Transition Dynamics in Succession: Implications for Rates, Trajectories and Restoration

Succession provides a temporal framework in which to understand ecological processes. Studies of community assembly and changes in species diversity and nutrient cycling, for example, benefit greatly from the temporal perspective that succession offers. The temporal consequences of species interactions throughout the life history of each species are also well integrated into the conceptual framework of successional dynamics. With an emphasis on species effects on community dynamics, succession has been a nexus for physiological, population, ecosystem and landscape ecology as well as for biogeography, geology, soil science and other disciplines. With its temporal focus that demands recognition of the ubiquitous forces of change, succession thus provides insights into practical issues that involve restoration, land management and global climate change (del Moral and Walker 2007).