Plant Community Nomenclature

Plant communities and associations are named on the basis of dominant species in the various layers.

Layers are subdivisions of vegetation within a plant community or association based on height (Figure 1).

Plant Community Nomenclature

Plant communities and associations are named on the basis of dominant species in the various layers.

Layers are subdivisions of vegetation within a plant community or association based on height (Figure 1).

They are placed into the categories of trees, shrubs, forbs and grasses.

Plant Community Characteristics

Plant communities have 8 important characteristics:

a. Composition f. Ecotones

b. Structure g. Productivity

c. Dominance h. Influence

d. Physiognomy

e. Indicators

Factors Affecting Plant Community Distribution

There are six basic factors that control plant distribution:

a. Edaphic

b. Biotic

c. Pyric (fire)

d. Climatic

e. Plagic (man)

f. Chronologic

Plant Community Classification

There are seven general steps involved in plant community classification:

1. Review the existing literature on the vegetation which will be classified.

2. Obtain aerial photographs of the area.

3. On the basis of aerial photographs and visual examination, delimit the possible plant communities (use what appear to be dominant species in each community for naming).

General steps involved in plant community classification cont.

4. Transfer the data to a topographic map.5. Stratify each community and sample for

plant cover and frequency (avoid ecotones in sampling).

6. Evaluate the degree of association between communities.

7. Rename and remap the communities on the basis of analysis; shade ecotonal areas.