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Aims: Oak–hornbeam forests and related vegetation types (phytosociological order Carpinetalia betuli) are widespread in temperate western Eurasia. However, their national classification systems are poorly compatible, and a broad‐scale classification based on numerical analyses is lacking. Therefore, we aimed to establish a unified formalized classification system based on a large data set of vegetation plots covering the entire range of these forests. Location: Europe, Anatolia, Caucasus and northern Iran. Methods: We compiled a data set of 15,817 vegetation plots from the European Vegetation Archive and the Hyrcanian Forest Vegetation Database, using the formal definition of the EUNIS habitat type T1E Carpinus and Quercus mesic deciduous forest. We classified the data set using TWINSPAN. Biogeographically and ecologically similar plot clusters were merged into oak–hornbeam forest types, which were interpreted as alliances. We also developed expert systems for automatically classifying vegetation at the alliance level for both the EuroVegChecklist (EVC) system and the revised classification. In addition, we calculated ordinations to show the major gradients in the species composition of the data set. Results: We present a revised classification system of the order Carpinetalia betuli with nine alliances, including basic descriptions of their species composition, distribution, ecology and syntaxonomy. The analyses largely supported the biogeographic concept of classification, analogous to EVC. Compared to EVC, we recognized an additional alliance Physospermo verticillati‐Quercion cerridis (southern Italy) but found no support for the alliances Astrantio‐Carpinion, Erythronio‐Carpinion and Scillo‐Quercion. The greatest difference in species composition was found between the southern and northern‐northeastern Carpinetalia types. Expert systems for the revised classification system (~89% of plots classified) and the EVC system (~72%) are also included. Conclusions: We provide the first comprehensive overview of alliances of the order Carpinetalia betuli across its whole distribution range. The associated expert systems allow consistent application of the classification of these forests in nature conservation, habitat monitoring, and biodiversity and ecological research.We provide the first formal classification for oak–hornbeam forests and related vegetation types (phytosociological order Carpinetalia betuli) across Europe and adjacent areas. It includes both traditional and revised classifications of this vegetation. Furthermore, we developed expert systems for vegetation‐plot assignment to vegetation types, which can be applied in research and biodiversity conservation, monitoring and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The floodplain of the rivers Danube, March/Morava and Thaya/Dyje in eastern Austria and western Slovakia harbours a great diversity of meadows, reed swamps and sedge-bed communities. However, the grasslands along the Danube have not been adequately addressed by any study up to now, and a transnational revision of the alluvial grasslands is completely lacking. In this third part of a series focusing on the syntaxonomy of the Pannonian grasslands of Austria, we present a detailed classification of the grassland and marsh vegetation of the Danube and March-Thaya floodplain. We compiled all available relevés from the study area belonging to the classes Phragmito-Magnocaricetea, Molinio-Arrhenatheretea and Festuco-Brometea. In total, our data set comprised 2119 relevés, of which 355 were from Slovakia. We conducted a TWINSPAN classification and, based on a provisional syntaxonomic interpretation of the clusters, assigned all relevés to classes, orders, alliances and associations using the total cover of the diagnostic species in each relevé as the assignment criterion. We identified 42 associations and five provisional communities belonging to 14 alliances. Our revision includes substantial changes to previous overviews, in particular regarding the alluvial grasslands of the March-Thaya floodplain. We merge Lathyro palustris-Gratioletum, Gratiolo-Caricetum suzae, Cnidio-Violetum pumilae, Serratulo-Plantaginetum altissimae and "Silaetum pratensis" into only two associations (Gratiolo-Caricetum suzae and Cnidio-Violetum pumilae, alliance Deschampsion), which are differentiated along the moisture gradient. The Ophioglosso-Caricetum tomentosae is revealed as a geographical vicariant of the Cnidio-Violetum pumilae, replacing the latter along the Danube. The Agropyro-Alopecuretum pratensis is newly reported for Austria. The mesic Festuca rupicola grasslands along the March/Morava (previously named "Serratulo-Festucetum commutatae") are included in the Colchico-Festucetum rupicolae (Cirsio-Brachypodion). Ranunculo bulbosi-Arrhenatheretum, Pastinaco-Arrhenatheretum, Festuco rupicolae-Brometum and Polygalo-Brachypodietum (the latter in a new subass. selaginelletosum helveticae) are confirmed as widespread grassland types in the Danube floodplain, and the Teucrio botryos-Andropogonetum (Festucion valesiacae) is split into two subassociations. Moreover, we report four grassland types dominated by Elymus repens and Calamagrostis epigejos, provisionally treated as rankless communities, which have been neglected by all previous authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fourth edition of the International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature (ICPN) was prepared by the Steering Committee of the IAVS Working Group for Phytosociological Nomenclature (GPN). The edition consists of 14 Definitions, 7 Principles, 53 Articles, and 7 Appendices. When compared with the previous edition, the main amendments are: (a) the acceptance of electronic publications (Art. 1); (b) the introduction