We apply cladistic parsimony analysis to data sets from successional ecology. Our basic study examines the recovery of the ant communities in the Guadiamar River bank (Southwestern Spain) following an environmental disaster caused by the spill of toxic sludge. We also apply the method to other studies of recovery of ants and birds in Australia, as well as to data from a butterfly monitoring program in Costa Rica. Resultant cladograms demonstrate increasing diversity, rooted at the poorest site and year, extending to either the various (rich) control sites, or with branches indicating alternative assemblages of species in some study sites. This analysis rapidly produces graphical summaries that are useful to evaluate the path of succession (species following one another) for ecological study. We demonstrate that the product of cladistic analysis compares favorably with methods commonly used in ecology, such as including rare species, explicitly revealing a hierarchy that may relate closely to a time series, and illustrates how individual species relate to observed patterns. We detail certain operational considerations that influence the performance of the cladistic method, and we discuss the robustness of the method. This technique may be applied to study success of rehabilitation after disturbances as well as study of the assembly of natural or disturbed communities.