Ecology 6th Edition by Charles Krebs

Exercise 1

Discuss the inhibition, facilitation, and tolerance models of succession with respect to the following simple experiment. In this hypothetical succession, species A normally precedes species B. Two treatments are applied: (1) All of species A are removed from a series of replicate plots, and (2) a portion of species B equal to the biomass of A is removed from another set of plots. Growth in biomass is then measured over several years. Interpret all the possible outcomes of this experiment. Compare your analysis with that of Botkin (1981).