)

L.R. Walker

Plant characteristics are poor predictors of microsite colonization during the first two years of primary succession

J. Veget. Sci.

(2006)

S. Diaz

The plant traits that drive ecosystems: evidence from three continents

J. Veget. Sci.

(2004)

L.R. Walker

Early successional woody plants facilitate and ferns inhibit forest development on Puerto Rican landslides

J. Ecol.

(2010)

P.S. White et al.

Disturbance, succession, and community assembly in terrestrial plant communities

W.H. van der Putten

Plant species diversity as a driver of early succession in abandoned fields: a multi-site approach

Oecologia

(2000)

K. Řehounková et al.

Spontaneous vegetation succession in disused gravel-sand pits: role of local site and landscape factors

J. Veget. Sci.

(2006)

Cited by (263)

Nitrogen supply neutralizes the nanoplastic-plant interaction in a coastal wetland
2024, Environmental Research
The presence of nanoplastics posed a potential threat to coastal saline-alkaline wetlands where nitrogen (N) fertilizer is being implemented as an important ecological restoration measure. Notwithstanding, the effects of N inputs on plant community in polypropylene-nanoplastics (PP-NPs) coexistence environments are largely unknown. To address this, we investigated the effects of PP-NPs addition alone or combined N supply on community aboveground biomass, morphological traits, diversity, composition, niche differentiation, interspecific interactions, and assembly. Our results showed that the PP-NPs addition alone reduced community aboveground biomass and morphological traits. However, the addition of high concentration (0.5%) PP-NPs alone favored community α-diversity and reduced community stability, which could be weakened through combined N supply. Overall, the effect of PP-NPs addition alone on plant community composition was greater than that of combined N supply. We also demonstrated PP-NPs addition alone and combined N supply reduced the niche breadth of the plant community and affected the niche overlap of dominant species. In the assembly of plant communities, stochastic processes played a dominant role. We conclude that N fertilization can amend the terrestrial nanoplastics pollution, thus mitigating the effects of PP-NPs on the plant community.
EcoGenoRisk: Developing a computational ecological risk assessment tool for synthetic biology
2024, Environmental Pollution
The expanding field of synthetic biology (synbio) supports new opportunities in the design of targeted bioproducts or modified microorganisms. However, this rapid development of synbio products raises concerns surrounding the potential risks of modified microorganisms contaminating unintended environments. These potential invasion risks require new bioinformatic tools to inform the design phase. EcoGenoRisk is a newly constructed computational risk assessment tool for invasiveness that aims to predict where synbio microorganisms may establish a population by screening for habitats of genetically similar microorganisms. The first module of the tool identifies genetically similar microorganisms and potential ecological relationships such as competition, mutualism, and inhibition. In total, 520 archaeal and 32,828 bacterial complete assembly genomes were analyzed to test the specificity and accuracy of the tool as well as to characterize the enzymatic profiles of different taxonomic lineages. Additionally, ecological relationships were analyzed to determine which would result in the greatest potential overlap between shared functional profiles. Notably, competition displayed the significantly highest overlap of shared functions between compared genomes. Overall, EcoGenoRisk is a flexible software pipeline that assists environmental risk assessors to query large databases of known microorganisms and prioritize follow-up bench scale studies.
Depth effects on bacterial community altitudinal patterns and assembly processes in the warm-temperate montane forests of China
2024, Science of the Total Environment
Soil bacterial communities are essential for ecosystem function, yet their response along altitudinal gradients in different soil strata remains unclear. Understanding bacterial community co-occurrence networks and assembly patterns in mountain ecosystems is crucial for comprehending microbial ecosystem functions. We utilized Illumina MiSeq sequencing to study bacterial diversity and assembly patterns of surface and subsurface soils across a range of elevations (700 to 2100 m) on Dongling Mountain. Our results showed significant altitudinal distribution patterns concerning bacterial diversity and structure in the surface soil. The bacterial diversity exhibited a consistent decrease, while specific taxa demonstrated unique patterns along the altitudinal gradient. However, no altitudinal dependence was observed for bacterial diversity and community structure in the subsurface soil. Additionally, a shift in bacterial ecological groups is evident with changing soil depth. Copiotrophic taxa thrive in surface soils characterized by higher carbon and nutrient content, while oligotrophic taxa dominate in subsurface soils with more limited resources. Bacterial community characteristics exhibited strong correlations with soil organic carbon in both soil layers, followed by pH in the surface soil and soil moisture in the subsurface soil. With increasing depth, there is an observable increase in taxa-taxa interaction complexity and network structure within bacterial communities. The surface soil exhibits greater sensitivity to environmental perturbations, leading to increased modularity and an abundance of positive relationships in its community networks compared to the subsurface soil. Furthermore, the bacterial community at different depths was influenced by combining deterministic and stochastic processes, with stochasticity (homogenizing dispersal and undominated) decreasing and determinism (heterogeneous selection) increasing with soil depth.
