Vegetation follows established patterns of regrowth and change after disturbances by farming, timber harvesting, hurricanes or fire. This process of patterned regrowth and change is called plant succession.

Eventually, barring further disturbances, the oak and hickory trees will become dominant and form a dense canopy, returning the community to its original state—its pre-fire composition. This process of succession takes about 150 years.

Forest ecologists recognize four phases of forest succession, or what is sometimes called forest development. These phases are: (i) stand initiation, (ii) stem exclusion, (iii) understory reinitiation, and (iv) steady state.

Primary Succession has three main stages that occurs over hundreds of years. : Pioneer Species. : Intermediate Species. : Climax Species.

The 5 Stages of Succession are Nudation, Invasion, Competition and Co-action, Reaction, and Climax or Stabilization. At the same location, a succession of biotic communities naturally emerges one after another until the Climax stage is reached.

Ecological succession is the process by which the mix of species and habitat in an area changes over time. Gradually, these communities replace one another until a “climax community”—like a mature forest—is reached, or until a disturbance, like a fire, occurs.