Classification of the Mediterranean lowland to submontane pine forest vegetation

Warning

This publication doesn't include Faculty of Sports Studies. It includes Faculty of Science. Official publication website can be found on muni.cz.
Authors

BONARI Gianmaria FERNANDEZ-GONZALEZ Federico COBAN Suleyman MONTEIRO-HENRIQUES Tiago BERGMEIER Erwin DIDUKH Yakiv P. XYSTRAKIS Fotios ANGIOLINI Claudia CHYTRÝ Kryštof ACOSTA Alicia T. R. AGRILLO Emiliano COSTA Jose C. DANIHELKA Jiří HENNEKENS Stephan M. KAVGACI Ali KNOLLOVÁ Ilona NETO Carlos S. SAGLAM Coskun SKVORC Zeljko TICHÝ Lubomír CHYTRÝ Milan

Year of publication 2021
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Applied Vegetation Science
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Science

Citation
Web https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12544
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12544
Keywords biogeography; classification; expert system; forest; Mediterranean Basin; phytosociology; pine; Pinetea halepensis; Pinus; Quercetea ilicis; vegetation classification; vegetation-plot database
Description Aim: Vegetation types of Mediterranean thermophilous pine forests dominated by Pinus brutia, Pinus halepensis, Pinus pinaster and Pinus pinea were studied in various areas. However, a comprehensive formal vegetation classification of these forests based on a detailed data analysis has never been developed. Our aim is to provide the first broad-scale classification of these pine forests based on a large data set of vegetation plots. Location: Southern Europe, North Africa, Levant, Anatolia, Crimea and the Caucasus. Methods: We prepared a data set of European and Mediterranean pine forest vegetation plots. We selected 7,277 plots dominated by the cold-sensitive Mediterranean pine species Pinus brutia, Pinus halepensis, Pinus pinaster and Pinus pinea. We classified these plots using TWINSPAN, interpreted the ecologically and biogeographically homogeneous TWINSPAN clusters as alliances, and developed an expert system for automatic vegetation classification at the class, order and alliance levels. Results: We described Pinetea halepensis as a new class for the Mediterranean lowland to submontane pine forests, included in the existing Pinetalia halepensis order, and distinguished 12 alliances of native thermophilous pine forests, including four newly described and three informal groups merging supposedly native stands and old-established plantations. The main gradients in species composition reflect elevational vegetation belts and the west-east, and partly north-south, biogeographical differences. Both temperature and precipitation seasonality co-vary with these gradients. Conclusions: We provide the first formal classification at the order and alliance levels for all the Mediterranean thermophilous pine forests based on vegetation-plot data. This classification includes traditional syntaxa, which have been critically revised, and a new class and four new alliances. We also outline a methodological workflow that might be useful for other vegetation classification syntheses. The expert system, which is jointly based on pine dominance and species composition, is a tool for applying this classification in research and nature conservation survey, monitoring and management.
Related projects:

You are running an old browser version. We recommend updating your browser to its latest version.

More info