The Climax Community 



Plants that have adapted themselves to 

 their environment and formed a stable 

 community, one that remains about the 

 same, year after year, belong to a climax 

 community. Unless something happens to 

 change it, it continues to maintain the 

 same kinds of plants and make the best use 

 of the prevailing climate and soil condi- 

 tions. The more varied a plant community 

 is, the more protection it has against ex- 

 treme heat, drought, or overuse. 



Decreasers, Increasers, 



and Invaders 



In any plant community there will be 

 plants of three classifications— de- 

 creasers, increasers, and invaders. De- 

 creasers are most abundant in a climax 

 community. They are the ones that grazing 

 animals prefer, and they also have more of 

 the food elements that these animals need. 

 They do, however, decrease in number with 

 heavy grazing— that's why they are called 

 decreasers (figure 1). 



1. Decreasers 



Canada Wild Rye 



Green Needlegrass 



Sideoats Grama 



