Climax community

Definition

In scientific ecology, climax community or climatic climax community is a historic term for a community of plants, animals, and fungi which, through the process of ecological succession in the development of vegetation in an area over time, have reached a steady state. This equilibrium was thought to occur because the climax community is composed of species best adapted to average conditions in that area. The term is sometimes also applied in soil development. Nevertheless, it has been found that a "steady state" is more apparent than real, particularly across long timescales.

Related concepts

Abiotic component Abiotic stress Abundance (ecology)Alaska Allee effect Allometry Alternative stable state Animal Animal coloration Anti-predator adaptation Antibiosis Apex predator Archaea Arthur Tansley Ascendency Assembly rules Autotroph Bacteriophage Bacterivore Balance of nature Bateman's principle Beech-maple forest Behavioral ecology Bioaccumulation Biodiversity Biogeochemical cycle Biogeography Bioindicator Biological data visualization Biological interaction Bioluminescence Biomagnification Biomass (ecology)Biotic component Biotic stress Camouflage Carnivore Carrying capacity Cascade effect (ecology)Chemoorganoheterotrophy Chemoorganotroph Chemosynthesis Chemotroph Cline (biology)Cold seep Colonisation (biology)Commensalism Community (ecology)Competition (biology)Competitive exclusion principle Consumer-resource model Consumer (food chain)Consumer–resource interactions Copiotroph Cross-boundary subsidy Decomposer Decomposition Deimatic behaviour Density dependence Depensation Detritivore Detritus Disturbance (ecology)Dominance (ecology)Ecological collapse Ecological debt Ecological economics Ecological effects of biodiversity Ecological efficiency Ecological extinction Ecological facilitation Ecological footprint Ecological forecasting Ecological indicator Ecological network Ecological niche Ecological pyramid Ecological resilience Ecological stability Ecological stoichiometry Ecological succession Ecological threshold Ecological trap Ecological yield Ecology Ecology of the San Francisco Estuary Ecopath Ecosystem Ecosystem based fisheries Ecosystem diversity Ecosystem ecology Ecosystem engineer Ecosystem model Ecotone Ecotype Edaphic Edge effects Effective population size Emergence Endemism Endolith Energy flow (ecology)Energy quality Energy systems language Environmental humanities Evolutionary ecology Extinction debt F-ratio (oceanography)Feed conversion ratio Feeding frenzy Flagship species Food chain Food web Foraging Foster's rule Foundation species Frederic Clements Functional ecology Fungi Generalist and specialist species Green world hypothesis Guild (ecology)Habitat Habitat fragmentation Henry Chandler Cowles Henry Gleason Herbivore Herbivore adaptations to plant defense Heterotroph Heterotrophic nutrition Human impact on the environment Hydrothermal vent Ideal free distribution Industrial ecology Insectivore Insular biogeography Intermediate disturbance hypothesis Interspecific competition Intertidal ecology Intraguild predation Intraspecific competition Introduced species Invasive species Kelp forest Keystone species Kinetotroph Kleiber's law Lake ecosystem Land change modeling Landscape ecology Landscape epidemiology Landscape limnology Latitudinal gradients in species diversity Liebig's law of the minimum Limiting similarity List of feeding behaviours Lithoautotroph Lithotroph Logistic function Lotka–Volterra equations Macroecology Malthusian growth model Marginal value theorem Marine food web Marine habitat Marine microorganisms Maximum sustainable yield Mesopredator Mesopredator release hypothesis Mesotrophic soil Metabolic theory of ecology Metapopulation Microbial cooperation Microbial ecology Microbial food web Microbial intelligence Microbial loop Microbial mat Microbial metabolism Microecosystem Microorganism Mimicry Minimum viable population Mixotroph Mutualism (biology)Myco-heterotrophy Mycoloop Mycotroph Native species Natural environment Niche apportionment models Niche construction Niche differentiation Non-trophic networks North Pacific Gyre Nutrient cycle Occupancy–abundance relationship Old growth Oligotroph Omnivore Ontogenetic niche shift Ontogeny Optimal foraging theory Ordination (statistics)Organism Organotroph Outline of ecology Overexploitation Overpopulation Paradox of the plankton Parasitism Patch dynamics Phage ecology Photoheterotroph Photosynthesis Photosynthetic efficiency Phototroph Picea sitchensis Plagioclimax Planktivore Plant Plant defense against herbivory Population cycle Population dynamics Population ecology Population model Population size Population viability analysis Predation Prey switching Primary nutritional groups Primary production Priority effect Productivity (ecology)R/K selection theory Random generalized Lotka–Volterra model Rapoport's rule Recruitment (biology)Regime shift Relative abundance distribution Relative species abundance Resistance (ecology)Resource (biology)Resource selection function Restoration ecology River ecosystem Semiaquatic Sexecology Shoaling and schooling Small population size Soil Soil food web Source–sink dynamics Spatial ecology Species distribution Species distribution modelling Species diversity Species homogeneity Species richness Species–area relationship Steady state Storage effect Stratification (vegetation)Superorganism Symbiosis Systems ecology Terrestrial animal Theoretical ecologist Theoretical ecology Thorson's rule Tide pool Tongass National Forest Tritrophic interactions in plant defense Trophic cascade Trophic level Trophic mutualism Trophic state index Tsuga heterophylla Umbrella species Unified neutral theory of biodiversity Urban ecology Vegetation Warren Woods State Park Wood-pasture hypothesis Xerosere

19 concepts already in your glossary