Some Causes of Variety in Patterns of Secondary Succession

Abstract

The contrasts and paradoxes of ideas about succession are well illustrated by the history of my own ideas about succession. My introduction was the Boy Scouts’ Wildlife Management Merit Badge pamphlet (Allen 1952); old fields are invaded by sun-loving species, which by their growth gradually create an environment in which only shade-tolerant species can thrive. My observation at Camp Quinapoxet in West Ridge, New Hampshire was that all the sun-loving gray birches (Betula populifolia) are on sandy uplands and all the shade-tolerant hemlocks (Tsuga canadensis) are in ravines, regardless of the ages of the stands.