Phytosociology
Abstract
Phytosociology is a branch of vegetation science that deals with current plant assemblages at a resolution of vegetation stands. Its principal goals are the delimitation and characterization of vegetation types based on the complete floristic composition of vegetation plots. Plots are placed to minimize within‐plot heterogeneity and maximize between‐plot variability; typical sizes are 4–25 m 2 in herbaceous and 50–400 m 2 in woody vegetation. Plot records (relevés) consist of header data (locality, environment, structure) and a complete species list with cover values. Using means of unsupervised, semisupervised, and supervised classification, phytosociological classification (syntaxonomy) aims at a single, hierarchical, multipurpose classification system, based on floristic similarity. Syntaxon names are derived from typical plant species according to internationally agreed rules. Recently, millions of phytosociological relevés have become available in vegetation‐plot databases that open new avenues for basic and applied research because they contain true species co‐occurrence data.
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The underlying concept of phytosociology is that discrete groups of plant species can be designated that occupy a similar ecological position and tend to co-occur.
“The underlying concept of phytosociology is that discrete groups of plant species can be designated that occupy a similar ecological position and tend to co-occur.”
From Fine-scale habitat requirements of the pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis): Implications for rainforest conservation in West Africa (2026) · cites this paper as Dengler, 2017
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Kempkes, J. B., Si, Y., van ’t Zelfde, M., Digbeu, H. E. O., Bogui, E. B., Ouattara, K., Koné, I., & Paris, M. (2026) · Global Ecology and Conservation · doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2026.e04346
- Authors
- Dengler, J.
- Affiliations
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Dengler, Jürgen
- ORCID
- Dengler, Jürgen
- Venue
- International Encyclopedia of Geography
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2017-03-06
- Pages
- 1-6
- OpenAlex
- W4256166032
- Cited by
- 19
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1
- Type
- reference entry
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- International Encyclopedia of Geography (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Botany and Plant Ecology Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Plant Ecology and Soil Science
- Keywords
- phytosociology, syntaxonomy, vegetation classification, vegetation types, phytosociological relevés, floristic composition, vegetation plots, species co-occurrence, unsupervised classification
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