Secondary Succession
Companies recovering from crisis (secondary succession) can leverage surviving assets - brand, customer relationships, capabilities, infrastructure.
Secondary succession develops on disturbed sites previously occupied - abandoned fields, burned forests, storm-damaged reefs. It proceeds much faster than primary succession because soil, organic matter, seed banks, and root systems often survive disturbance. After agricultural abandonment or forest fire, recovery begins not from zero but from a degraded yet biologically functional state. Succession often advances from annual herbs to perennial herbs to shrubs to trees within decades rather than centuries.
Business Application of Secondary Succession
Companies recovering from crisis (secondary succession) can leverage surviving assets - brand, customer relationships, capabilities, infrastructure. Recovery proceeds faster because it begins from existing foundations rather than from zero.
Secondary Succession Appears in 2 Chapters
Secondary succession proceeds faster than primary because soil, seed banks, and mycorrhizal networks survive disturbance, providing substrate for recovery.
Secondary succession mechanics →Mount St. Helens recovery exemplified secondary succession - some soil remained under ash, enabling decades-scale recovery rather than centuries.
Mount St. Helens as succession case →