Over 80 years without major disturbance, late‐successional Białowieża woodlands exhibit complex dynamism, with coherent compositional shifts towards true old‐growth conditions

Controversies about successional dynamics of woodland communities have a long history, dating back to the classical debates between Clements and Gleason and continuing into the present. These debates have largely concerned the predictability or convergence of forest developmental trends as well as the relative importance of different mechanisms and forces driving forest succession. However, opportunities for rigorous testing of competing...