SUCCESSIONAL LANDSCAPES

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SUCCESSIONAL LANDSCAPES

• or
• ALTERNATIVES TO TURF FOR FUN AND FOOD
• Timothy J. Schauwecker
• Program Coordinator
• Landscape Contracting and Management
• Department of Landscape Architecture
• Mississippi State University

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Eugene P. Odum 1913-2002Father of Modern Ecology
"The ecosystem is greater than the sum of its
parts
Photo credits http//researchmagazine.uga.edu/sum
mer2002/odum.htm
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Peacable Kingdom 1834 Edward Hicks
"Organisms cooperate in an ecosystem the way
humans cooperate in a community. What we need to
do is concentrate on understanding natural
systems. This planet is our supply depot, but
it's also our home, and you wouldn't know that by
the way we're acting, would you? "
Date Dec. 4, 2006 Interviewer Jesslyn
Shields Interviewee Eugene P. Odum
http//www.southernnature.org/profile_interview.ph
p?ID11
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A Quick Story about Odum (bear with me.)
..Dr. Odum spoke of the University's misguided
attempts to bring ecology to the people through
landscaping. We had parked on campus in front of
a faded sign reading "ODUM" and walked to the
cafeteria, on our way passing a small grove of
scruffy pines recently erected between two
parking lots in a patch of coarse, yellow grass.
A sign on a pressure-treated post stood near the
sidewalk "Longleaf Pine/ Wiregrass Ecosystem
Native to the coastal plain of Georgia, these
forests have all but disappeared due to hundreds
of years of fire suppression, logging and
clearing for agriculture Dr. Odum had been
talking as we walked but stopped, mid-sentence,
as we reached the trees. He bent back from his
waist to survey the messy pine crowns and then
hunched far over, dragging a foot through the
grass, and chuckled grimly, shaking his head.
"These don't belong here. This is just silly."
Date Dec. 4, 2006 Interviewer Jesslyn
Shields Interviewee Eugene P. Odum
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A "mature" ecosystem, characterized by high
species diversity and relationships of
interdependence among its component organisms,
approaches stability, or homeostasis, and
represents nature's "balance." To understand
nature in terms of ecosystems is therefore to see
its diverse "parts" as interdependent. http//www
.cha.uga.edu/bjc/Odum-Intro.htm
Photo credit Mississippi Department of Wildlife,
Fisheries, and Parks
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Physiography of Georgia
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Mississippi physiograghic regions
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succession

• Succession is the natural replacement of plant or
  animal species, or species associations, in an
  area over time.
• Each stage of succession creates the conditions
  for the next stage. Temporary plant communities
  are replaced by more stable communities until a
  sort of equilibrium is reached between the plants
  and the environment.

(Martin and Gower 1996)
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Disturbance and Secondary Succession
MOWING
BURNING
GRAZING
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Succession to climax forest
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In the absence of disturbance1-3 years -
grassland/forb community
CHARACTERISTICS (from Odum 1969) Total organic
matter LOW Species diversity LOW Biochemical
diversity LOW Life cycles SHORT Nutrient
conservation POOR Stability POOR
These characterizations apply to forest
ecosystems that are starting over (secondary
succession), going through the process of
re-establishing the historically dominant plant
community
EXCEPTIONS prairies, pine savannah, bogs and
open wetlands
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In the absence of disturbance3 - 8 years
shrub/grass/forb community
CHARACTERISTICS (from Odum 1969) Total organic
matter INCREASING Species diversity HIGH Bio
chemical diversity INCREASING Life
cycles INTERMEDIATE Nutrient
conservation INCREASING Stability INCREASING
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In the absence of disturbance5-40 years young
woodland community
CHARACTERISTICS (from Odum 1969) Total organic
matter HIGH Species diversity HIGH Biochemical
diversity HIGH Life cycles LONG Nutrient
conservation HIGH Stability HIGH
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In the absence of disturbance40 years climax
forest community
CHARACTERISTICS (from Odum 1969) Total organic
matter HIGH Species diversity HIGH Biochemical
diversity HIGH Life cycles LONG Nutrient
conservation HIGH Stability HIGH
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Two Types of Successional Landscapes

• The Wild Type

• The Forest Garden Type (Jacke 2005)

• Goal Habitat restoration
• Native species
• The right plant in the right place
• Goal Self-managing
• Goal Maximum Ecological Health
• Water quality
• Water quantity
• Soil building

