Association (ecology)

The association is the basic unit of the phytosociological classification system by Josias Braun- Blanquet. It denotes a certain kind of plant community composition, uniform physiognomy and similar site conditions. Each association has a very specific types of structure ( a so-called characteristic species or species group combination ). These occur at characteristic growing sites only under certain environmental conditions. One way through which the considered plant community from all others, is called characteristic species or Kennart this association.

In the syntaxonomy ( the taxonomy used in plant sociology) is the name of an association of one or two characteristically designed types that are provided with the suffix "- etum " such as Hordelymo Fagetum (hair barley Buchenwald), with the character species forest barley ( Hordelymus europaeus) and Baneberry ( Actaea spicata ).

To ensure the identification of certain described and taxonomically aggregated associations, the Association name nor the author of the first description will be added such as Hordelymo European Fagetum sylvatici ( Tx. 1937) Kuhn 1937 em. Jahn 1972.

In analogy to the rules in the style name of the plant, in cases where an association was first classified differently in the system, set the name of the first author in parentheses, and the name of the newly added categorizing author. Special rules apply to the spelling or the wording of new companies based on the material of others. In this specific example is: Reinhold Tüxen has the wood barley Buchenwald in 1937 described as Fagetum boreoatlanticum elymetosum European, so as subassociation a broad beech forest in Northern Germany first ( " Tx. "). A little later named Karl Kuhn in a paper on the Neckar area the same forest community as an association in Elymo European Fagetum sylvaticae to. Gisela Jahn altered in a paper on the Eifel the scope of the association (retired: " emendavit " emended ). As the eponymous forest barley has now been renamed europaeus in Hordelymus and this name was used in all relevant recent publications, the name was changed as " nomen mutatum " from " Elymo Fagetum " to " Hordelymo Fagetum ". The two-digit years for publication data often used before 2000 (ie " 37 " instead of " 1937" ) were common in plant sociological jargon of the 20th century; their use is not recommended in the International Code of phytosociological nomenclature ( ICPN ).

If we assumed that the characteristic species of this association has only a very small amplitude location, it is also very close location with amplitude, replaced this ( at otherwise constant species composition ), by another type (or several ). The more varied the location, the more the species composition will change until eventually disappear and the types with some additional site amplitude. Exactly these types have the previous associations (which were characterized by the various character types ) in common. By means of this type, or types, other associations have now to a group of similar associations, combine the dressing. Leave any associations in an order to summarize orders again. Within a class