ecology the culminating stage of plant succession for a given environment; the vegetation conceived as having reached a highly stable condition —note 1. some ecologists restrict the term to vegetation of mature sites and soils that they presume to have a high degree of permanence, others apply it to vegetation conceived to be stable only as long as the environment remains unchanged, or to vegetation that changes only in response to changes in climate or soil substrate that are slow relative to the rate of plant succession —note 2. Clements argued that, for a given region, there was only one true climax, i.e., stable vegetation on mesic sites determined by climate, and hence termed by him the climatic climax; sites with stable vegetation but influenced by factors other than climate received special names: preclimax (local unfavorable conditions preventing full vegetational complexity), postclimax (local favorable conditions permitting greater complexity), biotic climax (maintained by biotic factors), edaphic climax (maintained by soil factors) —see seral stage, subclimax, climax forestThis definition last updated 07/18/2008