Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/27691
Title: | Overview of plot-based vegetation classification approaches within Australia |
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Contributor(s): | Gellie, Nicholas J H (author); Hunter, John T (author) ; Benson, John S (author); Kirkpatrick, Jamie B (author); Cheal, David C (author); McCreery, Kelli (author); Brocklehurst, Peter (author) |
Publication Date: | 2018-05-01 |
Early Online Version: | 2017-12-15 |
DOI: | 10.1127/phyto/2017/0173 |
Handle Link: | https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/27691 |
Abstract: | We review vascular plant plot survey data, plot-based terrestrial vegetation classification protocols and schema by state and bioregions across Australia, discussing recent regional approaches in States and bioregions. A high degree of inconsistency exists in vegetation classification methods and management of plot data across jurisdictions and Australia currently lacks a unified national vegetation plot database, vegetation plot-recording protocols and agreed thematic outputs for classification. Broad-scale classifications were developed largely to support vegetation mapping based on remote sensing of image patterns. Since the 1970s, plot datasets from well-sampled regions have been subjected to a range of analyses (sometimes numerical) producing finer-scaled but idiosyncratic classifications. There are robust numerical classifications for less than 5% of the Australian continent. In poorly sampled and plot-free regions, vegetation classification has focussed on expert description or hybrid approaches using patchy quantitative outputs where they exist. A rigorous quantitative continental regional to local scale approach to classification will not be possible until major data gaps are filled. Additionally, the impact of Australia’s inconsistent rainfall on species composition and abundance in analyses of combined datasets requires careful consideration. Given that vegetation classification is integral to Australian biodiversity laws and regulations, there would be benefits in extending quantitative plot coverage to data-poor areas, encouraging cross jurisdictional co-operation of classification procedures, promoting the use of comparable methodologies and sampling under different disturbance and climatic regimes. The development of a consistent vegetation classification across Australia will also require inter-state co-operation, higher standards of plot data curation and plant taxa nomenclature, agreed nation-wide classification protocols and a scientifically defensible hierarchical classification that should integrate with the International Vegetation Classification (IVC). |
Publication Type: | Journal Article |
Source of Publication: | Phytocoenologia, 48(2), p. 251-272 |
Publisher: | Gebrueder Borntraeger Verlagsbuchhandlung |
Place of Publication: | Germany |
ISSN: | 2363-7153 0340-269X |
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: | 050202 Conservation and Biodiversity 050209 Natural Resource Management 069999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified |
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: | 410401 Conservation and biodiversity 410406 Natural resource management |
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: | 960805 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity at Regional or Larger Scales 960999 Land and Water Management of Environments not elsewhere classified 960899 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity of Environments not elsewhere classified |
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: | 180203 Coastal or estuarine biodiversity 189999 Other environmental management not elsewhere classified |
Peer Reviewed: | Yes |
HERDC Category Description: | C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal |
Publisher/associated links: | https://www.schweizerbart.de/papers/phyto/detail/48/88309/Overview_of_plot_based_vegetation_classification_a?af=crossref |
Appears in Collections: | Journal Article School of Environmental and Rural Science |
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