Lecture Notes 4

Population Characteristics
Limiting Factor: something that causes populating growth to decrease.
• These are density dependent factors and density independent factors.
i. Density Dependent Factors
These factors are limiting only when the population density reaches a
specific level. (too many for ecosystem to support)
ii. Density Independent Factors
These factors are limiting on all populations regardless of size.

key features of populations
Population size is limited by:
i. density-dependent factors
• Disease
• Competition
• Predators
• Parasites
• Food
• Crowding
• The greater the population, the greater effect these factors have.
Density-independent factors
• Volcanic eruptions
• Temperature
• Storms
• Floods
• Drought
• Chemical pesticides
• Major habitat disruption (such as fires)
• Most are abiotic factors

Three factors that determine population size:
1. The number of births
2. The number of deaths
3. Migration (Immigration and Emigration
Temporal Dynamics of ecosystems
• Ecosystem processes constantly change in response to variation in environment

over time scales
• Ecosystems are always recovering from past changes that have occurred.
• These changes include relatively predictable daily and seasonal variations, less
predictable changes in weather and occurrence of disturbances (e.g., tree falls,
herbivore outbreaks, fires, and volcanic eruptions).
• Consequently, the behavior of an ecosystem is always influenced by both the

current environment and many previous environmental fluctuations and
disturbances.
• The response of any system to a perturbation (i.e., a
external force that displaces the system from equilibrium)
depends on the direction and magnitude of the perturbation,
its resistance and resilience.
• The resistance of a system describes its tendency to remain

in its reference state in the face of a perturbation; in
ecological terms, resistance is the capacity of a system to
maintain certain structures and functions despite disturbance.
• Ecological resilience refers to the rate at which a system returns to a
reference state following perturbation.
• Systems with low resilience may never recover to their original state and
are readily converted to a new state
• Disturbance is a major cause of long-term fluctuations in the structure and

functioning of ecosystems.
• Disturbance is a relatively discrete event in time and space that alters the
structure of populations, communities, and ecosystems and causes changes
in resource availability or the physical environment.
• There are many natural disturbances, such as herbivore
outbreaks, fires, hurricanes etc.
• Floods, glacial advances, and volcanic eruptions, exert these

effects through reductions in live plant biomass or sudden
changes in the pool of actively cycling soil organic matter.
• Many disturbance are man made, such change of natural forest

into eucalyptus forest , land reclamation for agricultural
purposes
Succession
• After disturbance, ecosystems undergo succession,
• Succession is a directional change in ecosystem structure and

functioning resulting from biotically driven changes in resource
supply.
• Disturbances that remove live or dead organic matter, for example, are
colonized by plants that gradually reduce the availability of light at the
soil surface and alter the availability of water and nutrients. If there
were no further disturbance, succession would proceed toward a
climax, the end point of succession
• The process where plants & animals of a particular area are replaced
by other more complex set of species over time.
Primary vs. Secondary
• Primary begins with a lifeless area where there is no soil (e.g.bare
rock). Soil formation begins with lichens or moss.
Primary succession occurs after severe disturbances
• that remove or bury most products of ecosystem processes, leaving little or

no organic matter or organisms.
• Disturbances leading to primary succession include volcanoes, glaciers,

landslides, mining, flooding, coastal dune formation, and drainage of lakes.
Secondary succession occurs on previously vegetated sites after less severe

disturbances such as fire, hurricanes, logging, and agricultural plowing.
These disturbances remove or kill most live aboveground biomass but leave
some soil organic matter and plants or plant propagules in place.
Primary Succession
• Succession involves a change from a community governed by the

dynamics of colonization to one governed by competition for
resources.
• Vegetation development after disturbance is strongly influenced by the

initial colonization events, which in turn depend on environment and the
availability of propagules.
• Severe disturbances such as glaciers, volcanic eruptions, and mining

eliminate most traces of previous vegetation and must be colonized from
outside the disturbed site.
• Most initial colonizers of these primary successional sites have small seeds
that can disperse long distances by wind.
• Fresh lava or land exposed by retreat of glaciers, for example, is first

colonized by wind dispersed spores of algae, cyanobacteria, and lichens,
which form crusts that stabilize soils.
• These are followed by small seeded wind-dispersed vascular plants

(primarily woody species), whose arrival rates depend largely on distance
to seed source.
• Late successional species with heavier seeds generally arrive more slowly
• Secondary begins in an area where the natural community has been
disturbed, removed, or destroyed, but soil or bottom sediments remain.
• Secondary succession differs from primary succession in that
many of the initial colonizers are already present on site
immediately after disturbance.
• They may resprout from roots or stems that survived the

disturbance or germinate from a soil seed bank—seeds
produced after previous disturbance events and that remain
dormant in the soil until post disturbance conditions (light, wide
temperature fluctuations, and/or high soil nitrate) trigger
germination
• In many forests, there is also a seedling bank of large-
seeded species that show negligible growth beneath the
dense shade of a forest canopy but grow rapidly in treefall
gaps to become the next generation of canopy dominants.
• Other colonizers of secondary succession disperse into the

disturbed site from adjacent areas, just as in primary
succession.
• A number of communities are formed during a succession

Clement's theory of succession/Mechanisms of succession
Succession is a process involving several phases:
1. Nudation: Succession begins with the development of a bare site
2. Migration: It refers to arrival of propagules.
3. Ecesis: It involves establishment and initial growth of vegetation.
4. Competition: As vegetation became well established, grow, and spread,
various species began to compete for space, light and nutrients.

