Flora and Fungi: Composition and Function

Approaches to classify vegetation are numerous but can be divided into two major groups: floristic approaches and physiognomic/structure-based approaches (Beard 1973), both leading to equal results when compared (Brocque and Buckney 1997; Webb et al. 1970; Werger and Sprangers 1982). Floristic systems (e.g. Braun-Blanquet 1928) base on plant species and species composition to classify vegetation within a hierarchical system. They are well established in temperate zones with their surveyable number of plant species (e.g. Dierschke 1994, Sautter 2003). The higher plant diversity in the tropics is well known and especially true for our investigation area (Henderson et al. 1991; Jørgensen and León-Yánez 1999). All floristic surveys in the tropics have to focus on some selected taxa (e.g. Kessler 2002; Krömer et al. 2006), functional groups like trees (e.g. Condit et al. 2002; Phillips et al. 2003) or vascular epiphytes (e.g. Werner et al. 2005) or create a flora for a locally distinct area (e.g. Mori et al. 1997, 2002; Ribeiro et al. 1999). Physiognomic approaches are based on structural parameters of parts of plants (e.g. leaves) or whole plants (e.g. architecture) and can be used without a detailed knowledge of the local flora. The most important structure-based classification systems by Ellenberg and Mueller-Dombois (1967) and Holdridge et al. (1971) are widely used to name vegetation units (formations) of bioms and sub-bioms worldwide (e.g. UNESCO 1973). However, these classifications are not adapted to smaller areas, especially where human influence has largely disturbed the natural vegetation and replaced it by vegetation units, where structural characteristics appear which were not known before (lopped trees, grazed bushes, plantations with one species all of the same age). Several structural approaches are applicable on smaller scales but none of them is useable in the investigation area due to improper characters (Orshan 1986), or the usage of floristic parameters (Halloy 1990; Parsons 1975) or due to the restrictiveness in classic forestry parameters (Condit 1998; Proctor et al. 1988). For a detailed comparison see Paulsch (2002) and Paulsch and Czimczik (2001).