Formalized reproduction of an expert‐based phytosociological classification: A case study of subalpine tall‐forb vegetation

Abstract. Delimitation of vegetation units in phytosociology is traditionally based on expert knowledge. Applications of expert‐based classifications are often inconsistent because criteria for assigning relevés to vegetation units are seldom given explicitly. Still, there is, e.g. in nature conservation, an increasing need for a consistent application of vegetation classification using computer expert systems for unit identification. We propose a procedure for formalized reproduction of an expert‐based vegetation classification, which is applicable to large phytosociological data sets. This procedure combines Bruelheide's Cocktail method with a similarity‐based assignment of relevés to constancy columns of a vegetation table. As a test of this method we attempt to reproduce the expert‐based phytosociological classification of subalpine tall‐forb vegetation of the Czech Republic which has been made by combination of expert judgement and stepwise numerical classification of 718 relevés by TWINSPAN. Applying the Cocktail method to a geographically stratified data set of 21794 relevés of all Czech vegetation types, we defined groups of species with the statistical tendency of joint occurrences in vegetation. Combinations of 12 of these species groups by logical operators AND, OR and AND NOT yielded formal definitions of 14 of 16 associations which had been accepted in the expert‐based classification. Application of these formal definitions to the original data set of 718 relevés resulted in an assignment of 376 relevés to the associations. This assignment agreed well with the original expert‐based classification. Relevés that remained un‐assigned because they had not met the requirements of any of the formal definitions, were subsequently assigned to the associations by calculating similarity to relevé groups that had already been assigned to the associations. A new index, based on frequency and fidelity, was proposed for calculating similarity. The agreement with the expert‐based classification achieved by the formal definitions was still improved after applying the similarity‐based assignment. Results indicate that the expert‐based classification can be successfully formalized and converted into a computer expert system.     

Assignment of relevés to pre‐defined classes by supervised clustering of plant communities using a new composite index

Question: How does a newly designed method of supervised clustering perform in the assignment of relevé (species composition) data to a previously established classification. How do the results compare to the assignment by experts and to the assignment using a completely different numerical method? Material: Relevés analysed represent 4186 Czech grassland plots and 4990 plots from a wide variety of vegetation types (359 different associations or basal communities) in The Netherlands. For both data sets we had at our disposal an expert classification, and for the Czech data we also had available a numerical classification as well as a classification based on a neural network method (multi‐layer perceptron). Methods: Two distance indices, one qualitative and one quantitative, are combined into a single index by weighted multiplication. The composite index is a distance index for the dissimilarity between relevés and vegetation types. For both data sets the classifications by the new method were compared with the existing classifications. Results: For the Czech grasslands we correctly classified 81% of the plots to the classes of an expert classification at the alliance level and 71% to the classes of the numerical classification. Correct classification rates for the Dutch relevés were 64, 78 and 83 % for the lowest (subassociation or association), association, and alliance level, respectively. Conclusion: Our method performs well in assigning community composition records to previously established classes. Its performance is comparable to the performance of other methods of supervised clustering. Compared with a multi‐layer perceptron (a type of artificial neural network), fewer parameters have to be estimated. Our method does not need the original relevé data for the types, but uses synoptic tables. Another practical advantage is the provision of directly interpretable information on the contributions of separate species to the result.     

Bayesian classification of vegetation types with Gaussian mixture density fitting to indicator values

Question: Is it possible to mathematically classify relevés into vegetation types on the basis of their average indicator values, including the uncertainty of the classification? Location: The Netherlands. Method: A large relevé database was used to develop a method for predicting vegetation types based on indicator values. First, each relevé was classified into a phytosociological association on the basis of its species composition. Additionally, mean indicator values for moisture, nutrients and acidity were computed for each relevé. Thus, the position of each classified relevé was obtained in a three‐dimensional space of indicator values. Fitting the data to so called Gaussian Mixture Models yielded densities of associations as a function of indicator values. Finally, these density functions were used to predict the Bayesian occurrence probabilities of associations for known indicator values. Validation of predictions was performed by using a randomly chosen half of the database for the calibration of densities and the other half for the validation of predicted associations. Results and Conclusions: With indicator values, most reléves were classified correctly into vegetation types at the association level. This was shown using confusion matrices that relate (1) the number of relevés classified into associations based on species composition to (2) those based on indicator values. Misclassified relevés belonged to ecologically similar associations. The method seems very suitable for predictive vegetation models.     

