What is a climax in an ecosystem?
[ klī′măks′ ] An ecological community in which populations of plants or animals remain stable and exist in balance with each other and their environment. A climax community is the final stage of succession, remaining relatively unchanged until destroyed by an event such as fire or human interference.
What is an example of a climax organism?
Examples. White spruce (Picea glauca) is an example of a climax species in the northern forests of North America due to its ability to adapt to resource scarce, stable conditions, it dominates Northern forest ecosystem in the absence of a disturbance.
What organisms are found in the climax community?
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.
What is a climax forest?
Climax species' seedlings are capable of surviving in the understory and can therefore grow up to replace overstory parent trees that die. When this happens, the forest's mix of species remains relatively constant for extended periods. This is what some have called the climax forest.Sep 1, 2006
What is meant by climax forest?
A plant community that is dominated by trees representing the last stage of natural succession for that specific locality and environmentally should be considered a climax forest.
What trees are in a climax forest?
But few natural forests are pure when it comes to the trees growing in them. While beech and yellow birch and sugar maple may dominate in a so-called “hardwood” climax forest, paper birch may be sprinkled in, or silver maple, or eastern white cedar, white pine or even American elm.
Where is climax forest?
Warren Woods in Michigan, USA, is an example of a beech-maple climax forest. Beech (center) and sugar maple (bottom left) dominate the forest due to their towering height and tolerance of shade.
What is a climax ecosystem?
[ klī′măks′ ] An ecological community in which populations of plants or animals remain stable and exist in balance with each other and their environment. A climax community is the final stage of succession, remaining relatively unchanged until destroyed by an event such as fire or human interference.
What are characteristics of climax?
Features of climax communities
They don't go down easy. They have a “middle path”, ie. they have moderate conditions, also called mesic conditions. They have high species diversity, and transfer of energy is in the form of complex food webs, not simple food chains.Nov 22, 2016