Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface and acknowledgements -- 1 Introduction -- 1.1 Why learn about primary succession? -- 1.1.1 Humans and disturbance -- 1.1.2 Human interest in ecosystem recovery -- 1.2 Definitions -- 1.3 Methods -- 1.4 Questions that still remain -- 2 Denudation: the creation of a barren substrate -- 2.1 Concepts -- 2.1.1 Physical environment and disturbance -- 2.1.2 Definitions -- 2.1.3 Plants and animals as agents of disturbance -- 2.1.4 Patch dynamics -- 2.2 Types of disturbance that initiate primary succession -- 2.2.1 Earth -- Volcanoes -- Earthquakes -- Erosion -- Landslides -- Rocks -- 2.2.2 Air -- Hurricanes -- Uprooted trees -- Dunes -- 2.2.3 Water -- Floodplains -- Glaciers -- Cold regions -- Drought -- Marine -- 2.2.4 Fire -- 2.2.5 Humans -- Erosion -- Mining -- Urban -- Military -- Transportation -- Other surfaces -- 2.2.6 Disturbance interactions -- 2.2.7 Summary of disturbance types -- 3 Successional theory -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Early observations -- 3.3 Holism -- 3.4 Neo-holism -- 3.5 Phytosociology -- 3.6 Reductionism -- 3.7 Neo-reductionism -- 3.8 Ecosystem assembly -- 3.9 Models -- 3.9.1 Verbal models -- Autogenic models -- Process models -- 3.9.2 Mathematical models -- 3.10 New directions -- 4 Soil development -- 4.1 Background -- 4.2 Environmental controls -- 4.2.1 Climate -- 4.2.2 Parent material -- 4.2.3 Topography -- 4.2.4 Erosion -- 4.3 Physical and chemical properties -- 4.3.1 Texture -- 4.3.2 Compaction -- 4.3.3 Water content -- 4.3.4 pH and cations -- 4.3.5 Nitrogen -- 4.3.6 Phosphorus -- 4.4 Soil biota -- 4.4.1 Plants -- 4.4.2 Soil microbes -- 4.4.3 Mycorrhizae -- 4.4.4 Animals -- 4.5 Soil processes -- 4.5.1 Nitrogen fixation -- 4.5.2 Organic matter -- 4.6 Spatial patterns -- 4.7 Summary -- 5 Life histories of early colonists -- 5.1 Introduction.

5.2 Pre-dispersal considerations -- 5.2.1 Pollination and seed set -- Off-site pollination -- On-site pollination -- On-site seed production -- 5.2.2 Seed banks -- 5.2.3 Vegetative reproduction -- 5.3 Dispersal -- 5.3.1 Dispersal parameters -- Dispersal models -- Empirical studies -- 5.3.2 Dispersal mechanisms and their consequences -- Passive dispersal -- Active dispersal by animals -- Dispersal of animals -- Diffusion -- Jump dispersal -- Combined dispersal -- 5.3.3 Barriers -- 5.3.4 Predictability -- Chance and prediction -- Habitat size -- Habitat stress -- Habitat isolation -- 5.3.5 Dispersal conclusions -- 5.4 Establishment -- 5.4.1 Germination -- Amelioration -- Safe-sites -- Stability -- 5.4.2 Growth -- Abiotic conditions -- Pre-reproductive growth -- Growth to maturity -- Growth forms -- Biomass accumulation -- Functional groups -- 5.5 Persistence and longevity -- 5.5.1 Persistence -- 5.5.2 Longevity -- 5.6 Successional consequences of dispersal and establishment -- 5.6.1 Under-saturated early successional communities -- 5.6.2 Under-saturated late successional communities -- 5.6.3 Novel species assemblages -- 5.6.4 Priority effects -- 5.6.5 Disharmonic communities -- 5.6.6 Biogeographical effects -- 5.6.7 Establishment conclusions -- 6 Species interactions -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Plant-soil and animal-soil interactions -- 6.2.1 Plant impacts on soils -- 6.2.2 Animal disturbances -- 6.3 Interactions among plants -- 6.3.1 Facilitation -- Background -- Light -- Nutrients -- Nurse plants -- Successional implications -- 6.3.2 Inhibition -- Background -- Light -- Nutrients -- Thickets -- Successional implications -- 6.4 Interactions between plants and other organisms -- 6.4.1 Mutualisms -- 6.4.2 Herbivores -- Vertebrates -- Invertebrates -- 6.4.3 Parasitism -- 6.5 Interactions between animals -- 6.6 Net effects of interactions.

7 Successional patterns -- 7.1 Types of trajectory -- 7.1.1 Converging trajectories -- Measurement -- Assembly -- Types of convergence -- 7.1.2 Diverging trajectories -- Local heterogeneity -- Subsequent disturbances -- Mosaics -- 7.1.3 Trajectory networks -- 7.1.4 Parallel trajectories -- 7.1.5 Deflected trajectories -- 7.1.6 Cyclic patterns and fluctuations -- 7.1.7 Retrogressive trajectories -- 7.1.8 Arrested trajectories -- 7.1.9 Trajectory summary -- 7.2 Temporal dynamics -- 7.2.1 Definitions -- 7.2.2 Methods of measuring rates -- 7.3 Changes in biodiversity and biomass -- 7.3.1 Biodiversity -- 7.3.2 Stability -- 7.3.3 Biomass and allocation -- 7.4 Environmental feedback -- 7.4.1 Moisture -- 7.4.2 Temperature -- Tropical -- Deserts -- Boreal forests -- Arctic and Antarctic systems -- 7.4.3 Nutrients -- Old-fields -- Floodplains -- Volcanoes -- Dunes -- Dune slacks -- Glaciers -- Decomposition -- 7.4.4 Salinity -- Salt flats -- Salt marshes -- Mangroves -- 7.4.5 Landscape factors -- 7.4.6 Chronic disturbance -- Rock outcrops -- 7.4.7 Pollution -- Air -- Water -- 7.5 Summary -- 8 Applications of theory for rehabilitation -- 8.1 Theory of rehabilitation ecology -- 8.1.1 Introduction and definitions -- 8.1.2 Interdependency between rehabilitation and ecological theory -- 8.2 Rehabilitation processes -- 8.2.1 Conceptual framework -- 8.2.2 Planning -- 8.3 Implementation -- 8.3.1 Dispersal -- 8.3.2 Establishment -- 8.3.3 Monitoring -- 8.3.4 Maintenance -- 8.4 Overcoming adverse conditions -- 8.4.1 Drought -- 8.4.2 Hydric conditions -- 8.4.3 Infertility and toxicity -- 8.4.4 Salinity -- 8.4.5 Extreme pH values -- 8.4.6 Low temperatures -- 8.4.7 Unstable substrates -- 8.4.8 Alien plants -- 8.4.9 Grazing -- 8.4.10 Air pollution -- 8.4.11 Overcoming adversity: a summary -- 8.5 Feedback between theory and practice -- 8.5.1 Increasing restoration rates.

8.5.2 Improving the aim -- 8.5.3 Enlarging the target -- 8.5.4 Summary of feedback between theory and practice -- 8.6 Politics -- 9 Future directions -- 9.1 Paradigm shifts -- 9.2 Development of standard protocols -- 9.2.1 Permanent plots -- 9.2.2 Removal experiments -- 9.2.3 Chronosequence studies -- 9.3 Questions for the future -- 9.3.1 The end of succession -- 9.3.2 Trajectories -- 9.3.3 Predictions -- 9.4 Missing data and poorly studied habitats -- 9.5 Conclusions -- Glossary -- Illustration credits -- References -- Index.