Other trees begin to colonize, typically species of birch and cherry and young individuals of the forest that will eventually result from succession. Among this tangle of young trees appear the young seedlings of the trees of the final forest. These longer lived trees such as Beech, Oak, and Maple grow best under wooded conditions of decreasing light and increased soil moisture and nutrients. The forest eventually becomes open underneath dominated by large, tall trees. Nothing in nature, however, is as cut and dry as this description makes it sound.
Chance plays an important part in what species arrive and when.
Time changes not only the species composition of the area, but also the environmental conditions. The seeds of a climax dominant species may arrive early during the process, but not survive because the conditions are not right. Conversely a dominant species may never appear in the forest simply because the seeds never made it there even though the species would do just fine there if it had colonized. In some areas a climax forest is never reached. In the southeastern United States are extensive stands of pines on soil types that should support deciduous trees.