a community in which development has been arrested before climax has been attained
Derived forms
subclimactic (ˌsʌbklaɪˈmæktɪk)
adjective
subclimax in American English
(sʌbˈklaɪmæks)
noun
Ecology
the successional stage just preceding a climax formation
subclimax in American English
(sʌbˈklaimæks)
noun
Ecology
the development of an ecological community to a stage short of the expected climax because of some factor, as repeated fires in a forest, that arrests the normal succession
Word origin
[1930–35; sub- + climax]This word is first recorded in the period 1930–35. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: DNA, acoustic phonetics, boondoggle, cloverleaf, saddle stitchsub- is a prefix occurring originally in loanwords from Latin (subject; subtract; subvert; subsidy). On this model, sub- is freely attached to elements of any origin and used with the meaning “under,” “below,”“beneath” (subalpine; substratum), “slightly,” “imperfectly,” “nearly” (subcolumnar; subtropical), “secondary,” “subordinate” (subcommittee; subplot)
Examples of 'subclimax' in a sentence
subclimax
As a result, subclimax communities with a diminished species composition of plants are formed.
O. I. Evstigneev, V. N. Korotkov, I. A. Murashev, P. V. Voevodin 2017, 'ZOOCHORY AND PECULIARITIES OF FOREST COMMUNITY FORMATION: A REVIEW', Russian Journal of Ecosystem Ecologyhttp://rjee.ru/en/rjee-2-1-2017-2/. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
This modifies the subclimax appreciably and apparently also the climax of the local regional subsere.
Henrique P. Veloso 1946, 'A vegetação do município de Ilhéus, Estado da Bahia: III - caracterização da vegetaçãopelo valôr dos índices das espécies', Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02761946000200004. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)