Classification of the European marsh vegetation (Phragmito‐Magnocaricetea) to the association level

Abstract

Aims To create a comprehensive, consistent and unequivocal phytosociological classification of European marsh vegetation of the class Phragmito‐Magnocaricetea. Location Europe. Methods We applied the Cocktail method to a European data set of 249,800 vegetation plots. We identified the main purposes and attributes on which to base the classification, defined assignment rules for vegetation plots, and prepared formal definitions for all the associations, alliances and orders of the class Phragmito‐Magnocaricetea using formal logic. Each formula consists of the combination of “functional species groups”, cover values of individual species, and in the case of high‐rank syntaxa also of “discriminating species groups” created using the Group Improvement (GRIMP) method. Results The European Phragmito‐Magnocaricetea vegetation was classified into 92 associations grouped in 11 alliances and six orders. New syntaxa (previously invalidly published according to the International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature) were introduced: Bolboschoeno maritimi‐Schoenoplection tabernaemontani, Glycerio maximae‐Sietum latifolii, Glycerio notatae‐Veronicetum beccabungae, Schoenoplectetum corymbosi and Thelypterido palustris‐Caricetum elongatae. Based on a critical revision, some other syntaxa were rejected or excluded from the class Phragmito‐Magnocaricetea. Conclusions This work provides the first consistent classification of the class Phragmito‐Magnocaricetea at the European scale, which is an important tool for nature conservation. Our classification largely respects previously existing concepts of syntaxa, but it also proposes modifications to the recently published EuroVegChecklist. This work also provides a protocol that can be used for extending the current classification to new syntaxa and geographical regions.

EUNIS Habitat Classification: Expert system, characteristic species combinations and distribution maps of European habitats

“…Mediterranean Lygeum spartum grasslands (Marcenò et al, 2019) and marshes (Landucci et al, 2020). Other expert systems have a more restricted geographic scope (see an overview with source codes at http://www.sci.muni.cz/botan y/juice/ ?idm=25).…”

Pladias Database of the Czech flora and vegetation

“…Newer information on the Czech vegetation published after 2013 (e.g. Dřevojan et al 2016onwards, Willner et al 2019, Landucci et al 2020 is not included, but an update is planned in the future. Each species name in the lists is hyperlinked to information on this species on the Pladias portal.…”

Formalized Hierarchically Nested Expert System for Classification of Mesic and Wet Grasslands in Poland

“…The majority of the previously proposed ES for classification of various types of vegetation enabled the assignment of relevés at one level only, most often at the association or alliance level. There are only a few examples of ES that were created for classification of at least two hierarchical levels (Gholizadeh et al, 2020;Janišová & Dúbravková, 2010;Landucci et al, 2020;Swacha et al, 2016). The necessity of developing an ES that includes definitions of syntaxa representing all principal hierarchical levels is needed considering that a relatively large portion of vegetation plots could not be classified at the association level.…”

“…However, the two-level classification system needs to be developed into a full hierarchical system because a large number of relevés could not be classified even at the alliance level (Janišová & Dúbravková, 2010). A recently developed classification system for the European marsh vegetation demonstrated the possibility of creating a multilevel ES (Landucci et al, 2020).…”