Such a disturbance may be a single fallen tree that creates a light gap in the forest allowing new growth. It also could be a larger area measured in tens or hundreds of square kilometers destroyed by a forest fire. In each case, the environment will bounce back and re-establish the previous plant community although several intermediate steps and many years may be needed to achieve this condition. If the disturbance is small in area and does not encompass all there is of a given environment it is obvious that plants will re-establish themselves through the supply of propagules from the surrounding vegetation. Not surprisingly, there is no simple answer.
Every disturbance results in extinctions.
These extinctions may be local, regional, continental, or global. Whether an extinction is permanent depends on other factors. Most ecosystems re-establish themselves after disturbance. It is worthwhile to look at examples. If landslides occur in tropical forests, for instance in Puerto Rico's Luquillo mountains, the landslide scar is stripped of vegetation and soil.