1. a stable ecological community that results from human disturbance or environmental degradation rather than natural succession
Usage: ecology; technical

Examples

• Overgrazing by livestock can create a disclimax dominated by hardy shrubs instead of the native grassland.
• The disclimax vegetation in the abandoned quarry reflects decades of human mining activity.
• Ecologists study how a disclimax differs from the natural climax community that would develop without disturbance.
• Fire suppression in some forests has led to a disclimax of dense, unhealthy tree growth.
• The disclimax state of the wetland was caused by pollution and drainage from nearby agricultural land.