Climax community

The term climax community, also described as a climatic climax community is a largely obsolete ecological term for a biological community of plants and animals which, through the process of succession - the development of vegetation in an area over time - has reached an equilibrium or steady state. This equilibrium occurs because the climax community is composed of species best adapted to average conditions in that local area. The term is sometimes also applied in soil development. The idea of a single climatic climax, which is defined in relation to regional climate, originated with Frederic Clements in the early 1900s. The first analysis of succession as leading to something like a climax was written by Henry Cowles in 1899, but it was Clements who used the term "climax" to describe the idealized endpoint of succession.[1]