Seedlings of trees start to grow. Trees are still small. Blackberries, honeysuckle, poison ivy, and multiflora roses become established. Red fox and white tail deer live in this habitat. These vines are able to keep pace with tree growth and climb upward as the tree matures.
Animal species continue to increase in number.
As the forest matures, shade becomes a major factor in shaping the woods. Early succession trees such as sweet gum and pine cannot tolerate the shade and die out. Increasingly, the forest becomes a mix of hardwoods including tulip poplar, beech, and oak. It is the gradual and ongoing replacement of one kind of plant and animal community by another, usually culminating in one that is more stable and complex than the previous one. This is the easiest way to study a process that can take centuries.