A ruderal species is a
plant
Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
that is first to colonize disturbed lands. The disturbance may be natural for example,
wildfire
A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...
s or
avalanche
An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a Grade (slope), slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be triggered spontaneously, by factors such as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, othe ...
sor the consequences of human activities, such as construction (
of roads,
of buildings,
mining
Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...
, etc.) or agriculture (abandoned fields,
irrigation
Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...
, etc.).
The term ''
ruderal
A ruderal species is a plant species that is first to colonize disturbed lands. The disturbance may be natural for example, wildfires or avalanchesor the consequences of human activities, such as construction ( of roads, of buildings, mining, e ...
'' originates from the Latin word ''
rudus
A Rudus is a sword or cutlass associated with the Malay culture of Sumatra. Together with the ''pemandap'', the rudus is among the largest swords of Malay people. Rudus is also a symbol of certain Malay state in the Island, e.g. the Province of ...
'', meaning "
rubble
Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...
".
Ruderal species typically dominate the disturbed area for a few years, gradually losing the
competition
Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indi ...
to other native species. However, in extreme disturbance circumstances, such as when the natural
topsoil
Topsoil is the upper layer of soil. It has the highest concentration of organic matter and microorganisms and is where most of the Earth's biological soil activity occurs.
Description
Topsoil is composed of mineral particles and organic mat ...
is covered with a foreign substance, a single-species ruderal community may become permanently established. In addition, some ruderal
invasive species
An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...
may have such a competitive advantage over the native species that they, too, may permanently prevent a disturbed area from returning to its original state despite natural topsoil.
Features
Features contributing to a species' success as ruderal are:
* Massive seed production
*
Seedling
A seedling is a young sporophyte developing out of a plant embryo from a seed. Seedling development starts with germination of the seed. A typical young seedling consists of three main parts: the radicle (embryonic root), the hypocotyl (embry ...
s whose
nutritional
Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food and water to support its life. The intake of these substances provides organisms with nutrients (divided into macro- and micro-) which can be metabolized t ...
requirements are modest
* Fast-growing roots
* Independence of
mycorrhizae
A mycorrhiza (; , mycorrhiza, or mycorrhizas) is a symbiotic association between a fungus and a plant. The term mycorrhiza refers to the role of the fungus in the plant's rhizosphere, the plant root system and its surroundings. Mycorrhizae play ...
*
Polyploidy
Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than two paired sets of ( homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei (eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two complete sets of chromosomes, one fro ...
Quantification
Ecologists have proposed various scales for quantifying ruderality, which can be defined as the "ability to thrive where there is disturbance through partial or total destruction of plant biomass" (Grime, Hodgson & Hunt, 1988).
The ruderality scale of
Grime
Grime may refer to:
* Dirt, in the form of black, ingrained dust
Music
* Grime music, a genre of music
* ''Grime'' (album), a 2001 album by Iniquity
* "Grime", a 2023 song by Macklemore from ''Ben''
* "Grime", a 2024 song by Kittie from ''Fire
...
presents values that are readily available, and it takes into account disturbance factors as well as other indicators such as the annual or perennial character of the plants.
See also
*
Edge effect
In ecology, edge effects are changes in population or community structures that occur at the boundary of two or more habitats. Areas with small habitat fragments exhibit especially pronounced edge effects that may extend throughout the range. A ...
*
Hemeroby
Hemeroby, or hemerochora is a term used in botanical and ecological sciences. It is often associated to naturalness as the complementary term, with a high degree of hemeroby equating to a high human influence on a natural environment. However, t ...
*
Hemerochory
Hemerochory (Ancient Greek ἥμερος, hemeros: 'tame, ennobled, cultivated, cultivated' and Greek χωρίς choris: separate, isolated), or anthropochory, is the distribution of cultivated plants or their seeds and cuttings, consciously or u ...
*
Adventive plant
Adventive plants, also known as alien plants, foreign plants or casual plants are alien plant species appearing in a place that does not correspond to their area of origin, in contrast to the native species. These plants can arrive by natural mea ...
*
Pioneer species
Pioneer species are resilient species that are the first to colonize barren environments, or to repopulate disrupted biodiverse steady-state ecosystems as part of ecological succession. Various kinds of events can create good conditions for pi ...
*
Restoration ecology
Ecological restoration, or ecosystem restoration, is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, destroyed or transformed. It is distinct from Conservation movement, conservation in that it attempts t ...
*
Supertramp (ecology)
In ecology, a supertramp species is any type of animal which follows the "supertramp" strategy of high dispersion among many different habitats, towards none of which it is particularly specialized. Supertramp species are typically the first to ar ...
* Examples of ruderal species:
** ''
Cannabis ruderalis
''Cannabis ruderalis'' is a Variety (botany), variety, subspecies, or species of ''Cannabis'' native to Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe and Russia. It contains a relatively low quantity of psychoactive compound tetrahydrocannabinol ( ...
'' (family
Cannabaceae
Cannabaceae is a small family of flowering plants, known as the hemp family. As now circumscribed, the family includes about 170 species grouped in about 11 genera, including '' Cannabis'' (hemp), '' Humulus'' (hops) and '' Celtis'' (hackberri ...
)
** ''
Conyza bonariensis
''Erigeron bonariensis'' is a species in the family Asteraceae, found throughout the tropics and subtropics as a pioneer plant; its precise origin is unknown, but most likely it stems from Central America or South America. It has become naturali ...
'' (family
Asteraceae
Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...
)
** ''
Dittrichia viscosa
''Dittrichia viscosa'', also known as false yellowhead, woody fleabane, sticky fleabane and yellow fleabane, is a flowering plant in the daisy family.
''Dittrichia viscosa'' is a highly branching perennial common throughout the Mediterranean Ba ...
'' (
Asteraceae
Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...
)
** ''
Nicotiana glauca
''Nicotiana glauca'' is a species of flowering plant in the tobacco genus Nicotiana of the nightshade family Solanaceae. It is known by the common name tree tobacco. Its leaves are attached to the stalk by petioles (many other ''Nicotiana'' spec ...
'' (
Solanaceae
Solanaceae (), commonly known as the nightshades, is a family of flowering plants in the order Solanales. It contains approximately 2,700 species, several of which are used as agricultural crops, medicinal plants, and ornamental plants. Many me ...
)
References
External links
*
St. John TV. 1987. SOIL DISTURBANCE AND THE MINERAL NUTRITION OF NATIVE PLANTS in Proceedings of the 2nd Native Plant Revegetation SymposiumChapin. FS. III. 1980. The mineral nutrition of wild plants. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst., 11:233–260.
*{{Cite EB1911 , wstitle=Ruderal , volume=23 , page=814 , short=1
Ecology terminology
Habitat
Botany