of binding decisions (Definition XIV, Principle II, Articles 1, 2b, 3c, 29b, 40, 42, 44, Appendices 6 and 7); (c) the mandatory use of the English or Latin terminology for syntaxonomic novelties (Definition II, Principle II, Articles 3d and 3i); (d) the introduction of autonyms for the main ranks when the corresponding secondary ranks are created (Articles 13b and 24); (e) the automatic correction of the taxon names (name‐giving taxa) used in the names of syntaxa in accordance with the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN) (Article 44); (f) the possibility to mutate the name of a syntaxon in using other correct, alternative names for the name‐giving taxa (Article 45); (g) the introduction of inadequate names, a new category of rejected names (Definition V, Articles 43 through 45); and (h) the introduction of a conserved type (Definition XIII, Article 53). The fourth edition of ICPN was approved by the GPN on 25 May 2019 and becomes effectively binding on 1 January 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Report, three previously published nomenclatural proposals are discussed, and recommendations on acceptance or rejection of these proposals are provided. The proposals concern the following syntaxa: Berberidion Braun-Blanquet 1950, Aceretalia pseudoplatani Moor 1976 and Festucetalia valesiacae Braun-Blanquet et Tüxen ex Braun-Blanquet 1950. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The alliance is the basic unit of the EuroVegChecklist, and it often serves as the lowest rank in broad-scale vegetation surveys. However, there is hardly any literature about the concept and definition of this syntaxonomic rank, leading to uncertainty in its application. Here, I explore the original association concept of Braun-Blanquet, which was based on absolute character species, and I show that this concept is more or less identical with the units that we now call alliances. By also incorporating the concept of central syntaxa, I propose the following definition: "An alliance is a moderately broad vegetation unit that either has one or several absolute character taxa or that can be interpreted as the central alliance of an order." The one-to-one relationship between character taxa and vegetation units gives the latter a clear biogeographical and evolutionary meaning. Restrictions to the validity of character taxa - either to certain geographical areas or to physiognomic types - cause theoretical and practical problems and should be avoided. Possible exceptions are species with similar frequency in two formations or species introduced to other continents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A historical overview of the phytosociological method in Europe is presented. Some methodological and procedural differences in the application of the Braun-Blanquet approach, from the selection of the sampling plots to the assignment of relevés to existing or newly described units, are briefly compared. The main advantages and limitations of the phytosociological vegetation classification are reviewed and discussed, also in light of their applications for vegetation mapping and monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions Which are the main vegetation types of lowland hay meadows and pastures in Western and Central Europe? What are the main environmental gradients that drive patterns of species composition? Is it possible to classify these grasslands to phytosociological alliances that reflect management practices? Location Western and Central Europe (excluding the Alps and Carpathians). Methods A database of 21 400 vegetation plots of mesic grasslands across Western and Central Europe was compiled. After geographically stratified resampling, semi-supervised classification based on the K-means algorithm was applied to assign a subset of plots into 32 a priori association-level vegetation types and to search for new types within the subset of non-assigned plots. The vegetation plots assigned into the final vegetation types were submitted to another K-means classification to show the grouping into higher-level vegetation types. Results A total of 36 associations were distinguished in the resampled subset of 8277 vegetation plots and were grouped into four large groups: (1) eutrophic and intensively managed hay meadows and permanent pastures; (2) nutrient-rich grasslands developed from recently abandoned fields or managed under irregular practices of mowing and manuring; (3) non-eutrophic lowland and submontane hay meadows; (4) extensively managed pastures and Atlantic grazed hay meadows. A PCoA of the associations of these four groups showed that extensively managed pastures were floristically more similar to non-eutrophic hay meadows than to permanent intensively managed pastures, which was more obvious in the Atlantic region than in Central Europe. Species composition of the lowland hay meadows was clearly differentiated according to biogeographic sectors. Other floristic differences were related to climate, altitude, soil base status and topography. Conclusions This analysis challenges the traditional concept of mesic grassland alliances separating hay meadows from pastures. New classification should be based mainly on the differences in management intensity rather than in management practice. Consequently, nutrient-poor extensive pastures, which currently are not considered in the European Habitats Directive, should receive the same conservation attention as low-intensive hay meadows, because both types of vegetation can be equally species-rich and do not differ substantially in floristic composition from each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions What are the main floristic patterns in the Pannonian and western Pontic steppe grasslands? What are the diagnostic species of the major subdivisions of the class