Logo image
Structural, ecological and biogeographical attributes of European vegetation alliances
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Structural, ecological and biogeographical attributes of European vegetation alliances

Zdenka Preislerová, Corrado Marcenò, Javier Loidi, Gianmaria Bonari, Dariia Borovyk, Rosario Gavilan, Valentin Golub, Massimo Terzi, Jean-Paul Theurillat, Olivier Argagnon, …
Applied Vegetation Science, Vol.27(1), e12766
2024
pdf
Published4.30 MBDownloadView
CC BY V4.0 Open Access

Abstract

The first comprehensive phytosociological classification of all vegetation types in Europe (EuroVegChecklist; Applied Vegetation Science, 2016, 19, 3–264) contained brief descriptions of each type. However, these descriptions were not standardized and mentioned only the most distinct features of each vegetation type. The practical application of the vegetation classification system could be enhanced if users had the option to select sets of vegetation types based on various combinations of structural, ecological, and biogeographical attributes. Based on a literature review and expert knowledge, we created a new database that assigns standardized categorical attributes of 12 variables to each of the 1106 alliances dominated by vascular plants defined in EuroVegChecklist. These variables include dominant life form, phenological optimum, substrate moisture, substrate reaction, salinity, nutrient status, soil organic matter, vegetation region, elevational vegetation belt, azonality, successional status and naturalness. The new database has the potential to enhance the usefulness of phytosociological classification for researchers and practitioners and to help understand this classification to non-specialists.

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#14 Life Below Water
#15 Life on Land

Source: InCites

Metrics

19 File views/ downloads
62 Record Views

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Citation topics
3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
3.40 Forestry
3.40.86 Plant Communities
Web Of Science research areas
Ecology
Forestry
Plant Sciences
ESI research areas
Plant & Animal Science
Logo image