Researchers from the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have discovered that human activities are key to kickstarting and speeding saltmarsh succession in South China Sea ...

This process is called primary succession. It begins with organisms such as lichens that can live and grow very slowly on bare rock. Lichens (see the Fungi station) break down rock by secreting acids.

Primary succession: The process by which ecosystems develop on newly exposed substrates that lack pre-existing soil and organic matter.