Something has to be first. When hot lava becomes cool lava, Nature, ever on the move, seeks to fill the emptiness. But what goes first? That depends on what is nearby and what the wind blows in. In an area near a montane forest, it will be spiders and crickets, lichen and moss and other hardy, self-sufficient organisms that bring their own resources with them and use the scant ones available. These organisms are low-lying and unobtrusive. They are there before most of us even notice their presence.
The ones we do notice and the ones we usually think of as pioneer plants are the bedrock of our upland forests: ‘ohi’a; ‘ama’u; ‘ohelo; pukiawe, ‘a’ali’i. Did I leave out some of your favorites? There are more, of course, and each one is an important contributor to a healthy, diverse forest of the future. They are pioneers because they can derive moisture and nutrients where others cannot. Some of these plants, such as ‘ohi’a, go on to be a dominant part of the new landscape, while others get out-shaded and live on as remnants, waiting for the call-up when a new lava flow appears.
This whole process of forming a forest community literally from bare rock is called primary succession. Primary and succession are almost contradictory terms. How can there be a succession if you are first? But it’s an illusion. Nature is a magician that just seems to conjure something out of nothing.
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