5. Reaction: During this phase autogenic changes (changes
include accumulation of organic matter in litter or humic layer,
alteration of soil nutrients, change in pH of soil by)affect the
habitat resulting in replacement of one plant community by
another.
6. Stabilization: Reaction phase leads to development of a
climax community.
Seral Communities
• A seral community is an intermediate stage found in an ecosystem
advancing towards its climax community.
• In many cases more than one seral stage evolves until climax
conditions are attained.
• A prisere is a collection of seres making up the development of an

area from non-vegetated surfaces to a climax community.
• Depending on the substratum and climate, a seral community
can be one of the following:
• Hydrosere - Community in water
• Lithosere - Community on rock
• Psammosere - Community on sand
• Xerosere - Community in dry area
• Halosere - Community in saline body (e.g. a marsh)
Succession Stages
• Land – rock  lichen  small shrubs  large shrubs  small trees 

large trees
• Water – bare bottom  small/few underwater vegetation 
temporary pond and prairie  swamp forest
Climax community
• The final or stable community in a sere is the climax community.
• It is self-perpetuating and in equilibrium with the physical habitat.
• The annual production and use of energy is balanced in such a community.
Characteristics of climax
• The vegetation is tolerant of environmental conditions.
• It has a wide diversity of species, a well-defined spatial structure, deep well

developed soils and complex food chains.
• The climax ecosystem is balanced. There is equilibrium between gross
primary production and total respiration, between energy used from
sunlight and energy released by decomposition, between uptake of
nutrients from the soil and the return of nutrient by litter fall to the
soil.
• Individuals in the climax stage are replaced by others of the same

kind. Thus the species composition maintains equilibrium.
• It is an index of the climate of the area. The life or growth forms

indicate the climatic type.
Types of climax
• Climatic Climax – the development of the community is controlled by the
climate of the region
• Edaphic Climax - the communities is modified by local conditions of the

substrate such as soil moisture, soil nutrients, topography, slope exposure and
animal activity
• Catastrophic Climax - the climax vegetation vulnerable to a catastrophic event

such as a wildfire. The wildfire removes the mature vegetation and decomposers.
A rapid development of herbaceous vegetation follows until the shrub
dominance is re-established.
• Disclimax - when a stable community is maintained by man or his
domestic animals, or anthropogenic subclimax (man-generated). For
example, overgrazing by stock may produce a desert community of
bushes and cacti where the local climate actually would allow
grassland to maintain itself.
• Subclimax - The prolonged stage in succession just preceding the

climatic climax
• Preclimax and Postclimax

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Population Characteristics

Limiting Factor: something that causes populating growth to decrease.

• These are density dependent factors and density independent factors.

i. Density Dependent Factors

specific level. (too many for ecosystem to support)

ii. Density Independent Factors

These factors are limiting on all populations regardless of size.

• Most are abiotic factors

• Ecosystem processes constantly change in response to variation in environment

• Consequently, the behavior of an ecosystem is always influenced by both the

• The resistance of a system describes its tendency to remain

• Disturbance is a major cause of long-term fluctuations in the structure and

• Floods, glacial advances, and volcanic eruptions, exert these

• Many disturbance are man made, such change of natural forest

• Succession is a directional change in ecosystem structure and

• that remove or bury most products of ecosystem processes, leaving little or

• Disturbances leading to primary succession include volcanoes, glaciers,

Secondary succession occurs on previously vegetated sites after less severe

• Succession involves a change from a community governed by the

• Vegetation development after disturbance is strongly influenced by the

• Severe disturbances such as glaciers, volcanic eruptions, and mining

• Fresh lava or land exposed by retreat of glaciers, for example, is first

• These are followed by small seeded wind-dispersed vascular plants

• They may resprout from roots or stems that survived the

• Other colonizers of secondary succession disperse into the

• A number of communities are formed during a succession

Succession is a process involving several phases:

1. Nudation: Succession begins with the development of a bare site

2. Migration: It refers to arrival of propagules.

3. Ecesis: It involves establishment and initial growth of vegetation.

4. Competition: As vegetation became well established, grow, and spread,

various species began to compete for space, light and nutrients.

include accumulation of organic matter in litter or humic layer,

alteration of soil nutrients, change in pH of soil by)affect the

habitat resulting in replacement of one plant community by

6. Stabilization: Reaction phase leads to development of a

• A prisere is a collection of seres making up the development of an

• Land – rock  lichen  small shrubs  large shrubs  small trees 

• It is self-perpetuating and in equilibrium with the physical habitat.

• The annual production and use of energy is balanced in such a community.

• The vegetation is tolerant of environmental conditions.

• It has a wide diversity of species, a well-defined spatial structure, deep well

• Individuals in the climax stage are replaced by others of the same

• It is an index of the climate of the area. The life or growth forms

• Edaphic Climax - the communities is modified by local conditions of the

• Catastrophic Climax - the climax vegetation vulnerable to a catastrophic event

• Subclimax - The prolonged stage in succession just preceding the

• Preclimax and Postclimax

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