Successional Processes: Comparisons among Biomes with Special Reference to Probable Roles of and Influences on Animals

Abstract

This chapter is an attempt to present a series of ideas, based on several conceptual models, which are related to variations in the importance of successional processes in different terrestrial biomes of the world. The approach used is to explain the reasons for choosing the rows and columns of a matrix concerning successional processes and to apply this matrix first to plants and then to animals, to estimate their impact on succession. Finally, factors regulating animal species mixes during succession will be addressed.