Site and landscape scale drivers of bird and insect diversity in Native and novel forest ecosystems of Central Portugal
2024, Forest Ecology and Management
The natural forests of southern Europe have been altered over the last decades. One of these changes is the proliferation of invasive woody alien species, resulting in highly altered ecosystems, the so-called “novel ecosystems”. These changes affect biodiversity at both local and landscape scales. Using piecewise structural equation models, we evaluate the effects of local and landscape variables on the diversity of birds and insects across three common forest types in Central Portugal, namely: Native Forests (dominated by Quercus sp.) and two novel forest ecosystems, Acacia Forests and Eucalyptus Forests (forests formed by natural regeneration of Acacia dealbata Link and Eucalyptus globulus Labill). Local variables were the most influential on bird and insect diversity, and Native Forests was the forest type that most favored diversity in both groups. The structure of this forest type may explain this difference, as Native Forests have a greater local complexity compared to novel forest ecosystems, providing foraging and breeding resources and increasing the microhabitats. Contrarily to what was expected, no variable, including structural landscape complexity, has significantly influenced biodiversity at the landscape level. Fire seems to promote Eucalyptus Forest, resulting in negative impacts upon biodiversity in fire-prone areas. Our results show the extended impacts of deep ecosystem alterations on diversity patterns, with relevant insight into management and conservation practices.
High trophic level organisms and the complexity of soil micro-food webs at aggregate scale regulate carbon accumulation in cropland soils
2024, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
Enhancing soil organic carbon (SOC) levels via improved fertilization strategies can promote soil health and support sustainable crop production. While bacteria and fungi play a key role in SOC accumulation, the effects of soil micro-food webs that include organisms from higher trophic levels remain uncertain. We sought to narrow this knowledge gap by clarifying the associations between SOC accumulation and soil micro-food webs at the aggregate scale under long-term (18 years) fertilization treatments, which included a no-fertilizer control (Ctrl), synthetic fertilizers (NPK), and partial synthetic nitrogen replacement with pig slurry (OMNPK) or crop straw (RSDNPK). The concentration of SOC was significantly increased by fertilization following the order RSDNPK (13.1 g kg⁻¹) > OMNPK (11.4 g kg⁻¹) > NPK (9.1 g kg⁻¹) > Ctrl (6.4 g kg⁻¹). Nematodes and protists accounted for approximately 20% of all nodes in the multitrophic networks. Fertilization increased network complexity at the aggregate scale by 1–4 times across different sampling dates (P < 0.05). In all aggregate classes, the functionally important (FI) nematodes, protists, and bacterial taxa involved in soil carbon cycle had higher relative abundances under the fertilization treatments than under the Ctrl (P < 0.05). Structural equation modeling further indicated that besides soil microbes, network complexity, FI nematodes and protists were important to SOC accumulation. Compared with NPK, the key moments during which these soil biological attributes strongly regulated SOC under OMNPK and RSDNPK were delayed to late growth stages of maize. In conclusion, the increased network complexity and relative abundance of functionally important organisms from higher trophic levels of the soil micro-food webs at certain periods are vital contributors to effective SOC accumulation under fertilization regimes that include organic amendments.
Relic DNA confounds the results of DNA-based study on microeukaryotic succession in aquatic biofilms
2024, Ecological Indicators
High-throughput sequencing has revolutionized the DNA sequence-based study of microbial community and diversity on an unprecedented scale. Relic DNA is widespread in the natural aquatic environment; however, the extent to which such DNA can bias the sequence-based analysis of living microeukaryotic communities is unclear. Here, we conducted a 30-day field-control experiment investigating biofilm succession of microeukaryotic communities on glass slides and polyurethane foam units (PFUs) in a subtropical urban reservoir, using DNA-based approach. The propidium monoazide (PMA) dye was used to distinguish living and relic DNA sequences. Our results showed that microeukaryotic community succession in biofilms was time and substratum dependent, which was correlated with changing environmental conditions, nutrients and microalgae. Most importantly, relic DNA has a significant influence on the estimation of beta diversity and turnover in community composition, importantly its presence masked the successional patterns of different microbial taxa. We found strong deterministic processes dominating microeukaryotic succession on glass slides and PFUs biofilms. Depending on substrate and the presence and absence of relic DNA sequences, contrasting community assembly mechanisms were observed. In the presence of relic DNA, our results showed that 0.53–3.15 % of dispersal limitation, and 13.16 % of homogeneous selection processes were overestimated, while 1.06–3.68 % of homogenizing dispersal, 2.11–10.53 % of undominated and 2.10–10.52 % of heterogeneous selection processes were underestimated. This study provides significant insights into the value of removing relic DNA when designing DNA-based studies to characterize microeukaryotic communities and raise questions about some ecological interpretations in molecular microbial ecology which have not accounted for the effects of relic DNA.

