History of Science: Plant Succession

Introduction

Learn about the concept of ecological succession. This National Park Service video (11 minutes and 36 seconds) is produced by Robert Boyd and Tim Watkins and features botanist Noel Pavlovic, lead fire monitor Mary Fisher-Dunham, and park superintendent Paul Labovitz.

 

Duration:

11 minutes, 36 seconds

In the 1890s the dunes now protected as Indiana Dunes National Park hosted the first research on plant succession. That research helped establish ecology as a science, made succession an enduring concept, and explains why you mow your lawn.