The management of vegetation classifications with fuzzy clustering

Questions: Does fuzzy clustering provide an appropriate numerical framework to manage vegetation classifications? What is the best fuzzy clustering method to achieve this? Material: We used 531 relevés from Catalonia (Spain), belonging to two syntaxonomic alliances of mesophytic and xerophytic montane pastures, and originally classified by experts into nine and 13 associations, respectively. Methods: We compared the performance of fuzzy C‐means (FCM), noise clustering (NC) and possibilistic C‐means (PCM) on four different management tasks: (1) assigning new relevé data to existing types; (2) updating types incorporating new data; (3) defining new types with unclassified relevés; and (4) reviewing traditional vegetation classifications. Results: As fuzzy classifiers, FCM fails to indicate when a given relevé does not belong to any of the existing types; NC might leave too many relevés unclassified; and PCM membership values cannot be compared. As unsupervised clustering methods, FCM is more sensitive than NC to transitional relevés and therefore produces fuzzier classifications. PCM looks for dense regions in the space of species composition, but these are scarce when vegetation data contain many transitional relevés. Conclusions: All three models have advantages and disadvantages, although the NC model may be a good compromise between the restricted FCM model and the robust but impractical PCM model. In our opinion, fuzzy clustering might provide a suitable framework to manage vegetation classifications using a consistent operational definition of vegetation type. Regardless of the framework chosen, national/regional vegetation classification panels should promote methodological standards for classification practices with numerical tools.     

A phytosociological classification of Swiss mire vegetation

The mapping and monitoring of Swiss mires has so far relied on a classification system based on expert judgement, which was not supported by a quantitative vegetation analysis and which did not include all wetland vegetation types described in the country. Based on a spatially representative sample of 17,608 relevés from 112 Swiss mires, we address the following questions: (1) How abundant are wetland vegetation types (phytosociological alliances) in Swiss mires? (2) How are they distributed across the country––is there a regional pattern? (3) How clearly are they separated from each other? (4) How clear and reliable is their ecological interpretation? Using published wetland vegetation relevés and lists of diagnostic species for phytosociological units (associations and alliances) established by experts, we developed a numerical method for assigning relevés to units through the calculation of similarity indices. We applied this method to our sample of 17,608 relevés and estimated the total area covered by each vegetation type in Switzerland. We found that vegetation types not included in previous mapping were either rare in Switzerland (partly due to mire drainage) or poorly distinguished from other vegetation units. In an ordination, the Swiss mire vegetation formed a triangular gradient system with the Sphagnion medii, the Caricion davallianae and the Phragmition australis as extreme types. Phytosociological alliances were clearly separated in a subset of 2,265 relevés, which had a strong similarity to one particular association, but poorly separated across all relevés, of which many could not be unequivocally assigned to one association. However, ecological gradients were reflected equally well by the vegetation types in either case. Overall, phytosociological alliances distinguished until now proved suitable schemes to describe and interpret vegetation gradients. Nevertheless, we see the urgent need to establish a data base of Swiss wetland relevés for a more reliable definition of some vegetation units.     

Classification and gradient analysis of the beech forest vegetation of the southern Rodopi (northeast Greece)

Pure and mixed beech forest vegetation of the southern Rodopi range (northeast Greece) was studied using 614 relevés and multivariate analyses (TWINSPAN and DCA). Classification of the relevés resulted in 12 vegetation units, 8 of which were ranked as associations or communities and the rest as subcommunities and variants. DCA diagrams of relevés and taxa indicated that floristic differentiation was attributed mainly to factors such as altitude (affecting temperature and humidity), soil nutrient content and substrate type (affecting physical and chemical soil properties). Differential taxa of vegetation units were chosen based on their phi coefficient values, which were calculated from three different percentage synoptic tables that corresponded to three ranks (ecological groups, associations and communities, and subcommunities and variants) of floristic differentiation. The calculation of phi coefficient on the basis of relative constancy of taxa helps to overcome the problem of the dependence of fidelity values on the number of relevés per vegetation unit and to facilitate the better investigation of the floristic differentiation even of rare vegetation units represented by a small number of relevés. Furthermore, the calculation of fidelity values for different hierarchical levels enables a more detailed and thorough investigation of the floristic differentiation of the vegetation units.     

