which factor can cause secondary succession? clear cutting glacial melting competition predation

The factor that can cause secondary succession from your list is clear cutting.

Quick Scoop: Why “clear cutting”?

Secondary succession happens in an area where soil already exists, but the original community has been disturbed or removed. It follows events like:

• Forest clear cutting , logging, or farming being abandoned.

• Natural disturbances such as fires, floods, or windstorms that remove vegetation but leave soil in place.

In your options:

• Clear cutting : Removes existing vegetation but leaves soil → classic trigger for secondary succession.

• Glacial melting : Usually exposes bare rock with no soil → this leads to primary succession, not secondary.

• Competition and predation : These are ongoing biological interactions within an ecosystem and do not by themselves “reset” a community to start succession.

So, the correct answer is: clear cutting. 🌲🪓

TL;DR: Secondary succession starts when an existing ecosystem is disturbed but soil remains, and clear cutting is the option that matches this condition.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.