succession

Noun

• acquisition of property by descent or by will

• (ecology) the gradual and orderly process of change in an ecosystem brought about by the progressive replacement of one community by another until a stable climax is established

• the action of following in order
  • he played the trumps in sequence
    

• a group of people or things arranged or following in order
  • a succession of stalls offering soft drinks
    
  • a succession of failures
    

• a following of one thing after another in time
  • the doctor saw a sequence of patients
    

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  taking over , ecological succession , sequence , chronological sequence , successiveness , chronological succession