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Article: Textbook misconceptions: The climax concept of succession
- Article from:
- The American Biology Teacher
- Article date:
- March 1, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright National Association of Biology Teachers Mar 1996. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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SUCCESSION is the process and pattern of changes following a disturbance in communities through time at a site. It is an important concept in an understanding of ecological dynamics; this definition incorporates White & Pickett's (1985) view of disturbance as any relatively discrete event in time that disrupts ecosystem, community or population structure. As a teaching tool, succession allows students to understand the changing nature of communities, as well as conceptualize the result of species' interactions.
Since Clements' seminal paper (1916), the idea of a deterministic end point to the process, called the climax stage, has become entrenched in the literature. This view was ...