North European Approaches to Classification

Abstract

In the four Scandinavian countries — Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland — and the four Baltic countries-Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — vegetation study and the development of classifications have proceeded along a number of paths. There are, however, linkages among the several schools of vegetation science in the Scandinavian and Baltic area, because of which Whittaker (1962) grouped them together in a ‘Northern Tradition.’ The leading plant geographers and phytocoenologists of these countries, e.g. Warming and Raunkiaer in Denmark, Post, Sernander, Fries, and Du Rietz in Sweden, Nordhagen and Dahl in Norway, Cajander in Finland, and Lippmaa in Estonia have to a considerable extent influenced vegetation study not only in Northern Europe but, in numerous cases, on a broader scale. On the role of these North-European naturalists in vegetation studies Whittaker (1962: 38) comments, ‘The magnitude of the contribution of the smaller nations at the Scandinavian and Baltic area (and Switzerland) is one of the striking features of the history of ecology as a whole.’