Biosphere Contents

5. Development

The concepts of succession, seres and climax are of immediate practical importance

Deforested land

An understanding of succession, seres and climax communities is important to biologists, ecologists, foresters and farmers alike. Regeneration through secondary succession after a disturbance can be a very slow process, especially when climax communities are dominated by extremely long-lived species, such as in tropical rainforests. According to a study in the Brazilian Atlantic forest, some forest characteristics such as the species richness of various species groups can return to pre-disturbance levels within 100-300 years after disturbance, but 1000-4000 years is required to fully recover the condition of a mature forest (Liebsch 2008).

What is the practical relevance of the concepts of succession, seres and climax?