Connell–Slatyer model of ecological succession

These sequences could be understood in the context of the specific life-history theories of the individual species within an ecological community.

Connell and Slatyer chose to focus on autogenic succession, which occurs on newly exposed landforms and is initiated by changes from within the community rather than a geophysical transformation.

[2] They targeted plant and immobile aquatic organisms that demanded the greatest surface area within an environment and could modify the physical landscape.

[3] Based on the assumption that only particular species with qualities ideal for "early succession" can colonize the newly exposed landforms after an ecological disturbance.

The sequences of succession are thus entirely dependent on life-history characteristics such as the specific amount of energy a species allocates to growth.