Secondary Succession

This photo was taken on the outside of a fire pit where all plants and grasses were burnt. It is a great picture to help show secondary succession in action. Secondary succession happens after a disturbance such as a fire takes place. All roots and preexisting soil remains after a fire burns, nutrients etc all depend on the intensity and frequency of the disturbance as well. This is how we see the definition of secondary succession come in. Since the roots and existing soil are still there, and could be called an intermediate disturbance, all the plants and grasses will grow back after the fire with great diversity. So, the grass community outside the fire pit will be reestablished over time. If we think about it on a larger scale such as a forest fire we would also see smaller understory plants begin to grown back. Eventually the forest community will be reestablished and that’s secondary succession. This picture helps to see it on a smaller scale but also helps to get the point and see secondary succession happening outside the classroom.

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