Biology / Unit 14 Bio 3613 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Pioneer Species and Facilitation
Captions available
The idea
Pioneer species are the first to colonize bare substrate during primary succession; facilitation is the process by which their presence, often by building soil, makes colonization by later species possible.
In practice
Lichens colonizing bare rock slowly break it down, facilitating the mosses and small plants that follow.
Where people slip
Facilitation describes pioneers enabling later colonizers, not pioneers actively assisting any specific later species.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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