Ecosystems - Succession and climatic climax in a hydrosere

e.g Sweet Mare, Shropshire

1. Lakes and ponds originate as clear water, which contains few plant nutrients.

2. The earliest colonisers will probably be algae and mosses whose spores have been blown onto the water surface by wind.

3. These grow to form vegetation rafts which provide a habitat for bacteria and insects.

4. Next will be these water loving species or this totally submerged.

5. Bacteria recycles the nutrients from the pioneer community and marsh plants, such as bulrushes, sedges, and reeds, begin to enroach the lake.

6. As these marsh plants grow outwards into the lake further sediment builds upwards at the expense of the water. Small trees will take root forming a marshy thicket.

7. In time, the lake is likely to contract in size to become deoxygenated by the decaying vegetation and eventually disappear and be replaced by the oak climax vegetation.