• Permaculture
• Goal Yield
• Fruits and vegetables
• Cut flowers
• Livestock? (esp. chickens)
• Goal Directed Succession
• Self-managing
• Weeds not competitors but potential diversions
  from our desired pathway
• Goal Maximum Ecological Health

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The Wild Type
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The Wild Type
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The Wild Type
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Stream Buffers a Wild Type example

• Create a vegetated buffer zone along perennial
  and headwater streams
• a strip of undisturbed native vegetation, either
  original or reestablished
• bordering a swale, stream, pond, etc.
• very important to water quality, stream
  integrity, and wildlife habitat
• protects the physical and ecological integrity
  of water bodies from surrounding upland
  activities
• protects the stream bank from erosion
• most effective when storm water flows into and
  through it as a shallow sheet, rather than
  through concentrated channels or gullies.
• Source http//www.tvaed.com/sustainable/conservat
  ion.htm

http//www.ci.knoxville.tn.us/southwaterfront/code
/18_streambuffer.pdf
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MAKING YOUR WILD-TYPE SUCCESSIONAL STREAM BUFFER
MORE PALATABLE TO NEIGHBORS AND PASSERS-BY

• Perennial border with a succession of blooming
  species throughout the year
• Split-rail fencing that separates your stream
  buffer or other natural area from existing turf
  areas
• An evergreen screen, placed strategically based
  on views into your landscape
• A border/row of climax species planted from
  container stock (Sycamore, Cottonwood, Tulip
  poplar, Overcup Oak, Red Oak, Black Walnut, etc.)

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Example of successional stream buffer
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Buffer Width
Source http//www.tvaed.com/sustainable/conservat
ion.htm
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PERMACULTURE

• Applying ecological principles to the landscape
• Management instead of labor (Jacke 2005).
• A central theme in permaculture is the design of
  ecological landscapes that produce food (Diver
  2002).
• Emphasis (Diver 2002)
• on multiple uses of plants and other garden
  elements
• cultural practices such as sheet mulching and
  trellising
• integration of animals to recycle nutrients and
  graze weeds

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Directed Succession EXERPTS FROM DAVID JOHNSON
http//www.natsoc.org.au/html/papers/djohnson.pdf

• Direct and accelerate the natural process of
  succession
• Use volunteer and chosen pioneers to build soil
  fertility
• Introduce tough plants that will provide
  protection for desired species
• Raise organic levels artificially with mulch,
  green manure, compost and other fertilizers
• Institute our own diverse mix of climax species
• The result is that we can make substantial
  changes in short time frames such as in the
  reclamation of lawn and pasture for food
  production.

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PERMACULTURE DESIGN PRINCIPLESEXERPTS FROM DAVID
JOHNSON http//www.natsoc.org.au/html/papers/djohn
son.pdf

• Relative location
• The placement of each element of a design is
  determined by how it relates to the other
  elements of the system.
• Multi-functioning
• Each living and non-living element in the system
  should perform as many functions as possible.
• Multiple support of major functions
• Important basic needs should be supported by a
  number of elements.
• Efficient Energy Planning
• Elements are placed in a design to maximize the
  uses of natural energies and to minimize the use
  of non-renewable and human energies.

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PERMACULTURE DESIGN PRINCIPLESEXERPTS FROM DAVID
JOHNSON http//www.natsoc.org.au/html/papers/djohn
son.pdf

• Using biological resources
• Biological resources do the work of the site.
• Energy Cycling
• Make energy connections between components to
  keep the energy cycling in the system for as long
  as possible.
• Small-scale Intensive Systems
• These rely on small-scale equipment, moderate use
  of machinery and intensive use of available
  resources.
• Accelerating succession
• Direct and accelerate the natural process of
  succession.
• Diversity
• Biodiversity lends a system abundance, stability
  and resilience.
• Edge effects
• Design to maximize the edges.

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The management of my garden
ME
BIRDS
ALGAE
THE PLANTS AND MOSSES IN MY GARDEN
MAMMALS
BIVALVES
INSECTS
FISHES
FUNGI
BACTERIA
AMPHIBIANS
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ecosystem services
Foley et al. 2005
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references
Jacke, D. 2005. Edible Forest Gardens, Volume
2 Ecological Design and Practice for Temperate
Climate Permaculture. Chelsea Green Publishing
Company, White River Junction, VT.
acknowledgements Courtney Terry artwork and
layout Bob Brzuszek conversation and
inspiration