Typology of territorial units of vegetation for the purposes of large-scale mapping (the Kolguev Island as an example)

Abstract

A typological scheme of territorial units of vegetation (TUV) developed on the basis of the large-scale map of theKolguev Island is presented. Four basic rank typological units (division, class, group and type) define TUV positions in the hierarchical system of vegetation cover. The concepts of diagnostic syntaxon and combination of diagnostic syntaxa that occur exclusively or primarily within these typological units are introduced. Prodromus of the Kolguev Island vegetation consists of 42 syntaxa (association / subassociation / type of community). 38 types of TUV from 22 groups (8 homogeneous and 14 heterogeneous – serial and ecological ranks, complexes and combinations), assigned to 15 classes and 3 divisions are allocated on the vegetation map in 1 : 50 000 scale. The categories of different rank can be used as dynamic elements of the map legend. This approach gives us a possibility to combine the syntaxonomic diversity of plant communities and typology of TUV.