succession

The act or process of following in order or sequence.

A group of people or things arranged or following in order; a sequence: synonym: series.

The sequence in which one person after another succeeds to a title, throne, or position.

The right of a person or a line of persons to so succeed.

The act or process of succeeding to the rights or duties of another.

The act or process of becoming entitled as a legal beneficiary to the property of a deceased person.

The gradual replacement of one type of ecological community by another in the same area, involving a series of orderly changes, especially in the dominant vegetation, and often resulting in the establishment of a climax community.

In phytogeography, the sequence of one plant-formation upon another on the same ground in response to changes in the conditions. Successions result from a great variety of causes, such as the gradual enrichment of soil, the accumulation of humus in peat-bogs, volcanic action, etc., or human agency, as in deforestation, cultivation, etc.