Pioneer species

Common card · No. 385702

Pioneer species are resilient species that are the first to colonize barren environments, or to repopulate disrupted biodiverse steady-state ecosystems as part of ecological succession. Various kinds of events can create good conditions for pioneers, including disruption by natural disasters, such as wildfire, flood, mudslide, lava flow or a climate-related extinction event, or by anthropogenic habitat destruction, such as through land clearance for agriculture or construction or industrial damage. Pioneer species play an important role in creating soil in primary succession, and stabilizing soil and nutrients in secondary succession. Because pioneer species quickly occupy disrupted spaces, they are sometimes treated as weeds or nuisance wildlife by humans, such as the common dandelion or stinging nettle. Even though humans have mixed relationships with these plants, these species tend to help improve the ecosystem because they can break up compacted soils and accumulate nutrients that...

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