Question

How could you incorporate priority effect in the management/restoration of another community of your choice (e.g. fisheries, insects, plants, birds, etc.). Describe how you would manipulate the order of introduction/colonization of particular species.

Answer 1

Priority effect is the impact in which a specific species due to prior arrival at a particular site results in community development.

This can be of two types.

A) inhibitory priority effect: the species which arrives first makes the environment unfavorable for later arrival species.

B) facilitative priority effect: the species which arrives first makes the environment favourable for later arrival.

Priority effect promotes ecological restoration efforts.

We need to manipulate the order of introduction to get another community of our choice by adding facilitative priority species and then the inhibitory ones.

For example, plants should be grown , then insects and then birds based on the food requirements.