Priority effects mean first colonists hold a lasting competitive advantage on a patch.

Evidence

The advantages accruing to the first arrivals appear to be substantial. Establishment and early growth take place in a virtually competition-free environment. Subsequent arrivals must not only compete for scarce resources, but, at least in communities of sessile organisms, must do so with a substantial size disadvantage in comparison to established individuals (see, e. — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 1923

Categorization

• DEFINE: Lays out the priority/early-arrival advantage principle underpinning succession and why ‘particularly good years for seed production can be traced for hundreds of years.’
• XREF: Explains why the historical coincidence of a mast-seed year and a disturbance event shapes decades of forest composition — directly usable in Reading the Landscape. — connects to: Richness is maintained when disturbance recurs faster than competitive exclusion — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 2251

Broader Connections

• Richness is maintained when disturbance recurs faster than competitive exclusion #corroborates (0.85) — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 2251