How a national vegetation classification can help ecological research and management
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
By: Scott Franklin, Patrick Comer, Julie Evens, Exequiel Ezcurra, Don Faber-Langendoen, Janet Franklin, Michael Jennings, Carmen Josse, Chris Lea, Orie Loucks, Esteban Muldavin, Robert K. Peet, Serguei Ponomarenko, David G. Roberts, Ayzik Solomeshch, Todd Keeler-Wolf, James Van Kley, Alan Weakley, Alexa McKerrow, Marianne Burke, and Carol Spurrier
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Abstract
The elegance of classification lies in its ability to compile and systematize various terminological conventions and masses of information that are unattainable during typical research projects. Imagine a discipline without standards for collection, analysis, and interpretation; unfortunately, that describes much of 20th-century vegetation ecology. With differing methods, how do we assess community dynamics over decades, much less centuries? How do we compare plant communities from different areas? The need for a widely applied vegetation classification has long been clear. Now imagine a multi-decade effort to assimilate hundreds of disparate vegetation classifications into one common classification for the US. In this letter, we introduce the US National Vegetation Classification (USNVC; www.usnvc.org) as a powerful tool for research and conservation, analogous to the argument made by Schimel and Chadwick (2013) for soils. The USNVC provides a national framework to classify and describe vegetation; here we describe the USNVC and offer brief examples of its efficacy.
Suggested Citation
Franklin, S., Comer, P., Evens, J., Ezcurra, E., Faber-Langendoen, D., Franklin, J., Jennings, M., Josse, C., Lea, C., Loucks, O., Muldavin, E., Peet, R.K., Ponomarenko, S., Roberts, D.G., Solomeshch, A., Keeler-Wolf, T., Van Kley, J., Weakley, A., McKerrow, A., Burke, M., Spurrier, C., 2015, How a national vegetation classification can help ecological research and management: Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, v. 13, no. 4, p. 185-186, https://doi.org/10.1890/15.WB.006.
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | How a national vegetation classification can help ecological research and management |
| Series title | Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment |
| DOI | 10.1890/15.WB.006 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Year Published | 2015 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Ecological Society of America |
| Contributing office(s) | Core Science Analytics, Synthesis, and Libraries, GAP Analysis Project |
| Description | 2 p. |
| First page | 185 |
| Last page | 186 |