Pioneer plant in the context of Nuisance wildlife management

Pioneer plant in the context of Nuisance wildlife management

⭐ Core Definition: Pioneer plant

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 help with a transition back to a more mature ecosystem. In human-managed ecological restoration or agroforestry, trees and herbaceous pioneers can be used to restore soil qualities and provide shelter for slower growing or more demanding plants. Some systems use introduced species to restore the ecosystem, or for environmental remediation. The durability of pioneer species can also make them potential invasive species.

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Pioneer plant in the context of Bioerosion

Bioerosion describes the breakdown of hard ocean substrates – and less often terrestrial substrates – by living organisms. Marine bioerosion can be caused by mollusks, polychaete worms, phoronids, sponges, crustaceans, echinoids, and fish; it can occur on coastlines, on coral reefs, and on ships; its mechanisms include biotic boring, drilling, rasping, and scraping. On dry land, bioerosion is typically performed by pioneer plants or plant-like organisms such as lichen, and mostly chemical (e.g. by acidic secretions on limestone) or mechanical (e.g. by roots growing into cracks) in nature.

Bioerosion of coral reefs generates the fine and white coral sand characteristic of tropical islands. The coral is converted to sand by internal bioeroders such as algae, fungi, bacteria (microborers) and sponges (Clionaidae), bivalves (including Lithophaga), sipunculans, polychaetes, acrothoracican barnacles and phoronids, generating extremely fine sediment with diameters of 10 to 100 micrometres. External bioeroders include sea urchins (such as Diadema) and chitons. These forces in concert produce a great deal of erosion. Sea urchin erosion of calcium carbonate has been reported in some reefs at annual rates exceeding 20 kg/m.

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LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← Bioerosion
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Hawaii (island) → Pico Island → Azores → Laurisilva → Species → Colonisation (biology) → Natural environment → Biodiversity → Steady-state → Ecosystem → Ecological succession → Disturbance (ecology) → Natural disaster → Wildfire → Flood → Mudslide → Lava flow → Climate change → Extinction event → Human impact on the environment → Habitat destruction → Land clearing → Primary succession → Secondary succession → Weed → Nuisance wildlife management → Taraxacum officinale → Urtica dioica → Ecological restoration → Agroforestry → Introduced species → Environmental remediation → Invasive species →