Succession

Succession is the act or process of following in order or sequence.

Table of contents

1 Political Succession 2 Ecological Succession 3 Musical succession

Political Succession

In politics Succession refers to the ascension to power by one politician after another, usually in a clearly defined order.

For more information on specific succession procedures, see:

• Order of succession (royal)
  • In the United Kingdom
    • Act of Settlement
    • List of Succession to the British Throne
    • List of Succession to the Norwegian Throne
• Presidential Succession Act (United States)
  • United States Presidential line of succession
• Succession planning (corporate)

Ecological Succession

In ecology, succession refers to 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 colonised before. Examples would be sand dunes and lava flows. Secondary succession occurs on land which has been colonised 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, rhibozomes to produce nitrogen compounds, 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 colonise 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 usually some form of woodland.

Musical succession

In music or music theory a succession is a series of pitches, or a series of simultaneities, or simultaneous pitches. Succession may be thought of as a more general term for any possible progression, as in chord progression or harmonic progression, though not all simultaneity successions are harmonic progressions.

See: musical set theory.