Book review
Reviews
Fischer, Anton; Bruelheide, Helge; Remy, Dominique; Schwabe, Angelika
Phytocoenologia Band 35 Heft 2-3 (2005), p. 707 - 712
published: Aug 26, 2005
DOI: 10.1127/0340-269X/2005/0035-0707
ArtNo. ESP024003572018, Price: 29.00 €
Abstract
ISBN 91-88716-27-9. The boreal zone is the largest forest vegetation zone of the world, and it is the only vegetation zone which spans the world more or less continuously. As an extensive forest area it is of ecological as well as of economical (timber resource) importance not only for the countries situated in the boreal zone (Scandinavian countries, Russia, USA, Canada) but also for the whole world. A book dealing with such an important part of our ecoenvironment is of general importance and attracts the interest of vegetation ecologists. The main focus of the book is syntaxonomy. So, a title like “Syntaxonomy of circumboreal coniferous forests” would describe much better what is presented in the book. Nevertheless, within this narrower frame the book gives a very detailed and useful insight into the state of the art of syntaxonomical and phytogeographical research in boreal forests worldwide. The book originates from a workshop “Vegetation Classification and Phytogeography of Circumboreal Coniferous Forests”, held in Freising/Germany in summer 2001 in the frame of the 44th Symposium of the International Association of Vegetation Science. The main purpose of that workshop was to facilitate international cooperation towards a phytosociological overview of boreal and mountain coniferous forests. It stimulated a fruitful discussion between the participants, leading to new ideas as well as concepts for new papers. The presented book is a successful outcome of this process. For the first time it brings together phytosociological information on this vegetation type from the Austrian Alps, Central Europe, Yakutia, the Far East, British Columbia, American Northwest as well as the Rocky Mountains, using the same “phytosociological language”, or with the words of the editors: “The Braun-Blanquet syntaxonomy can indeed serve as a common platform for different approaches which used to dominate vegetation surveys in different parts of the northern hemisphere“. It becomes obvious that, despite of the broad spectrum of site conditions realised in this large area, there is a significant number of taxa Ð genera and especially species (!) Ð which are present all over the area allowing to integrate most of the forests in a circumboreal class Vaccinio-Piceetea. In a first section Spribille & Chytry review the vegetation surveys in the circumboreal coniferous forests. Although rather short, this section is the essential link connecting the following case studies (vegetation analyses and descriptions) and gives some important general information on the history and the geographical context of the work which has been done up to now. The references summarize the most important literature published on circumboreal forest vegetation. Although not situated in the core centre of circumboreal forests, the Alps were one of the first areas where this forest type was analysed. Exner, Willner & Grabherr present a modern numerical analysis (classification and ordination) of the coniferous forests of the Austrian Alps, based on more than 3. 000 relevés. It can be shown, that numerical data analysis lead to clusters which on higher levels correspond rather well with vegetation units already described; on the association level, however, several units cannot be reproduced. As a methodological result numerical data analysis cannot replace the tradi-DOI: 10. 1127/0340-269X/2005/0035-07070340-269X/05/0035-0707 $ 1. 50 ” 2005 Gebrüder Borntraeger, D-14129 Berlin · D-70176 Stuttgart 708 Reviews tional syntaxonomic procedure, but it offers a valuable additional tool, especially as it helps to define syntaxonomic units in a reproducible way. About 20. 000 relevés from the eastern Alps, the Western Carpathians, and the Bohemian Massif in Central Europe have been analysed by Chytry, Exner, Hrivnak, Ujhazy, Valachovic & Willner, with view to the context-dependency of diagnostic species. The authors are able to demonstrate that the syntaxonomical indicator values of species depend to a certain degree on the context, that means the underlying data sets and the comparisons. This is an outcome of general importance, since diagnostic species groups should be used more carefully in future. The following four sections are phytosociological descriptions of boreal forest communities, based on already published and/or new relevé material. A lot of new associations are described for the first time and Ð in order to create regional classification schemes Ð also higher taxa (mostly alliances). The presented surveys of regional boreal forest vegetation units outline the broad site spectrum and high diversity of forest types in the boreal zone. Ð Ermakov, Cherosov & Gogoleva open up a view of the ultracontinental boreal forests of Yakutia with the dominating tree species Larix cajanderi and Pinus sylvestris. Besides the description of 5 new associations (based on 50 relevés) the presentation of site conditions and corresponding species assemblages and stand structures are very informative. The differentiation of two classes (Vaccinio-Piceetea and Rhytidio-Laricetea), however, needs a deeper discussion. Ð Picea jezoensis-forests of the Far East (Russia and Japan) are described by Krestov & Nakamura both based on recent and published (since 1932) relevés. Vaccinio-Piceetea is the class which encloses all associations (9 of them newly described). Ð Mountain forests of British Columbia and the American Northwest are analysed by Spribille. Using a data base of more than 500 relevés a new classification is outlined for this region (several new taxa including association and alliance levels are described for the first time). The question whether all these forests belong to one class (Vaccinio -Piceetea) is intensively discussed. The answer is not definitively given, a modified class concept of Vaccionio-Piceetea is demanded. Ð A similar approach is used by Stachurska-Swakon & Spribille to analyse forests of the Rocky Mountains. These forests close to the southern border of the boreal zone in North America bear only week resemblance to Vaccinio-Piceetea forests. The area of boreal forests is not homogeneously covered by case studies in this book. Nevertheless, characteristic sections of the boreal zone are presented, some of the recently most active scientists in the field of boreal forest syntaxonomy and phytogeography act as authors, and most of the relevant literature seems to be considered. Some of the basic problems on the way to a worldwide comparison of vegetation data from these forests become obvious: differences in botanical nomenclature (e. g. narrow or wide species concept), methodological differences in recording vegetation (also in the frame of Braun-Blanquet approach). Nevertheless: this is a milestone in developing such a global survey. The tables and figures presented in this volume are useful. However, they are sometimes too small (pp. 36 and 37) or of bad print quality (p. 84). Although the papers had already been published in Folia Geobotanica, it will be helpful for many readers to have them not only as separate reprints but also as a handy book. Conclusion: The book is necessary for all scientists working in the field of syntaxonomy of boreal forests, and informative for everyone who is interested in the phytogeography of the world: a stimulating combination of classical phytosociology and modern classification approaches. Anton Fischer, Freising
Résumé
Phytocoenologia 35 (2Ð3) 707Ð712 BerlinÐStuttgart, August 26, 2005 Reviews Chytry, M. & Spribille, T. (eds. ): Vegetation of Circumboreal Coniferous Forests. Ð Special Features in Vegetation Science 18. 184 pp., 2002. Opulus Press, Uppsala. € 33. Ð.