April, 1908.] The Vegetation of Cedar Point. 293 



With the appearance of a new habitat, such as the elevation 

 of a new land area, the initial formations will be open, i. e., not 

 occupying the whole area; but, with successive changes in the 

 habitat, often determined largely by reactions caused by the 

 vegetation itself, the formations will become closed, and compe- 

 tition between the various species may become severe. From 

 the initial stages the vegetation of a habitat will thus normally 

 pass through a varying number of intermediate stages to an ulti- 

 mate or climax stage in which the vegetation has reached a more 

 or less permanent condition, term'ed stabilization? Recent inves- 

 tigations have added considerably to our knowledge regarding 

 competition between various species of plants and this has an 

 important bearing upon the subject of succession between the 

 various formations. It has been found that many plants throw 

 off, or at least cause to be present in the soil certain substances 

 toxic to themselves, to certain other plants, or to both.^ Such 

 phenomena alone could account for many ecological successions. 



The ecological classification of the vegetation of a region is 

 usually very intimately correlated with the physiography of that 

 region, and the development of the vegetation through the succes- 

 sive stages of a succession is very often definitely determined by 

 the corresponding land forms occurring in the physiographic 

 development of the region. To this statement Cedar Point is 

 no exception and the excellent work of Moseley in tracing the 

 physiographic development of Cedar Point and Sandusky Ba\^ is 

 of great service to the student of the ecology of this region, in 

 affording a foundation upon which to base an ecological classifi- 

 cation of the vegetation. As a matter of fact. Prof. Moseley's 

 publication includes much botanical matter directly in the line 

 of an ecological classification, especialh- with reference to the 

 vegetation of the sand ridges of the peninsula." 



The writer's extended investigations of the ecology of the 

 peninsula of Presque Isle at Erie, Pennsylvania, during the last 

 three years, and now in the course of publication, has led to a 

 much better understanding of certain vegetational phenomena 

 on Cedar Point. Presque Isle is considerably larger than Cedar 



7. For an extended discussion of the various ecological processes 

 and vegetational structures the reader is referred to Research Methods 

 in Ecologv, b}' F. E. Clements, Lincoln, Nebraska. 1905. In the present 

 contribution the writer has followed Clements' terminology so tar as 

 technical terins have been used. 



8. Livingston, B. E., Britton, J. C, and Reid, F. R. Studies on 

 Properties of Unproductive Soils. V. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Soils, 

 Bull. 28 : 1-39. 1905. Also Livingston, B. E., assisted by Jensen, C. A., 

 Breazeale, J. F., Pember, F. R., and Skinner, J. J. Further Studies on 

 the Properties of Unproductive Soils. \J . S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Soils. 

 Bull. 36 : 1-71. 1907. 



9. Moseley, E. L. Formation of Sandusky Bay and Cedar Point. 

 Proc. Ohio State Acad. Science. Thirteenth Ann. Rpt. 4 : 179-238. 

 June 15, 1905. 



