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, termed 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. 7 8 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 Bay 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, especially with reference to the 
vegetation of the sand ridges of the peninsula. 9 
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 Ecology, by F. E. Clements, Lincoln, Nebraska. 1905. In the present 
contribution the writer has followed Clements’ terminology so far as 
technical terms have been used. 
8. Livingston, B. E., Britton, J. C., and Reid, F. R. Studies on 
Properties of L’nproductive Soils. L*. 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. U. 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. 
