AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -The early ecologists who first studied succession thought of it as a predictable process in which a community always went through the same series of stages. They also thought that the end result of succession was a stable, unchanging final state called a climax community, largely determined by an area’s climate.

Detailed explanation-2: -A climax community (Figure below) is the end result of ecological succession. The climax community is a stable balance of all organisms in an ecosystem, and will remain stable unless a disaster strikes. After the disaster, succession will start all over again.

Detailed explanation-3: -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.