Grime's classification of plant life-history strategies

Ruderals are plants that live in highly disturbed habitats and that may depend on disturbance to persist in the face of potential competition from other plants. Grime summarized several characteristics of ruderals that allow them to persist in habitats experiencing frequent and intense disturbance, which he defined as any mechanisms or processes that limit plants by destroying plant biomass. One of the characteristics of ruderals is their capacity to grow rapidly and produce seeds during relatively short periods between successive disturbances. This capacity alone would favour persistence of ruderals in the face of frequent disturbance. In addition, however, ruderals also invest a large proportion of their biomass in reproduction, producing large numbers of seeds that are capable of dispersing to new habitats made available by disturbance. The term ruderal is sometimes used synonymously with the term “weed.” Animals that are associated with disturbance, have high reproductive rates, and are good colonists, are also sometimes referred to as ruderals.