Secondary Succession: Stages, Examples, Importance

Communities contain groups of living organisms in specific places. Over time, these groups change driven by the process of succession. This change in community is important to understand because they have a big impact on how we manage and take care of these natural communities.

Succession is the sequential change in the species of a community. Ecological succession can be defined as the gradual change in the composition of a biological community that starts from one point and gradually transforms the community as various species enter and exit. These changes happen slowly, taking a long time, leading the community towards a more stable condition known as a climax. 

Secondary succession is one of the types of ecological succession that occurs when a community of different species changes following a disturbance or damage to its habitat.

Secondary succession can be defined as the process of re-establishing a complete ecological community using the remaining soil after an ecological disturbance.

In contrast to primary succession, which occurs on a barren landscape where life never existed, secondary succession takes place in areas where not everything is wiped out, and some nutrients and living things remain.