Typology and ecology of Californian serpentine annual grasslands

Abstract. A first classification for serpentine annual grasslands distributed throughout northern and central California is proposed. This study has followed the Braun‐Blanquet phyto‐sociological system based on floristical, biogeographical and bioclimatic features of the sampled areas. Numerical analyses of classification and ordination were applied to the floristic relevés. Minimum Variance Clustering grouped relevés into basic classification units that allowed us to define low‐hierarchical syntaxonomical units (associations) and ‘communities’. A Principal Coordinate Analysis was used to extract those ecological parameters related to the axes that separate those classification units from the previous dendrogram. The results showed that differences in species composition was mainly due to a continentality gradient and the shady effect of an overstory vegetation. On the basis of both analyses we propose a first syntaxonomic scheme on ultramafic (mainly serpentine) annual plant communities of the biogeographical Californian Region that comprises four associations, two subassociations and some provisional communities.     

Geographical and ecological differentiation in Greek Fagus forest vegetation

Question: Which are the gradients of floristic differentiation in Greek beech (Fagus sylvatica) forests? Which is the role of geographical and ecological factors in this differentiation? Location: Beech forests of the plant geographical regions Northeast, North Central and East Central Greece. Methods: A total of 1404 published and unpublished phytoso‐ciological relevés were used in the analyses. TWINSPAN and DCA were applied to classify and ordinate the relevés. Altitude, Indicator Values of relevés and their X and Y coordinates were used in a posteriori interpretation of the ordination axes. Kendall's correlation coefficients were calculated between DCA relevé scores and explanatory variables. Multiple linear regression was used to partition the variation explained by the first two DCA axes, between the geographical and the ecological variables. Results: Classification resulted in 14 vegetation units defined by species composition. Two types of gradients, ecological and geographical, were revealed by the DCA of all releves. The partition of the variation accounted for by the first and second DCA axis was attributed mainly to ecological and geographical variables, respectively. Conclusions: Beech forests of northeast and Central Greece show phytogeographical differences, while ecologically similar vegetation units occur in both regions. A west‐east gradient is revealed in Greek beech forest vegetation. The extent of the study area, its position along regional gradients and the comprehensiveness of the data set that is analysed determine the types of the gradients which can be revealed in a vegetation study.     

Local ranges of phytosociological associations: are they reflected in numerical classification?

In the tradition of European phytosociology, delimitations of vegetation units such as associations are mostly based on data from small areas where more detailed vegetation sampling has been carried out. Such locally delimited vegetation units are often accepted in large-scale synthetic classifications, e.g. national vegetation monographs, and tentatively assigned to a small geographical range, forming groups of similar (vicarious) vegetation units in different small areas. These vicarious units, however, often overlap in species composition and are difficult to recognize from each other. We demonstrate this issue using an example of the classification of dry grasslands (Festuco-Brometea) in the Czech Republic. The standard vegetation classification of the Czech Republic supposes that the majority of accepted associations (66 out of 68) have a restricted distribution in one of the two major regions, Bohemia or Moravia. We compared the classification into traditional associations with the numerical classification of 1440 phytosociological relevés from the Czech Republic, in order to test whether the traditionally recognized associations with small geographical ranges are reflected in numerical classification. In various comparisons, the groups of relevés identified by numerical analysis occupied larger areas than the traditional associations. This suggests that with consistent use of total species composition as the vegetation classification criterion, the resulting classification will usually include more vegetation units with larger geographical ranges, while many of the traditional local associations will disappear.     

Picea abies andAbies alba forests of the austrian alps: Numerical classification and ordination

A TWINSPAN classification of a representative set of 3026 relevés of spruce and fir forests from the Eastern Alps (Austria) is presented. Ecological features of relevé clusters and species groups are described by means of Ellenberg indicator values, site factors and stand characteristics. The most important floristic discontinuity in the data set separates acidophilous communities on mostly silicate substrates from basiphilous communities on mostly carbonate substrates. Further divisions reflect a combined gradient of temperature, nutrient regime and shading. This is supported by the correlation of average Ellenberg values of sample plots with DCA axes. A qualitative comparison between TWINSPAN clusters and a syntaxonomic system widely used in the Austrian Alps is drawn. The two ordersPiceetalia excelsae andAthyrio-Piceetalia largely coincide with the clusters of the first level of divisions. Alliances are partly reproduced by TWINSPAN. Clusters on the fifth and fourth level of division mostly correspond to associations. However, a considerable portion of the lower level clusters is of a transitional type. Out of thirteen fir and spruce associations described for the Austrian Alps, five associations are not reproduced by TWINSPAN, i.e.Bazzanio-Piceetum, Veronico-Piceetum, Adenostylo alliariae-Abietetum, Asplenio-Piceetum andCarici-Piceetum. Three associations are split on the second level of division, i.e.Larici-Piceetum, Luzulo nemorosae-Piceetum andCalamagrostio variae-Piceetum.     

