The term "climax community," or "climax," is used by ecologists to describe a stable ecosystem that occurs at the end of a successional sequence. (Succession is the process of community recovery that occurs after an event of disturbance.) The climax is a theoretical ecosystem that is in an equilibrium with the environmental conditions occurring in the region. Terrestrial plant ecologists are particularly interested in the idea of climax ecosystems, but the theory is also relevant to animal and microbial communities, and to all environments.

Frederic Clements, an American ecologist, was influential in the initial development of the concept of climax ecosystems. Clements' most influential paper on this subject, published in 1916, suggested that there was only one true climax ecosystem for any given climatic region. He referred to this as the "climatic climax," and theorised that it was the eventual end-point of all successional sequences. Clements believed...