Ecological succession - Nature's way of renewal.

John's Family Conservatory 22 years after the 2003 Okanagan Mountain Wildfires

Succession is the natural progression of change in an ecosystem after disruption.  There are two types generally recognized; primary and secondary.  Primary succession takes place when there is no soil or other organic material present at all such as what you may find after a lava flow or volcanic event (upper mount St. Helens).  Secondary succession occurs when organic material is present, such as when a wildfire occurs.  Surface structures may be destroyed but underlying substrates remain intact and there may even be dead trees on the surface.

Primary succession typically takes a very long time as the formation of soil occurs over many hundreds of years.  Secondary succession typically occurs rapidly with new life appearing shortly after the disruption and progressing through a number of stages until the mature ecosystem is established.  The time difference is due to the presence of organic materials and available nutrients for life to use.  It still may take hundreds of years for a mature ecosystem to develop, but it is many times faster than for primary succession.

I quite enjoyed my visit to John's Family Conservancy last week.  There was a fair amount of growth in the area even though it was still early spring.  The coming summer will no doubt show much more.  The open areas are beneficial to many organisms as both plants and animals will make the area their home.  Had the forest not burned down there would be a significantly different ecology.  Forest fires are Nature's way of renewing a region's ecology and allowing plants an animals to thrive in places not possible otherwise.

It's funny how death and destruction are sometimes necessary to facilitate life.  The trick is to see it in terms of ecological time - Look at how our world has changed since the ice age glaciers retreated.  Amazing.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

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