Forest Succession

In the western United States forest succession and the role of fire as a mechanism triggering forest community succession and the interaction of drought and forest fires are significant to the ecosystems and the living animals and plants affected by it. Forest succession is the replacement of new life in plant or animals in a forest. Fire is a mechanism triggering forest community succession because it is a disturbance to the community; it destroys all the trees and living organisms in that forest. The fire or any other disturbance causes forest succession because then new lives in plant or animals begin to grow again. Drought and forest fires are interacting because during a drought; a prolonged absence of rainfall, there’s an overabundance …show more content…
Primary succession begins in new habitats, uninfluenced by pre-existing communities, whereas secondary succession follows disruption of a pre-existing community (About.com Education). Primary succession occurs after a disturbance by fire, flood, wind, destructive pests or human intervention that destroys all traces of the previous community, leaving only bare rock and no soil, there needs to be erosion, wind and rain then soil so plants can grow back. Secondary succession occurs after a disturbance by fire, flood, wind, destructive pests or human intervention to the forest but some soil of the previous community remains so life can grow back from it. “Both primary and secondary sites in initial succession are characterized by full exposure to the sun, violent fluctuations in temperatures, and rapid changes in moisture conditions (About.com Education).” Pioneer organisms; tend to gravitate towards forests that had a disturbance to break down the soil from rocks for other plants and contain bacteria that repairs nitrogen. Pioneer plants and organisms are eventually replaced by more climax species as the forest develops. After a disturbance the forest starts to grow back, either primary or secondary succession is how the forest initially begins to develop, but both In both have moss and grass then other species come, other herbs and shrubs grow taller then grass and take the sunlight creating competition, then small wooded plants then trees. When everything grows in there’s a climax species, a species that grow in the shade of the parent trees, securing their superiority continuously (Encyclopedia Britannica). Whenever there’s a disturbance in the forest or area where there was once a community the whole process starts