What is secondary succession?

A secondary succession is the ecological succession that takes place on the soil in which a primary succession occurred. The secondary succession occurs after an event occurs to remove the previous inhabitants, such as flood or forest fire.

A succession refers to the changing in the structure of the species in a community over time. Successions may be primary or secondary. Primary successions occur in areas where there were no organisms from the beginning. An example of this is the habitation of land by organisms where no soil existed, such as landslides that cover the soil or in the aftermath of a volcanic eruption.