Festuco-Brometea (temperate Euro-Siberian dry and semi-dry grasslands)? Location Carpathian Basin (E Austria, SE Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, N Croatia and N Serbia), Ukraine, S Poland and the Bryansk region of W Russia. Methods We applied a geographically stratified resampling to a large set of relevés containing at least one indicator species of steppe grasslands. The resulting data set of 17 993 relevés was classified using the TWINSPAN algorithm. We identified groups of clusters that corresponded to the class Festuco-Brometea. After excluding relevés not belonging to our target class, we applied a consensus of three fidelity measures, also taking into account external knowledge, to establish the diagnostic species of the orders of the class. The original TWINSPAN divisions were revised on the basis of these diagnostic species. Results The TWINSPAN classification revealed soil moisture as the most important environmental factor. Eight out of 16 TWINSPAN groups corresponded to Festuco-Brometea. A total of 80, 32 and 58 species were accepted as diagnostic for the orders Brometalia erecti, Festucetalia valesiacae and Stipo-Festucetalia pallentis, respectively. In the further subdivision of the orders, soil conditions, geographic distribution and altitude could be identified as factors driving the major floristic patterns. Conclusions We propose the following classification of the Festuco-Brometea in our study area: (1) Brometalia erecti (semi-dry grasslands) with Scabioso ochroleucae-Poion angustifoliae (steppe meadows of the forest zone of E Europe) and Cirsio-Brachypodion pinnati (meadow steppes on deep soils in the forest-steppe zone of E Central and E Europe); (2) Festucetalia valesiacae (grass steppes) with Festucion valesiacae (grass steppes on less developed soils in the forest-steppe zone of E Central and E Europe) and Stipion lessingianae (grass steppes in the steppe zone); (3) Stipo-Festucetalia pallentis (rocky steppes) with Asplenio septentrionalis-Festucion pallentis (rocky steppes on siliceous and intermediate soils), Bromo-Festucion pallentis (thermophilous rocky steppes on calcareous soils), Diantho-Seslerion (dealpine Sesleria caerulea grasslands of the Western Carpathians) and Seslerion rigidae (dealpine Sesleria rigida grasslands of the Romanian Carpathians). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This annual Editorial of 2017 summarizes the developments of the journal Phytocoenologia in the two years following its re-launch in 2015. Both the Editorial Team and the topics and regions of publications are very diverse. Starting with 2015, Impact Factors and CiteScores profoundly improved compared to the previous years, which, together with some other measures, has rendered Phytocoenologia an increasingly attractive publication venue. Narrowing the scope of Phytocoenologia explicitly down to "vegetation survey and classification" was arguably one of the cornerstones of recent success. The bibliometric analyses have also allowed us to demonstrate that both in absolute numbers and with regard to the proportion of such papers, Phytocoenologia can now be considered the leading journal in the field of vegetation classification worldwide. The citation network of Phytocoenologia includes a wide array of journals, although many remain to be covered in the Web of Science, to the bibliometric disadvantage of Phytocoenologia. We shortly present the four Editors' Choice articles of 2016 and a selection of some other outstanding contributions of that volume. The Editors' Award 2016 goes to Rui B. Elias and colleagues for their combination of vegetation classification and distribution modelling to derive a map of the natural vegetation of the Azores. In conclusion, the Editors aim to provide a service to vegetation ecologists worldwide by maintaining and further improving the qualities of Phytocoenologia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Question: What is the variation in species composition of Central European semi-dry grasslands? Can we apply a training-and-test validation approach for identifying phytosociological associations which are floristically well defined in a broad geographic comparison; can we separate them from earlier described Associations with only a local validity? Location: A 1200 km long transect running along a gradient of increasing continentality from central Germany via Czech Republic, Slovakia, NE Austria, Hungary to NW Romania. Methods: Relevés with > 25% cover of Brachypodium pinnatum and/or Bromus erectus were geographically selected from a larger database. They were randomly split into two data sets, TRAINING and TEST, each with 422 relevés. Cluster analysis was performed for each data set on scores from significant principal coordinates. Different partitions of the TRAINING data set were validated on the TEST data set, using a new method based on the comparison of % frequencies of species occurrence in clusters. Clusters were characterized by statistically defined groups of diagnostic species and values of climatic variables. Results: Species composition changed along the NW-SE gradient and valid clusters were geographically well separated. Optimal partition level was at 11 clusters, six being valid: two clusters Germany and the Czech Republic corresponded to the Bromion erecti; two clusters from the Czech Republic and Hungary to the Cirsio-Brachypodion, and two clusters were transitional between these two alliances. Conclusion: The training-and-test validation method used in this paper proved to be efficient for discriminating between robust clusters, which are appropriate candidates for inclusion in the national or regional syntaxonomic overviews, and weak clusters, which are specific to the particular classification of the given data set. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]