Phytosociological data give biased estimates of species richness

Abstract. Large phytosociological data sets of three types of grassland and three types of forest vegetation from the Czech Republic were analysed with a focus on plot size used in phytosociological sampling and on the species‐area relationship. The data sets included 12975 relevés, sampled by different authors in different parts of the country between 1922 and 1999. It was shown that in the grassland data sets, the relevés sampled before the 1960s tended to have a larger plot size than the relevés made later on. No temporal variation in plot sizes used was detected in forest relevés. Species‐area curves fitted to the data showed unnatural shapes, with levelling‐off or even decrease in plot sizes higher than average. This distortion is explained by the subjective, preferential method of field sampling used in phytosociology. When making relevés in species‐poor vegetation, researchers probably tend to use larger plots in order to include more species. The reason for this may be that a higher number of species gives a higher probability of including presumed diagnostic species, so that the relevé can be more easily classified in the Braun‐Blanquet classification system. This attitude of phytosociologists has at least two consequences: (1) in phytosociological data bases species‐poor vegetation types are underrepresented or relevés are artificially biased towards higher species richness; (2) the suitability of phytosociological data for species richness estimation is severely limited.     

Effects of soil erosion on the floristic composition of plant communities on marl in northeast Spain

Abstract. This study explored the validity of three responses of vegetation to increased soil erosion: reduction of vegetation cover, number of species and reduced substitution of species. 201 relevés, including edaphic and geomorphological data, were surveyed in the intensely eroded Eocene marls of the Prepyrenees (NE Spain). Changes in plant species’ presence in relevés from different degradation stages were compared. The level of vegetation degradation was defined as the total phanerogam cover which, in the studied area, was correlated to the degree of soil erosion. The considered trends were validated. Reduction of phanerogam cover and species number were gradual from low to high‐eroded areas. Vegetation degradation explained 48% of the species number variance. In the later stages of degradation a significant substitution of species was not observed, only a lower frequency of occurrence of several species that appeared in the whole set of relevés. Through the process of degradation, 47% of species displayed significantly reduced frequencies as degradation increased, none showed a significant increase in frequency. It is concluded that there are no characteristic species in these plant communities that survive in the severely eroded marls. Among the few species that had increased in frequency, most only colonised favourable micro‐environments.     

Formal definitions of Slovakian mire plant associations and their application in regional research

We applied the Cocktail method to a large data set of 4 117 relevés of all Slovak vegetation types with the aim to create formalised definitions of all Slovakian mire plant associations. We defined 21 groups of species with the statistical tendency of joint occurrences in vegetation. These groups differed substantially in their position along the pH/calcium gradient. We further defined 24 plant associations according to presence and/or absence of certain groups and/or strong dominance of some species. Only six traditional plant associations were not possible to be reproduced this way. We applied our formalised definitions to the regional data set of mires from the surrounding of the Vysoké Tatry Mts. Combined with frequency-positive fidelity index this method has led to the classification of the majority of vegetation plots into ten associations. When the vegetation types obtained from Cocktail-based classification and from cluster analysis were compared with respect to measured pH and conductivity in the study region, 82% of pairs differed significantly either in pH or in water conductivity in the former classification and 69% in the latter one.     

The terrestrial ruderal and segetal vegetation of North Korea: A synthesis

267 published and 32 unpublished phytosociological relevés from North Korea were synthesized. As a result, a revision of the units of the ruderal and segetal terrestrial vegetation known so far, and a discussion of their relationship to the analogous Japanese and European vegetation are presented. 17 associations and 4 communities at association level have been distinguished. They are assigned to the classesBidentetea (Bidentetalia, Panico-Bidention), Stellarietea mediae (Commelinetalia, Cassio-Phyllanthion, Cosmo-Humulion), Plantaginetea majoris (Plantaginetalia asiaticae, Plantaginion asiaticae) andMiscanthetea sinensis (Caricetalia nervatae; Zoysion japonicae).     

