Secondary succession is one of the two types of ecological succession of plant life. As opposed to the first, primary succession, secondary succession is a process started by an event (e.g. forest fire, harvesting, hurricane) that reduces an already established ecosystem (e.g. a forest or a wheat field) to a smaller population of species, and as such secondary succession occurs on preexisting soil whereas primary succession usually occurs in a place lacking soil.
Simply put, secondary succession is the succession that occurs after the initial succession has been disrupted and some plants and animals still exist. It is usually faster than primary succession as:
- Soil is already present, so there is no need for pioneer species;
- Seeds, roots and underground vegetative organs of plants may still survive in the soil.
Read more about Secondary Succession: The Mechanism of Secondary Succession in Imperata Grassland, The Effect of Secondary Succession On Vegetation, The Effect of Secondary Succession On Soil Parameters, Challenges To Restore Imperata Grassland
Famous quotes containing the words secondary and/or succession:
“Scientific reason, with its strict conscience, its lack of prejudice, and its determination to question every result again the moment it might lead to the least intellectual advantage, does in an area of secondary interest what we ought to be doing with the basic questions of life.”
—Robert Musil (1880–1942)
“We then entered another swamp, at a necessarily slow pace, where the walking was worse than ever, not only on account of the water, but the fallen timber, which often obliterated the indistinct trail entirely. The fallen trees were so numerous, that for long distances the route was through a succession of small yards, where we climbed over fences as high as our heads, down into water often up to our knees, and then over another fence into a second yard, and so on.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)