What is a hydrosere?

1 Answer
Feb 8, 2018

A hydrosere is a plant succession which occurs in an area of fresh water such as in oxbow lakes and kettle lakes.

Explanation:

Hydrosere is the primary succession which develops in aquatic environments such as lakes and ponds. It results in conversion of water body and its community into a land community. In time, a area of open freshwater will naturally dry out, ultimately becoming woodland. During this change, a range of different land types such as swamp and marsh will succeed each other.

Important characteristics of Hydrosere are :
1) they usually start from a pond
2) phytoplanktons are the pioneer community
3) a forest or a grassland will be the climax community
4) it includes several seral stages of plant and animal communities
5) seral communities of plants are more obvious than animals

Just like other successions, the hydrosere is also completed through a sequence of several seral stages. The eight main stages of hydrosere in plants are:
1) phytoplankton stage
2) submerged stage
3) floating stage
4) reed swamp stage
5) sedge meadow or marsh stage
6) alder or willow carr stage
7) woodland stage
8) climax woodland stage.