Succession: Encyclopedia II - Succession - Political succession

Succession - Political succession

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In politics, succession is the ascension to power by one politician or monarch after another, usually in a clearly defined order.

For more information on specific succession procedures, see:

• Order of succession (royal)
  • Line of succession to the British Throne
    • See also: Act of Settlement 1701
  • Line of succession to the Norwegian Throne
  • Line of succession to the Swedish throne
  • Line of succession to the Danish throne
  • Line of succession to the Monegasque Throne
  • Line of succession to the Dutch Throne
  • List of Succession to the Belgian Throne
  • Line of succession to the Spanish Throne

• Presidential Succession Act (United States)
  • United States presidential line of succession
• Succession planning (corporate)

In ecology, succession is the replacement of one biological community by another. Succession can be primary or secondary. Primary succession occurs on essentially new substrata: bare rock or soil that has never been colonized before. Examples would be sand dunes and lava flows. Secondary succession occurs on land that has been colonized before, but has been disturbed back to some earlier state. Examples would include a drained reservoir, cleared forest, or ploughed field. Succession begins with arrival of the pioneer species and leads eventually to establishment of a climax community. In primary successions, pioneer species are typically hardy plants that survive under harsh conditions. On English sand dunes, marram grass has deep roots to tap into the water table, rhizomes to bind the soil, and leaves that reduce water loss through transpiration. On lava flows, the first plants to colonize are adapted to survive in thin or no soils and possibly little water. The pioneer plants add organic matter to the soil, and help bind soil particles together, eventually allowing other species to colonize the area. This process slowly enhances the soil quality, enabling a sequence of other species assemblages to survive until a climax community is established. Climax communities are those communities of plants, animals, fungi, etc. that will be able to replace themselves with new generations of the same species. The climax community of an area is determined by the characteristics of an area, such as elevation, soil type, and amount of rainfall. The climax communities most people are familiar with are usually some form of woodland that comes in after a field is abandoned.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Political succession", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki