SPECIES RICHNESS AND COMPOSITION CHANGES DURING SUCCESSION
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FIGURE 4.16 The number of species in a community increases rapidly during the early stages of succession and generally reaches a peak during the middle stages, declining during the later stages. The middle, species-rich stages of succession include a mixture of r-selected species, which are good colonizers of new habitat, and K-selected species, which are generally strong competitors. (After Guo, 2003)