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

OpinionFour opportunities for studies of ecological succession

Section snippets

Succession is still a vital part of ecological studies

Promising methodological approaches

Biodiversity loss

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

Biol. Conserv.

J. Theor. Biol.

Trends Ecol. Evol.

Persp. Plant Ecol. Evol. Syst.

Plant Succession: An Analysis of the Development of Vegetation

Primary Succession and Ecosystem Rehabilitation

Ecosystem properties and forest decline in contrasting long-term chronosequences

Science

Understanding ecosystem retrogression

Ecol. Monogr.

Post-eruption legacy effects and their implications for long-term recovery of the vegetation on Kasatochi Island, Alaska

Arct. Antart. Alpine Res.

Testing the assumptions of chronosequences in succession

Ecol. Lett.

The use of chronosequences in studies of ecological succession and soil development

J. Ecol.

Plant removals in perennial grassland: vegetation dynamics, decomposers, soil biodiversity and ecosystem properties

Ecol. Monogr.

Mechanisms of succession in natural communities and their roles in community stability and organization

Am. Nat.

The resource-ratio hypothesis of plant succession

Am. Nat.

A hierarchical consideration of causes and mechanisms of succession

Vegetatio

Interactions among processes controlling successional change

Oikos

Complex Ecology: The Part-Whole Relation in Ecosystem

The individualistic nature of plant community development

Vegetatio

Competition and facilitation: a synthetic approach to interactions in plant communities

Ecology

The role of plant interactions in the restoration of degraded ecosystems: a meta-analysis across life-forms and ecosystems

J. Ecol.

The physiographic ecology of Chicago and vicinity: a study of the origin, development, and classification of plant societies

Bot. Gaz.

Plant Strategies and the Dynamics and Structure of Plant Communities

Vegetation establishment on chalk marl spoil: the role of nurse grass species and fertilizer application

J. Veget. Sci.

Plant characteristics are poor predictors of microsite colonization during the first two years of primary succession

J. Veget. Sci.

The plant traits that drive ecosystems: evidence from three continents

J. Veget. Sci.

Early successional woody plants facilitate and ferns inhibit forest development on Puerto Rican landslides

J. Ecol.

Disturbance, succession, and community assembly in terrestrial plant communities

Plant species diversity as a driver of early succession in abandoned fields: a multi-site approach

Oecologia

Spontaneous vegetation succession in disused gravel-sand pits: role of local site and landscape factors

J. Veget. Sci.

Opinion
Four opportunities for studies of ecological succession