Page "Climax community" Paragraph 9

Ultimately, even if succession tends towards a steady state, the time required to achieve this state is unrealistically long ; in most cases, external disturbances and environmental change occur so frequently that the realization of a climax community is unlikely, and therefore it has come to be regarded as a less useful concept.

Long-term vegetation dynamics are now more often characterized as resulting from the action of stochastic factors.