Succession, Development, the Climax, and the Complex Organism: An Analysis of Concepts: Part II. Development and the Climax

THE CLIMAX: HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 216 VARIOUS CONCEPTS AND THESES .217 The climatic climax: the climax is always controlled by the climate prevailing in the region concerned .217 The edaphic climax: in addition to climatic climaxes there are edaphic climaxes 219 The biotic climax: in addition to being limited by climate and edaphic conditions, the climax may be determined by various biotic agencies .224 Succession does not lead inevitably to a definite climax, in fact succession never reaches a true climax. Is there any climax phase at all? .226 There is but one climax to any given climatic region-that is a climatic region in terms of vegetation response: (the monocimax concept) .227 There is more than one kind of climax: (the polyclimax concept) . . . . 229