21 - Successional Plants

When trees come down in a forest, gaps are created in the tree canopy that lets in the sunlight. Seeds that have been in the soil for many years respond to the sunlight and grow. The wild raspberry is a pioneer or early successional plant. It thrives after a disturbance, like the wind storm at Kemp Station. Raspberry seeds can persist in the soil for decades, deposited there by birds and animals that ate them long ago. When conditions are right, the seeds germinate and soon we eat!

21N 45° 50.257'W 89° 40.385'