Determination of diagnostic species with statistical fidelity measures

Abstract. Statistical measures of fidelity, i.e. the concentration of species occurrences in vegetation units, are reviewed and compared. The focus is on measures suitable for categorical data which are based on observed species frequencies within a vegetation unit compared with the frequencies expected under random distribution. Particular attention is paid to Bruelheide's u value. It is shown that its original form, based on binomial distribution, is an asymmetric measure of fidelity of a species to a vegetation unit which tends to assign comparatively high fidelity values to rare species. Here, a hypergeometric form of u is introduced which is a symmetric measure of the joint fidelity of species to a vegetation unit and vice versa. It is also shown that another form of the binomial u value may be defined which measures the asymmetric fidelity of a vegetation unit to a species. These u values are compared with phi coefficient, chi‐square, G statistic and Fisher's exact test. Contrary to the other measures, phi coefficient is independent of the number of relevés in the data set, and like the hypergeometric form of u and the chi‐square it is little affected by the relative size of the vegetation unit. It is therefore particularly useful when comparing species fidelity values among differently sized data sets and vegetation units. However, unlike the other measures it does not measure any statistical significance and may produce unreliable results for small vegetation units and small data sets. The above measures, all based on the comparison of observed/expected frequencies, are compared with the categorical form of the Dufrêne‐Legendre Indicator Value Index, an index strongly underweighting the fidelity of rare species. These fidelity measures are applied to a data set of 15 989 relevés of Czech herbaceous vegetation. In a small subset of this data set which simulates a phytosociological table, we demonstrate that traditional table analysis fails to determine diagnostic species of general validity in different habitats and large areas. On the other hand, we show that fidelity calculations used in conjunction with large data sets can replace expert knowledge in the determination of generally valid diagnostic species. Averaging positive fidelity values for all species within a vegetation unit is a useful approach to measure quality of delimination of the vegetation unit. We propose a new way of ordering species in synoptic species‐by‐relevé tables, using fidelity calculations.     

Flora and vegetation of rocky outcrops/cliffs near the Hyrcanian forest timberline in the Mazandaran mountains,northern Iran

Due to their numerous endemic/sub‐endemic and rare plant species, rocky outcrops and cliffs, particularly those occurring at the timberline and forest/steppe ecotones of the Hyrcanian area, are considered as among the most important and fragile ecosystems in Iran. As a representative of such ecosystems, one of the last remnants of relatively undisturbed timberline and ecotone areas of the central Hyrcanian region was selected for phytogeographical, floristic and vegetation analyses. The flora and vegetation of rocky outcrops and crevices at altitudes of 2500–3000 m a.s.l. was surveyed by 40 relevés of 25 m² surface area. A total of 215 vascular plants belonging to 55 families and 150 genera were identified in the different vegetation types. Hemicrytophytes (55.8%) were the dominant life form and Euro–Siberian/Irano–Turanian biregional plants (28.2%) were the most common chorotype at the study sites. A phytogeographical analysis indicated that Euro–Siberian elements (including Hyrcanian endemics) precede other uniregional chorotypes in the timberline and upper‐mountain parts of the central Hyrcanian area. The Caucasus, an important biodiversity hotspot close to Iran, has a considerable number of taxa in common with the Irano–Turanian floristic regions. Five vegetation types were identified using a modified TWINSPAN procedure and subsequently analysed by indirect gradient analysis applying both species‐related (species richness, life form and phytogeographical elements) and topographic/bedrocks features of the studied relevés. The analysis revealed that the vegetation of the area is mainly affected by altitude, heat index, northness, slope inclination and bedrock features.     

Trends in species diversity and composition of urban vegetation over three decades

Question: What was the change in diversity of urban synantropic vegetation in a medium‐sized Central European city during the period of increasing urbanization (1960s‐1990s)? Location: The city of Plzeň, an industrial centre of the western part of the Czech Republic. Methods: Sampling of various types of synanthropic vegetation, conducted in the 1960s, was repeated by using the same methods in the 1990s. This yielded 959 relevés, of which 623 were made in the 1960s and 336 in the 1990s. The relevés were assigned to the following phytosociological classes: Chenopodietea, Artemisietea vulgaris, Galio‐Urticetea, Agropyretea repentis and Plantaginetea majoris. Total number of vascular plant species, evenness index J, number of alien species (classified into archaeophytes and neophytes), and mean Ellenberg indicator values for light, temperature, continentality, moisture, soil reaction, and nutrients were obtained for each relevé. Results: From 1960s to 1990s, there was a significant decrease of species richness and diversity in synanthropic vegetation. The proportion of archaeophytes decreased in most vegetation types, indicating the contribution of this group of species, often confined to specific rural‐like habitats, to the observed impoverishment of ruderal vegetation. The proportion of neophytes did not change between the two periods. Comparison between 1960s and 1990s indicated a decrease in light, temperature, moisture, soil reaction and nutrient indicator values in some vegetation types. In both periods, Artemisieta, Galio‐Urticetea and Chenopodietea formed a distinct group harbouring more species than Agropyretea and Plantaginetea. Neophytes, i.e. recently introduced species, were most represented in the early successional annual vegetation of Chenopodietea, rather than in perennial vegetation of the other classes. Conclusions: Synanthropic vegetation of Plzeň exhibited a general trend of decrease in species diversity.     

