Construct · 3 fields · 5 citations

chronosequence: one construct, many systems

One name. One construct. Different systems. One map.

● invariant · one construct, three systems Nearest construct by meaning·not indexed
same space-for-time logic, read through vegetationdated surfaces supply the time axischronosequence3 SYSTEMSSoil chronosequenceJENNY · SOIL AGESuccessional chronosequencePICKETT · SPACE-FOR-TIMESurface chronosequenceMATTHEWS · GLACIER FORE

Spokes are the systems the one construct recurs in; dashed arcs are shared lineage. Tap a field for its definition, unit, and measures.

1941Soil chronosequence1989Successional chronosequence1992Surface chronosequence
2026

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Soil science

Soils of different ages stand in for one soil over time

In pedology, a chronosequence is a set of soils that differ mainly in age while sharing parent material, climate, relief, and biota, so that comparing them substitutes space for time and reveals how a soil develops over centuries or millennia. Jenny's 1941 Factors of Soil Formation isolated time as one of the state factors that this design holds the others constant to expose, and Walker and Syers' 1976 The fate of phosphorus during pedogenesis used such a sequence to trace nutrient depletion as soils age. The referent is an inferential construct (reading a temporal trajectory from contemporaneous sites of known differing age), the same device later borrowed by ecologists and geomorphologists.[1][2]

Unit
A temporal trajectory of soil properties inferred from same-site soils of differing age
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Built by sampling soils of known differing age with other soil-forming factors held constant and plotting properties against age

Succession ecology

Stands of different ages trace one successional path

In ecology the same construct lets researchers infer long successional change from a set of sites or forest stands of different ages, treating the spatial series as a stand-in for a trajectory no one lived long enough to watch. Pickett's 1989 Space-for-time substitution as an alternative to long-term studies set out the logic and its risks, and Walker and colleagues' 2010 The use of chronosequences in studies of ecological succession and soil development clarified when the assumption of a single shared pathway holds. It is the identical space-for-time inference as the pedologist's, applied to vegetation rather than soil, and valid only where the sites really share a common developmental path.[3][4]

Unit
A successional trajectory inferred from same-type sites of differing age
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Assembled from stands of known differing age on comparable sites, then compared to reconstruct the successional sequence

Geomorphology

Dated land surfaces supply the time axis

In geomorphology the construct is anchored to landforms whose ages are independently known, most cleanly a glacier foreland, where ground is exposed in dated increments as the ice retreats, giving a natural time series along which soils and vegetation can be read. Matthews' 1992 The ecology of recently-deglaciated terrain is the standard treatment of such forelands as chronosequences for primary succession. It is the same space-for-time construct again, its strength being that the time axis is supplied by dated surfaces rather than assumed, and its referent is a trajectory of landscape development inferred across sites of known age.[5]

Unit
A development trajectory inferred along independently dated land surfaces
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Read along surfaces of known exposure age, such as moraines or deglaciated ground, dated by records, lichenometry, or other methods

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Nearby constructs

succession4 fields · 4 citationsjingle · one word, four constructsaxis1 fields · 1 citationsanchor · a standalone constructbeing3 fields · 3 citationsjingle · one word, three constructs

References

  1. Jenny, H. (1994). Factors of soil formation: A system of quantitative pedology. Dover. (Original work published 1941) ISBN 9780486681283
  2. Walker, T. W., & Syers, J. K. (1976). The fate of phosphorus during pedogenesis. Geoderma, 15(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7061(76)90066-5
  3. Pickett, S. T. A. (1989). Space-for-time substitution as an alternative to long-term studies. In G. E. Likens (Ed.), Long-term studies in ecology: Approaches and alternatives (pp. 110–135). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7358-6_5
  4. Walker, L. R., Wardle, D. A., Bardgett, R. D., & Clarkson, B. D. (2010). The use of chronosequences in studies of ecological succession and soil development. Journal of Ecology, 98(4), 725–736. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2745.2010.01664.x
  5. Matthews, J. A. (1992). The ecology of recently-deglaciated terrain: A geoecological approach to glacier forelands and primary succession. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521361095

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