Secondary succession occurs in areas where a biological community has already existed but some or all of that community has been removed by small-scale disturbances that did not eliminate all life and nutrients from the environment. Although fire, flooding, and other disturbances may drive out many plants and animals and set back the biological community to an earlier stage, the community does not “start from scratch” as it would during primary succession because the soil, which contains many nutrients provided by the former biological community, remains.
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