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- Title
New Zealand's plot-based classification of vegetation.
- Authors
Wiser, Susan K.; De Cáceres, Miquel
- Abstract
Aims: The classification approach presented here was developed to provide a national-scale quantitative plot- based vegetation classification of New Zealand. Methods: The classification approach consists of two hierarchically nested levels: alliances and associations. Forested (forests and shrublands) and non-forested (herbaceous) vegetation were considered two distinct consistent classification sections, differentiated by the use of cover abundance values versus relative species ranks to define vegetation types respectively. Noise clustering was used to define vegetation classes. After defuzzification of fuzzy memberships, a given plot record either (1) belongs to one vegetation type only; (2) is deemed transitional; or (3) is left unassigned (i.e. belongs to the noise, outlier, class). Results and Conclusions: The main advantage of this model is that it enables extensions of the classification by recognizing that some plots in the current classification are best left unassigned until enough data are available to robustly define a vegetation type. The system now includes 29 alliances and 79 associations of forest/shrubland vegetation, and 25 alliances and 56 associations of non-forested vegetation. Although recent, the classification system has been adopted for both basic and applied research, the latter often contracted by land management and policy agencies.
- Subjects
NEW Zealand; VEGETATION &; climate; VEGETATION classification; AGRICULTURE; LAND cover; VEGETATION surveys; FUZZY clustering technique
- Publication
Phytocoenologia, 2018, Vol 48, Issue 2, p153
- ISSN
0340-269X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1127/phyto/2017/0180