<P> A disturbance may change a forest significantly . Afterwards, the forest floor is often littered with dead material . This decaying matter and abundant sunlight promote an abundance of new growth . In the case of forest fires a portion of the nutrients previously held in plant biomass is returned quickly to the soil as biomass burns . Many plants and animals benefit from disturbance conditions . Some species are particularly suited for exploiting recently disturbed sites . Vegetation with the potential for rapid growth can quickly take advantage of the lack of competition . In the northeastern United States, shade - intolerant trees like pin cherry and aspen quickly fill in forest gaps created by fire or windstorm (or human disturbance). Silver maple and eastern sycamore are similarly well adapted to floodplains . They are highly tolerant of standing water and will frequently dominate floodplains where other species are periodically wiped out . </P> <P> When a tree is blown over, gaps typically are filled with small herbaceous seedlings but, this is not always the case; shoots from the fallen tree can develop and take over the gap . The sprouting ability can have major impacts on the plant population, plant populations that typically would have exploited the tree fall gap get over run and cannot complete against the shoots of the fallen tree . Species adaptation to disturbances is species specific but how each organism adapts effects all the species around them . </P> <P> Another species well adapted to a particular disturbance is the Jack Pine in boreal forests exposed to crown fires . They, as well as some other pine species, have specialized serotinous cones that only open and disperse seeds with sufficient heat generated by fire . As a result, this species often dominates in areas where competition has been reduced by fire . </P> <P> Species that are well adapted for exploiting disturbance sites are referred to as pioneers or early successional species . These shade - intolerant species are able to photosynthesize at high rates and as a result grow quickly . Their fast growth is usually balanced by short life spans . Furthermore, although these species often dominate immediately following a disturbance, they are unable to compete with shade - tolerant species later on and replaced by these species through succession . However these shifts may not reflect the progressive entry to the community of the taller long - lived forms, but instead, the gradual emergence and dominance of species that may have been present, but inconspicuous directly after the disturbance . </P>

Which population would be the most likely to survive a disturbance in their ecosystem