Nature and Structure of the Climax

Abstract

This is a discussion of the climax as the basis of the dynamic system in vegetation, or for the treatment of biotic communities when animals are also considered. The climax is at once the outcome and the indicator of a major climate and not of a local edaphic compensation or modification of it. When communities of such situations assume some degree of permanence, they are termed proclimaxes. These are distinguished as relicts of former climates, persistent stages of succession, or as consequences of disturbance, chiefly by man or stock. As the community of the widest extent, the climax reflects the subclimates of its climate in corresponding subdivisions or associations. These in turn fall into faciations and the latter into lociations, both characterized likewise by climax dominants and responding to successively smaller divisions of the climate. In addition, each climax exhibits minor communities composed of subdominants, illustrated by composites in grassland. For these, the general term is society, aspect societies being known as sociations and layer ones as lamiations.