608
Kočí, M. et al.
Fig. 1. Scheme of the Cocktail classification of relevés into
three vegetation units, followed by a similarity-based assign-
ment of unclassified relevés to these units. Circles denote the
boundaries of the three vegetation units X, Y and Z. Small
letters x, y, z and o are symbols for relevés distributed in a
vegetation continuum, different letters denoting their assign-
ment to the vegetation units X, Y, Z and non-assignment,
respectively. Underlined letters indicate the relevés assigned
to the vegetation units by Cocktail definitions, non-underlined
letters are the relevés assigned by calculating their similarity
to the vegetation units. A. Hierarchical approach of the earlier
studies, where vegetation unit X is defined first and has the
highest priority, while Z has the lowest priority; B. Non-
hierarchical approach used in this paper, with relevés that
occurred in the overlapping parts of the Cocktail definitions of
vegetation units being assigned using a similarity criterion.
priority and each of the next units included the defini-
tions of all the previously defined units in the negative
part of its definition (Fig. 1A). Such an approach, how-
ever, is unduly influenced by vegetation units from
which the classification starts. The new procedure pro-
posed in this paper solves the overlap issue by a similar-
ity-based assignment of the equivocally classified relevés
to one of the possible vegetation units (Fig. 1B). The
advantage of this procedure is that definitions of vegeta-
tion units are independent of the earlier defined units.
An important feature of the Cocktail method is that
some relevés which do not meet any of the association
definitions are not classified. Most of the unclassified
relevés are from vegetation stands that lack specialist
species, which could be used as diagnostic species of
associations. This feature is similar to the traditional
Braun-Blanquet approach, in which the researchers pref-
erably sample vegetation stands with specialized spe-
cies and often neglect stands composed mainly of
generalists. This makes the Cocktail method ideally
suited for classification of phytosociological data which
are biased towards vegetation stands with specialist
species. In traditional phytosociology, the stands with-
out specialist species are usually referred to as impover-
ished, atypical, initial, degraded, transitional, trunk or
basal communities. Kopecký & Hejný (1978) proposed
to assign these stands directly to higher syntaxa, such as
alliances, orders or classes. Although their approach has
been followed only in studies of synanthropic vegeta-
tion (Kopecký et al. 1995), it is applicable to any vegeta-
tion type. Using the Cocktail method, definitions of
higher syntaxa can be formed in a similar way as defini-
tions of associations, and relevés unassigned to the
associations can be assigned directly to the higher
syntaxa.
In vegetation mapping and other applications of
vegetation classification, however, it might be a disad-
vantage if some patches of a single stand were as-
signed to an association and others directly to higher
syntaxa. We propose a solution by calculating similar-
ity between associations and the relevés not belonging
to the associations according to Cocktail definitions.
Then, users of the classification will distinguish three
categories of relevés or vegetation stands (Fig. 1), in-
cluding those (1) belonging to the association, i.e. corre-
sponding to its Cocktail definition; (2) not belonging to
the association but related to it, i.e. not corresponding to
the Cocktail definition but being similar to the relevés
corresponding to this definition; and (3) not belonging
and not related to the association. If necessary, the
second category can be merged with the first for the
purposes of vegetation mapping. The distinction be-
tween the second and third category can be made in two
ways. The first option is defining a similarity threshold
that provides a criterion for relevés to be considered as
either related or unrelated to the association. The second
option, used in this paper, is calculation of similarities
between the relevé and each of predefined set of asso-
ciations, and subsequent assignment of the relevé to the
most similar association.
- Formalized reproduction of an expert-based phytosociological classification -
609
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206/99/1523 and MSM 143100010.
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Received 15 February 2002;
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App. 1. Brief description of the associations recognized in the expert-based classification (Kočí 2001).
