What are the organismic elements of vegetation science?

Gabriele Berg, Christian Berg, Jörg Ewald, Carsten Hobohm

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The recent inclusion of communities of planktonic algae and microbial crusts into the system of European vegetation types is critically discussed. It is argued that formal vegetation classification should be limited to plant taxa represented by macroscopic individuals within a plot, including all vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, charophyta and macrophytic chlorophyta, rhodophyta or phaeophyta. In the interest of comparability and methodological stringency, all microscopic algae and all prokaryotes, including cyanobacteria, and the habitats dominated by such microorganisms (e.g. plankton, biofilms and crusts), should be excluded from vegetation classification.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)341-344
JournalJournal of Vegetation Science
Volume21
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018

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