Question for all you linguists and English types, ...

My daughter has to write an essay for a school assignment and needs some help. She needs a word or words for the type of plants that grow in human disturbed areas. After the native vegetation is destroyed a certain type of hardy weeds/vegetation comes up and takes over. What is the name for this group of plants. Not the name of the plant but the group of plants. In anthropology it's "weedy camp followers" she needs a term more folks will understand. I hope this isn't as confusing as it sounds. Anyway thanks for any help.

& just define it the first time she uses it, if nothing better comes along.

but I will check...

Current and pending legislation will require that lands disturbed by mining activities be revegetated. Since few adapted species are now available for reclamation of such lands in the arid zone, this study was initiated to identify native species that are successful colonizers of disturbed sites. The native vegetation of bladed roadways in the Kane County, Utah, was sampled to identify natural colonizer species. Sixteen successful colonizers have been identified and studied to determine (1) their relative colonizing efficiency, and (2) their individual responses to elevational, soil textural, and other environmental gradients.

...

http://www.jstor.org/pss/3897196

Lots of weed plant info here.

http://www.stanford.edu/~rawlings/weedcon.htm

or did I misunderstand and you are looking for a particular group name?

botanist, just a proofreader.

hoping to avoid posts like yours. *sigh*

A climax species is something like Douglas fir -- nothing naturally follows old growth Douglas fir but fire (or logging), and then the area starts over again with forbs and shrubs and other sub-climax species.

Have fun.

- - - -
Edit: "Ruderal" = New Word For The Day. Nice.

"Tragedy of the Commons". There is decreased biodiversity and decrease
of root systems so non-native plants can fill in. Here we have scrub
cedar that comes in after overgrazing.

The wesite below uses two terms: Exotic invaders for non-native species that colonize, and opportunistic natives for species that take advantage of the disruption to expand their range.

It's a place to start, and find more terms and sources to look up and research:

http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/chf/outreach/VMG/VMGintro.html

:D

Or weeds

it's the "first" plant that grows in a "sterile" environment like vulcano ash etc in a NATURAL environment not a human disturbed.

Pioneer species are species which colonize previously uncolonized land, usually leading to ecological succession. Since uncolonized land usually has thin, poor quality soils with few nutrients, pioneer species are typically very hearty plants with adaptations such as long roots, root nodes containing nitrogen-fixing bacteria, and leaves that employ transpiration.
Pioneer species are often grasses such as marram grass, which grows on sand dunes.
The plants, or anything that has the system of a plant, will be specially adapted to the extremes that may be experienced, and once they have modified the environment may be out-competed by less specific plants, eventually leading to a climax community. Examples of the plants and organisms that colonise such areas are:

Barren rock - blue-green bacteria,
Barren sand - lyme grass, sea couch grass, marram grass
Salt water - green algae, eel grass, Salicornia townsendii and Spartina townsendii
Clear water - Algae, mosses

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_species

so there is a difference, trust me, I'm a biologist specialized into environment.

"thank him/her for their awesme geektastic-ness"

it's a him. I was worried that her teacher might crave an exact answer.

get what she needed from your links and thank you again.

KUDZU: the vine that ate the South. I know, I know, not what she needs, but sometimes I just can't help myself.:evilgrin: :rofl:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruderal_species

A ruderal species is a plant species that is first to colonise disturbed lands. The disturbance may be natural (e.g., wildfires or avalanches), or due to human influence - constructional (e.g., road construction, building construction or mining), or agricultural (e.g., abandoned farming fields or abandoned irrigation ditches).
Ruderal species typically dominate the disturbed area for a few years, gradually losing the competition to other native species. However, in extreme disturbance circumstances, such as when the natural topsoil is covered with a foreign substance, a single-species ruderal community may become permanently established, as depicted in the image on the right. In addition, some ruderal invasive species may have such a competitive advantage over the natural species that they, too, may permanently prevent a disturbed area from returning to its original state despite natural topsoil.

Fires. When a fire has "nuked" a forest because it burned too hot, for all the reasons you know - what are the odds that the ruderal invasive species will win over, do we know what to do to make sure that doesn't happen, is it ever possible for the land to become natural again with even natural climate change affects growth, etc.

You know reforestation 101, in 5 sentences or less, lol.

for example there are seeds that are extremely heat resistant and will seize the opportunity to start the reforestation process by first invading, decaying, creating a humus layer that will permit other natural forest species to restart. But it's not likely that you'll see dandelions (as in a town for example) invading the place.

And yes it's possible for the land to become natural again, forests fires are a prime renewer of old forests, it belongs to teh ecological cycle. That's why it's meaningless to combat fires in national parks unless there is a direct threat to humans.

The difference with ruderal species is that the expression is mostly used for human disturbed areas. But sometimes the two concepts can intertwine.

You're talking of the nice fires that burn lovingly across the ground and clean up some dead undergrowth and replenish the landscape.

I'm talking about infernos that are caused from years of suppression and built up fuel, which should be tamped down so they don't jump up into the treetops, rather than burn more like those centuries old fires that contributed to the natural state of Old Growth - which is another reason I wonder if that can ever be achieved once ground has been either nuked by unnatural fire or by human sources.

Now here is a nightmare of survivalism.



The more you disturb the soil, the more entrenched it becomes...

http://texnat.tamu.edu/cmplants/toxic/plants/silverleaf-nightshade.html

I like "weedy camp followers" myself.

Well, that didn't help much. I know it's a toxic imported species that invades disturbed areas in the Great Basin where sagebrush grows. But I can't answer your question.......

A mixed-species ruderal community on the side of road 40, north of the Yarkon River, Israel, where the natural topsoil was left after the road-building disturbance.



A single-species ruderal community of Dittrichia viscosa on the railway-side gravel, next to the Petah Tikva-Sgula railway station, Israel. Compare to the mixed-species ruderal community in the image below.

European Marram Grass
Dunes near The Hague, February

I love your quote and I've been practicing it for many years :)

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, chips in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"

who said this???


P.S. I hope you guys got the answer you needed on your OP.

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in one pretty and well preserved piece, but to skid across the line broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out, shouting GERONIMO!" Hunter S. Thompson from Hell's Angels. There are many variations.


Yes we got the answer we needed, thanks!