Human Influence on Succession (DP IB Biology)

Human Influence on Succession

• Given any specific environmental conditions, ecological succession tends to lead to a particular type of climax community, but human activities often prevent or interrupt the process of succession

  • The type of climax community that develops will depend on the biome

  • E.g. in a temperate climate we might expect any succession to eventually result in temperate forest

• This means that human activities can prevent a climax community from developing, e.g.

  • The grazing activity of livestock such as sheep and cattle prevent tree seedlings from establishing, meaning that a forest community may not develop

  • Drainage of wetlands will prevent the formation of peat bogs

    • Wetlands may be drained to provide fertile agricultural land, land for development, or peat for fuel

• In some instances the interruption of succession is important for the maintenance of certain types of ecosystem, e.g. without grazing, important habitats such as heathlands, meadows, and chalk grasslands will be lost

CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

Human activities can interrupt succcession, e.g. grazing prevents the development of woodland, instead leading to habitats such as chalk grassland (left), while draining wetland using ditches (right) prevents the formation of peat bogs