1. Plant Succession Theories The classical plant succession theory suggests that once the climatic climax vegetation is reached then the community remains in a steady state – is this likely to be the case?

4. Is such a monoclimax succession towards a climatic climax community inevitable?

5. The classical plant succession theory suggests that once the climatic climax vegetation is reached then the community remains in a steady state – is this likely to be the case?

7. Climax Vegetation Plagioclimax subclimax (after deforestation, ploughing, burning) Secondary succession Primary succession New inorganic (non-vegetated surface) Biotic subclimax Edaphic (soil) subclimax THE POLYCLIMAX THEORY 1 2 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 Primary succession natural interruptions in primary succession Retrogressive succession due to disturbance (natural or human) Secondary succession

8. This begs the question, should we consider time on an ecological or geological scale? However we consider time, is the climate stable?