As on land, there is a fairly predictable sequence from pioneer community, intermediate seral communities, and a climax community. In streams, flooding is a common type of disturbance. Flood waters scour the stream bottom in some places and deposit sediments in others. A study of a creek in Arizona found that, within a couple of months after severe floods, the stream had rapidly passed through several successional stages dominated by different algae species. The number of algal species rose rapidly after flooding, peaked at about a month then declined.
Algal biomass increases rapidly and levels off after about a month.
Steam insects, survived largely via the adult insects not affected by the floods. Most stream insects live in streams in their larval stages and emerge as adults to mate and lay eggs. One method of studying succession is to periodically sample the vegetation in a stand after a disturbance. However, succession in terrestrial systems typically takes place over hundreds or thousands of years, so this method is rarely feasible. The book treatment isn't very good.