Climax Concepts and Recognition

Ecologists seek to capture with concepts the meaning of vegetation change. The idea that this change could be described and understood was a major development in the history of ecology, that may be traced back to Kerner (1863), Hult (1885, 1887), Warming (1891, 1896), and others [see preceding articles and reviews of Ludi (1921, 1930), Furrer (1922), Cain (1939), Whittaker (1953), and Aleksandrova (1964)]. In counterbalance to the idea of vegetation change it was natural to recognize the condition of relative vegetational stability that came to be known as “climax”. Early sources of the concept of climax include Hult (1885, 1887), Warming’s (1896) Schlussverein, the chief associations of Moss (1907, 1910), the stable formations of Crampton (1911, 1912), and the American work of Cowles (1899, 1901, 1910, 1911), and Clements (1904, 1905, 1916).