Succession of vegetation in abandoned fields in Finland

Phytosociological releves were made in abandoned fields (n= 130) of different ages in Finland in summer 1981. The ordination procedure arranged the releves according to the age of the stages, and the species according to their participation in the succession. The species could be sorted roughly into four main groups, which were easily delimited in the ordination space: annual weeds, perennial weed and ruderal species, meadow species, woody species and forest herbs. Species diversity declined with increasing latitude. The most variable aspects of the succession were found to be the initial species composition and the time of invasion by woody species. The succession in abandoned fields in Finland usually proceeds rather rapidly toward forest communities, as compared with that in drier parts of Central Europe.