How Succession Shapes Ecosystem Recovery

Ecological succession is shaped by facilitation, inhibition, and toleration. These processes explain how one community changes into the next after a disturbance or a new surface becomes available. Early species can either help, block, or simply coexist with later species.

Facilitation happens whe...

Ecological succession is the gradual change in the structure and composition of a biological community over time. This process is often triggered by environmental disturbances.

Ecologists divide succession into two main types that follow a disturbance: primary succession and secondary succession.

Primary succession begins when living...