Click to Enlarge Grasses and weeds are usually the first plants to grow after the ground is cleared. The new habitat attracts quail, grass-hoppers, rabbits and other animals that like to live in weed and grass fields. If the habitat provides them with good food and cover, the animals live well and their numbers increase. Click to Enlarge Taller plants, such as shrubs and small trees, often crowd out or outcompete low-growing weeds and grasses, completely changing the habitat. The new mix of plants attracts and supports a different mix of animals. Examples of the types of animals you might spot in this type of habitat include American toads, indigo buntings and red fox. Click to Enlarge Mature forests usually contain few grasses and weeds because tall trees block sunlight from reaching the ground. Wild turkeys, red-headed woodpeckers and gray squirrels are some of the many animals you might expect to see in a mature forest. When mature trees fall or are harvested, sunlight can once again reach the forest floor, and a new cycle of succession can begin.   The Secret of Succession by Lorna Domke In the natural world, change is the key to success. The more people that live on the planet, the less space wild animals have to find the food and cover they need to live and raise their young. While there's not much you can do yourself to change things in other parts of the world, you can help create wildlife habitat in your own piece of the planet here in Missouri. But first you need to know a little secret. When it comes to helping wildlife, the secret of success is in succession What does it mean? Succession means one thing comes after another. Like a-b-c or 1-2-3. Natural succession is a change in the mix of plants and animals that live in a place. Sometimes people forget that nature doesn't stay the same. The fact is that plants grow, and grow and GROW. And sometimes they stop growing, and other kinds of plants replace them. In Missouri, if you create a bare patch of ground in a sunny place, you'll soon see a few weeds start to grow. Think of plants forming a community the way that people do. First, you start with a house or two, then three, then four. Then you get a school and a town hall. Then stores pop up, selling food, clothes, cars and gas. It doesn't take long to go from a house or two to a thriving city. It's the same for plants. If the place was a forest before, then maybe the first new plants will be blackberries or small oak trees sprouting from acorns. This young forest will attract insects and small mammals that, in turn, will bring in red fox, red tailed hawks and other predators. As the years go by, the oak trees grow and shade the ground. The berry bushes die back for lack of sunlight. In the shade of older oak trees, even new oaks have a hard time sprouting. Then, trees like maples that can sprout in shade will grow under the older oaks, and woodpeckers, gray fox, bobcats and other animals will move into the forest. This changing of the habitat is called succession. If a big old tree dies and falls in the forest, though, a new sunny patch appears, and the cycle of succession cycles begins again. It's just like you start counting 1-2-3, but then something stops you. You go back and start all over. Or imagine, instead, that the patch had been a grassy field instead of a forest. If you create a bare patch of soil in a sunny field, ragweed might show up first. Quail and some other bird species eat ragweed seeds. It's easy for quail chicks to walk on the open ground. In the next years, grasses and shrubby plants start to take hold. As the plants get taller and thicker, the quail won't be able to use it, but a cardinal might find it just right. Rain makes a big difference in whether a grassy field will stay mostly grassy or turn into a forest. Because we get more than 30 inches of rain a year in Missouri, most grassland naturally turns into forest unless something stops or limits the change. In western Kansas, for example, it's a lot drier, and fewer trees can grow. In both forests and prairies, one kind of plant naturally follows others as the mix of plants changes over time. If the plants were left alone, after some years they'd reach a sort of "end point" or climax. From that point, the mix would stay about the same unless something happened. Of course, things do happen. Lightning hits trees and kills them. Tornados blow down trees and open spaces in the woods. Fires burn grasses and shrubs to the ground. Succession has always been a part of nature. Where bison roamed in centuries past, they created spots of bare ground, or wallows, in prairies. People also change the mix of plants that grow in a place. Native Americans used fire to stimulate new plant growth and to control where animals went. Settlers later plowed prairie to make way for farms. Today, many people are moving from cities into the countryside and changing the kinds of plants that grow there. That, in turn, is changing the mix of animals that can live there. If you understand how succession works, you have a powerful tool that you can use to help wildlife. When we cut trees for harvest, we can create younger forests that attract certain kinds of animals. In other places, we might choose to leave the woods alone to help a different group of creatures. Controlled burns or mowing can keep Missouri fields from turning into forests so grassland birds can have a home. You can create habitat to feed certain animals in one place, and other kinds in another. You can understand that even if you do nothing, the plants will change over time and so will the wild things that depend on them. You can make sure that a good, healthy mix of plants and animals continues to grow here, there and everywhere on our own part of the planet. There is no end to succession. Even if people didn't live here, the mix of plants and animals would change. But since we do live here, why not understand how nature works and work with it? That's the secret of success.