New ideas for modern phytosociological monographs

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Jürgen Dengler
  • Christian Berg
  • Florian Jansen

Within the framework of the project 'Plant communities of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and their vulnerability' a team of 22 vegetation scientists, including the authors of the present paper, developed a current synopsis of all syntaxa known from this federal state in NE Germany. This synopsis is based on the classification of more than 50,000 relevés stored in a TURBOVEG database. It was recently published in a two-volume monograph. In the present paper, we present major aspects of the approaches used in the monograph and discuss the experiences gained with them. We also provide an overview of the 12 axiomatic rules that form the classification approach in the monograph; review the application of the central syntaxon concept and its advantages and drawbacks; and examine the importance of nomenclaturally reviewing all syntaxon names, including older synonyms. We furthermore provide an overview of our transparent methodology for assessing plant communities according to their vulnerability and conservation value. Finally, we take stock of what was learned from the project and provide an overview of future tasks.

Original languageEnglish
JournalAnnali di Botanica
Volume5
Pages (from-to)193-210
Number of pages18
ISSN0365-0812
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2005

Bibliographical note

The copyright for articles in this journal are retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal, articles are free to use with proper attribution in educational and other non-commercial setting.

    Research areas

  • Classification approach, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Nature conservation, Red Data Book of plant communities, Syntaxonomy, Vegetation database
  • Biology

DOI