Ecological Succession
“The phenomenon of community change in a given area in course of time is called ecological succession.”
Communities are never stable, but dynamic, changing more or less regularly over time and space.
This change of community in the course of time naturally brings in changes and modifications of the environment by the community. As a result of ecological succession, another community in a given area will replace one community. Consequent to this change in community and replacement of one community by another, there would occur changes in the physical environment also, which would pave the way for further succession of changes in the given area.
This process continues and successive communities develop one after another over the same area until the terminal final community again becomes more or less stable for a period of time. Finally, the series of succession will lead to the establishment of a stable community in the particular ecosystem. Ecological succession is initiated and mainly controlled by the community, which changes the non-living environment in such a way that a new community could enter and establish itself, in the given area.
