Any of these changes could modify the environment and make it unsuitable for the climax community. Such changes will cause an area to revert to an earlier community. If a section of the maple forest is destroyed by fire, insect infestation, logging or a wind storm, the maples will not be replaced by maple seedlings. Maple seedlings grow well in the deep shade of the parent trees, but other species of trees can outgrow the young maples in the bright sunlight. Gradually, over many hundreds of years, the changes in the habitat will once again favour the maple trees and a new climax community forest will become established.
Primary succession occurs on an area of newly exposed rock or sand.
Community succession that takes place where a community has been removed is called secondary succession. Usually a climax community will be reached much sooner with secondary succession because the seeds of many species of plants are already present in the soil. It will generally take as much time to reach a climax community with primary succession as it takes for rock to be converted into soil that will support trees.