ANALYSIS OF THE GRASSLANDS VEGETATION ZONE.

Grasslands, as specific components of the hill area from the West of Romania, belong, according to latitudinal and altitudinal zonation, to different vegetation zones, in concordance with the environmental conditions and implicitly with their own vegetal formations. Grassland classification in a certain vegetation zone offers very important information on biocenoses and biotopes, and also on its „agronomic” characteristics (productivity, grazing capacity, maintenance, etc.). This study may be considered a theoretical and practical model of identification, delimitation, classification and analysis of grassland areas according to characteristics and environmental factors, with the help of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Thus, relying on satellite images, thematic maps and direct observations in field, we will analyze the environmental factors that are „responsible” for the typological differentiation of grasslands, the repartition per altitudinal levels, the percentage of each vegetation zone within the area studied and the graphic and cartographic results obtained will be „reused” in further analyses and assessments. Successive to the researches performed, we may draw the conclusion that most grassland areas are classified in the silvo-steppe and nemoral zones, suggesting the complexity of the vegetal cover and implicitly differentiations in the technical approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]