Ecological succession in a changing world

Abstract

Ecological succession – how biological communities re‐assemble and change over time following natural or anthropogenic disturbance – has been studied since the birth of ecology, and the resulting theoretical framework underpins many aspects of the discipline. Recently, the mechanistic basis of classic succession theory has been advanced by studies of plant and microbial interactions, functional traits, and retrogressive stages of ecosystem development. This special issue brings together a series of papers that highlight these contemporary novel approaches and how our understanding of ecological succession has advanced. Four key themes emerge from the issue: (a) generalizations about succession, (b) the influence of dispersal and habitat size on successional trajectories, (c) changes in plant functional traits during succession, and (d) belowground community interactions during long term during ecosystem development. Synthesis. The articles in the special issue highlight novel perspectives on succession theory, revealing the importance of historical contingency, disturbance severity, dispersal limitation, functional traits, and belowground community processes in determining patterns of ecosystem development. Together, they reinforce the importance of ecological succession in understanding the response of plant and microbial communities to disturbance in a changing world.

Grasslands ancient and modern: Soil nutrients, habitat age and their relation to Ellenberg N

“…During succession, species’ occurrences are not only determined by abiotic filtering but also by the cumulative effects of other — stochastic or deterministic — processes, integrated over time (Chang & Turner, ). The strong contribution by the variable Age to the explained species occurrences (Figures , ) reflects the effects of conditions and processes that were not captured by the single “snapshot” measurements of soil nutrient concentrations.…”

“…Ecological studies of succession — the change over time in the physical environment and biological communities following disturbance — are the basis for many theories about the mechanisms of community assembly (Chang & Turner, ). The fact that environmental change may be reflected simultaneously by many abiotic variables is an underlying problem in studies of succession, making it difficult to assess the relative contributions of individual variables to the processes of abiotic filtering and community change (Fagan, Pywell, Bullock, & Marrs, ).…”

Forest Understorey Vegetation: Colonization and the Availability and Heterogeneity of Resources

“…Different disturbance regimes reinitiate forest stands and trigger resource reallocation [26][27][28][29][30][31]. As such, studying the patterns of understorey vegetation following various disturbance regimes may assist with clarifying how understorey vegetation responds to particular disturbances, toward improving the conservation of biodiversity in the context of dramatic declines in biodiversity worldwide [32]. Here, for reference, we include stand-replacing fire, a common disturbance type of stand-replacing disturbances in North America as an example.…”

Distinct fungal successional trajectories following wildfire between soil horizons in a cold‐temperate forest

“…Fungal succession – the sequential replacement of fungal taxa following natural or anthropogenic disturbances (sensu Prach & Walker, 2011; Chang & Turner, 2019) – is becoming a vital interactive theme of fungal ecology and disturbance ecology, especially in forest ecosystems (Baldrian, 2017). For example, soil fungal communities dramatically shifted in Norway spruce forests during the 4 yr following an insect outbreak; fungal biomass decreased and mutualistic fungi were replaced by saprotrophs (Stursova et al , 2014).…”