Vegetation patterns at the alpine treeline ecotone: the influence of tree cover on abrupt change in species composition of alpine communities

Aims: The upper elevation limit of forest vegetation in mountain ranges (the alpine treeline ecotone) is expected to be highly sensitive to global change. Treeline shifts and/or ecotone afforestation could cause fragmentation and loss of alpine habitat, and are expected to trigger considerable alterations in alpine vegetation. We performed an analysis of vegetation structure at the treeline ecotone to evaluate whether distribution of the tree population determines the spatial pattern of vegetation (species composition and diversity) across the transition from subalpine forest to alpine vegetation. Location: Iberian eastern range of the Pyrenees. Methods: We studied 12 alpine Pinus uncinata treeline ecotones. Rectangular plots ranging from 940 to 1900 m² were placed along the forest‐alpine vegetation transition, from closed forest to the treeless alpine area. To determine community structure and species distribution in the treeline ecotone, species variation along the forest‐alpine vegetation transition was sampled using relevés of 0.5 m² set every 2 m along the length of each plot. Fuzzy C‐means clustering was performed to assess the transitional status of the relevés in terms of species composition. The relation of P. uncinata canopy cover to spatial pattern of vegetation was evaluated using continuous wavelet transform analysis. Results: Vegetation analyses revealed a large degree of uniformity of the subalpine forest between all treeline ecotone areas studied. In contrast, the vegetation mosaic found upslope displayed great variation between sites and was characterized by abrupt changes in plant community across the treeline ecotone. Plant richness and diversity significantly increased across the ecotone, but tree cover and diversity boundaries were not spatially coincident. Conclusions: Our results revealed that no intermediate communities, in terms of species composition, are present in the treeline ecotone. Ecotone vegetation reflected both bedrock type and fine‐scale heterogeneity at ground level, thereby reinforcing the importance of microenvironmental conditions for alpine community composition. Tree cover did not appear to be the principal driver of alpine community changes across the treeline ecotone. Microenvironmental heterogeneity, together with effects of past climatic and land‐use changes on ecotone vegetation, may weaken the expected correlation between species distribution and vegetation structure.     

The salt marsh vegetation on the East Adriatic coast

Phytosociological characteristics and a rate of endangerment of the salt marsh vegetation in central and southern parts of the east Adriatic coast were studied. A total of 73 vegetation relevés were made and elaborated according to the standard procedures of the Braun-Blanquet method. Numerical analysis of the relevés and life forms was performed. Two associations of the class Arthrocnemetea-Puccinellio festuciformis-Arthrocnemetum fruticosi and Limonio-Artemisietum coerulescentis were recorded, together with the association Juncetum maritimo-acuti of the class Juncetea maritimi. These associations show no significant differentiation with regard to their floristic composition, but only in terms of particular species cover and frequency rates, as well as by life forms and microecological habitat conditions. These are specific habitats, rarely found in the studied area, and highly threatened by human activity (tourism, agriculture).     

Contribuzione alla flora algologica del mare Adriatico

The specific species-rich high-altitude vegetation of the class Carici rupestris-Kobresietea bellardii Ohba 1974 (CK), with the occurrence of many arctic-alpine and endemic species, was chosen for a case study. The analyses were based on a dataset of 37,204 phytosociological relevés from the Slovak Vegetation Database. The traditional classification of the class CK, based on cluster analyses, was reproduced satisfactorily by means of formalised classification, based on the formal definitions created by the Cocktail method together with the frequency-positive fidelity index affiliation. Unequivocal assignment criteria for all eight associations of both alliances [Oxytropido-Elynion Br.-Bl. (1948) 1949 and Festucion versicoloris Krajina 1933] of the class CK were formulated. The formal delimitations followed the traditional ones very well. It was demonstrated that the results of applying the formal definitions created on the basis of a large, geographically stratified dataset capturing the occurrence of all vegetation types in Slovakia were highly similar in comparison with the traditional classification based on the results of cluster analysis. The reliability and the pros and cons of the expert system are also discussed.