Ruderal species

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.

A ruderal species is a plant species that is first to colonize 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.

Features

Features contributing to a species' success as ruderal are:

• Massive seed production
• Modest seedling nutritional requirements
• Fast-growing roots
• Independence of mycorrhizae

See also

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.

• Edge effect
• Restoration ecology
• Pioneer species
• Supertramp (ecology)
• Examples of ruderal species:
  • Conyza bonariensis (family Asteraceae)
  • Dittrichia viscosa (Asteraceae)
  • Nicotiana glauca (Solanaceae)

External links

• St. John TV. 1987. SOIL DISTURBANCE AND THE MINERAL NUTRITION OF NATIVE PLANTS in Proceedings of the 2nd Native Plant Revegetation Symposium
• Chapin. FS. III. 1980. The mineral nutrition of wild plants. Ann. Rev. Ecol. System, 11:233-260.
• Ruderal in the 1911 Britannica