1. Sphagno compacti-Molinietum caeruleae Wagnerová ex Berciková 1976 – species-poor chionophilous and hygrophilous
community dominated by Molinia caerulea, which occupies mostly leeward edges of cirques
2–3. Crepido-Calamagrostietum villosae (Zlatník 1925) Jeník 1961 and Sileno vulgaris-Calamagrostietum villosae Jeník et al. 1980
– closed grasslands dominated by Calamagrostis villosa, confined to leeward sites with dry, deep and nutrient-rich brown
alpine soils; the former association includes species-rich, the latter species-poor stands
4. Bistorto-Deschampsietum alpicolae (Zlatník 1928) Burešová 1976 – species-poor community of Deschampsia cespitosa and
Polygonum bistorta occupying shallow, wet depressions with long-lasting snow cover on the ridges and moderate slopes
above the timberline
5. Violo sudeticae-Deschampsietum cespitosae (Jeník et al. 1980) Kočí 2001 – Deschampsia cespitosa and Poa chaixii dominated
community, occupying depressions near springs and shaded places around the timberline, on soils with permanently
percolating ground water
6. Bupleuro-Calamagrostietum arundinaceae (Zlatník 1928) Jeník 1961 – species-rich community dominated by Calamagrostis
arundinacea, confined to steep, dry and sunny places, mostly located at the bases of slopes of cirques and on avalanche paths
7. Salici silesiacae-Betuletum carpaticae Rejmánek et al. 1971 – subalpine open shrubberies of Betula carpatica and Salix silesiaca
with tall forbs, occurring on steep slopes with sliding snow and infrequent avalanches
8. Pado-Sorbetum W. Matuszkiewicz et A. Matuszkiewicz 1975 – subalpine open shrubberies of Sorbus aucuparia subsp. glabrata
with herb layer dominated by tall forbs, confined to the bottoms of cirques and to moist ravines on shallow, stony and acidic
soils
9. Piceo-Salicetum silesiacae Rejmánek et al. 1971 – open shrubberies of Salix silesiaca and Picea abies with ferns and woodland
species in herb layer, influenced by snow accumulation and spring floods, occurring along submontane rivers
10. Ranunculo platanifolii-Adenostyletum alliariae (Krajina 1933) Dúbravcová et Hadač ex Kočí 2001 – species-rich community
dominanted by Adenostyles alliariae, confined to moderate slopes, in the surroundings of springs and streams, in shaded
places and wet depressions around the timberline
11. Salicetum lapponum Zlatník 1928 – subalpine low-willow shrubberies occupying shallow wet depressions, surroundings of
springs and mires, and the upper edges of cirques with permanently moist, shallow, often peaty and acidic soils
12. Trollio altissimi-Geranietum sylvatici Jeník et al. 1980 – species-rich tall-forb community confined to the surrounding of streams
and springs with moist soils, occurring at their upper edges of cirques outside the avalanche tracks
13. Laserpitio-Dactylidetum glomeratae Jeník et al. 1980 – species-rich tall-forb community of the bottoms of cirques, confined to
deep and moist soils, rich in nutrients supplied by avalanches, aeolic sedimentation, and percolating ground water
14. Chaerophyllo-Cicerbitetum alpinae (Kästner 1938) Sýkora et Hadač 1984 – community dominated by Petasites albus and
Cicerbita alpina, confined to shaded and wet surroundings of streams and springs and the bottoms of V-shaped valleys and
canyons in the montane and supramontane belts
15. Daphno mezerei-Dryopteridetum filicis-maris Sýkora et Stursa 1973 – species-rich community dominated by Dryopteris filix-
mas, occupying mostly dry and warm screes and scree cones with shallow soil at the bases of steep slopes in cirques, covered
by thick snow accumulations in winter
16. Adenostylo-Athyrietum alpestris (Zlatník 1928) Jeník 1961 – species-poor, chionophilous community dominated by Athyrium
distentifolium, occurring on deep soils on shaded wet places around the timberline, in places with a thick snow cover in winter
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