Pre-existing nitrogen-fixing plant communities

Soil nutrients deposited by a nearby river

Wind-carried soil particles and nutrients

The time-consuming process of weathering the bedrock into smaller particles

Feces from wildlife populations that occupy the region

Lichen and grass communities establishing themselves on a recently-formed island, resulting from an uplift in the ocean bedrock

Native grass communities forming after a wildfire burned through a meadow/woodland ecosystem

Seedlings establishing themselves in a heavily logged area where the seed-tree cutting method was employed

Lichens re-establish themselves on rocks and shallow soil beds following a tundra fire

Coral reef and aquatic wildlife communities that have re-established themselves in regions of the South Pacific that were evacuated following the nuclear tests conducted by the U.S. military