Plant establishment

Definitions

To define a plant establishment, it must first be known what it is to establish something. Establish is defined as, "to found, institute, build, or bring into being on a firm or stable basis". [1] Based on that, a plant establishment can be defined as, "the act of a plant taking root within a soil where it can flourish".

Plant Establishment

When plants first colonize an area, they are limited by a number of factors including environmental conditions, seed availability or a lack of facilitating species. However, this phase is arguably the most critical part of ecosystem development. A seed has to be dispersed to an area and land on a suitable microsite while also at a time with favorable conditions for germination and early growth. This is remedied as time goes on because succession will continue, making the abiotic factors and species interactions, like competition, more favorable for colonizing plants. [2]

References

[1] "establish". Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 2 May. 2018. <Dictionary.com http://www.dictionary.com/browse/establish>.

[2] Marteinsdottir, Bryndis, et al. "Multiple mechanisms of early plant community assembly with stochasticity driving the process." Ecology, vol. 99, no. 1, 2018, p. 91+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A532385328/GPS?u=avlr&sid=GPS&xid=5153d942. Accessed 2 May 2018.