Natural Processes
Natural processes shape the land, create soil and topsoil, influence the water supply, and help determine the plants and animals that live in each natural community. Some natural processes act on large scales and affect more than one natural community at a time.
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In This Community
Important natural processes in the Acidic Boulderfield include these:
- processes that lead to acidic boulder piles and very little, if any, soil accumulation
In the Broader Landscape
The natural processes above are also important in some other natural communities. For example, in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, two natural communities (see chart below) occur on boulder piles of incredibly durable quartzite, where soil, if present at all, is extremely acidic and infertile. Neither of these communities supports very many individual plants nor very many different species.
These natural communities can be grouped into a larger unit that ecologists refer to as the Acidic Cliff and Talus Ecological System in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. An ecological system is a group of several natural communities that share some features of physical setting and many of the same natural processes.
By extension, they may also share many of the same plant and animal species.
For example, both of these natural communities may contain sweet birch or Virginia creeper.
Ecobit: Natural Processes Are Bigger Than Natural Communities