Food Chain
Limiting Factors
Density Independent:
These factors limit the size or growth of a population regardless of its size. Droughts, fires, fog fluctuation, and high winds cause a decrease in certain populations. A reduction of fog during drier periods causes plants to get less moisture than they need to survive. High winds during strong storms can kill trees.
Density Dependent:
These factors depend on the population size. These include the spread of invasive species and predation. Overcrowding due to exotic species leads to a lack of nutrients and water for native species. When the population density of predators is high, they will consume the predators and increase their own population.
These factors limit the size or growth of a population regardless of its size. Droughts, fires, fog fluctuation, and high winds cause a decrease in certain populations. A reduction of fog during drier periods causes plants to get less moisture than they need to survive. High winds during strong storms can kill trees.
Density Dependent:
These factors depend on the population size. These include the spread of invasive species and predation. Overcrowding due to exotic species leads to a lack of nutrients and water for native species. When the population density of predators is high, they will consume the predators and increase their own population.
Range of Tolerance
Damaging agents include fire, cankers and fungi, and mammals. Although old coast redwood is very resistant to fire damage because of its thick bark, young trees, especially under age 20, may be killed outright. However, the stumps of young trees can quickly resprout and reoccupy a burned site. Redwoods don't have a high range of tolerance.
Range of Succession
Succession is the progressive replacement of earlier biological communities with others over time, culminating in a stable ecological system known as a climax community. In a climax community, climate, soil, and the characteristics of the local biota (the sum of all plants and animals) are all suited to one another. Redwoods are known as a climax species, which means that they will remain essentially unchanged in terms of species composition for as long as a site remains undisturbed. Forest rangers frequently refer to the redwood forest community as "disaster climax forests" because periodic "disasters" are required and preferred for their survival.
Therefore, the range of succession is fairly high.