Succession of vegetation in abandoned fields in Finland

Phytosociological releves were made in abandoned fields (n= 130) of different ages in Finland in summer 1981. The ordination procedure arranged the releves according to the age of the stages, and the species according to their participation in the succession. The species could be sorted roughly into four main groups, which were easily delimited in the ordination space: annual weeds, perennial weed and ruderal species, meadow species, woody species and forest herbs. Species diversity declined with increasing latitude. The most variable aspects of the succession were found to be the initial species composition and the time of invasion by woody species. The succession in abandoned fields in Finland usually proceeds rather rapidly toward forest communities, as compared with that in drier parts of Central Europe.

[1]  M. Raatikainen,et al.  Weed species, frequencies and densities in winter cereals in Finland , 1978 .

[2]  Hugh G. Gauch,et al.  Multivariate analysis in community ecology , 1984 .

[3]  M. Raatikainen,et al.  Primary production and seasonal dynamics of the flora and fauna of the field stratum in a reserved field in Middle Finland , 1976 .

[4]  Catherine Keever,et al.  Mechanisms of plant succession on old fields of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. , 1979 .

[5]  S. McNaughton,et al.  STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF SUCCESSIONAL VASCULAR PLANT COMMUNITIES IN CENTRAL NEW YORK , 1975 .

[6]  E. Connor,et al.  LATITUDINAL GRADIENTS IN THE SPECIES DIVERSITY OF NORTH AMERICAN MAMMALS , 1980, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[7]  E. Maarel,et al.  The Braun-Blanquet Approach , 1978 .

[8]  M. Raatikainen,et al.  Composition of weed flora in spring cereals in Finland , 1969 .

[9]  M. O. Hill,et al.  DECORANA - A FORTRAN program for detrended correspondence analysis and reciprocal averaging. , 1979 .

[10]  R. Whittaker.  Evolution and measurement of species diversity , 1972 .

[11]  J. P. Grime,et al.  Plant Strategies and Vegetation Processes. , 1980 .

[12]  E. van der Maarel,et al.  Transformation of cover-abundance values in phytosociology and its effects on community similarity , 1979, Vegetatio.

[13]  J. Connell,et al.  Mechanisms of Succession in Natural Communities and Their Role in Community Stability and Organization , 1977, The American Naturalist.

[14]  M. Raatikainen,et al.  Yield, vegetation and succession in reserved fields in Central Finland , 1977 .

[15]  W. A. Wistendahl,et al.  Changes in Plant Species Diversity During Early Secondary Succession in an Experimental Old-Field System , 1977 .