Resources and Standards for Community and Plant Classification

Robert K. PeetRobert K. PeetUniversity of North Carolina, University of North Carolina,

Chapel HillChapel Hill

Beware of dangerously obsolete Beware of dangerously obsolete standardsstandards

• A.E. Radford, C.R.Bell. H.Ahles. 1968.

Manual of the vascular flora of the Carolinas.

• J.K. Small. 1933. Manual of the southeastern flora.

Resources for plant Resources for plant namesnames

Why we need to use Why we need to use new floras and new new floras and new

resourcesresources

• New names • New taxon concepts (lumps & splits)• New discoveries• Taxa new to science• New collections & overlooked collections• New data sources (Plots, Heritage lists)• New determinations

Our preferred standard! Our preferred standard! Alan S. Weakley. 2006 (or subsequent eds). Flora of the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, and surrounding areas. http://www.herbarium.unc.edu/flora.htm

Other modern standards: Other modern standards: USDA Plants databasehttp://plants.usda.gov/http://plants.usda.gov/

Flora of North America http://hua.huh.harvard.edu/FNA/

Resources for plant Resources for plant namesnames

• Data integration requires unambiguous identification of organisms.

• Taxonomic names can be ambiguous.

• Taxonomic concepts should be represented by a name and a reference.

• Single largest impediment to large-scale synthesis in ecology is the failure to document taxonomic concepts.

Species concepts & Species concepts & datadata

Abies lasiocarpa

Abies bifolia

Abies lasiocarpa

sec. Littlesec. USDA PLANTS

sec. Flora North America

Three concepts of Three concepts of subalpine firsubalpine fir

Splitting one species into two illustrates the ambiguity often associated with scientific names.

USDA Plants & ITIS

Abies lasiocarpa

var. lasiocarpa

var. arizonica

What are the fir trees of What are the fir trees of the West?the West?

Flora North America

Abies lasiocarpa

Abies bifolia

What is What is Abies lasiocarpaAbies lasiocarpa??

AZ NM CO WY MT AB eBC wBC WA OR

Abies lasiocarpa

var. arizonica

Abies lasiocarpa var. lasiocarpa

Distribution

USDA - ITIS

Flora North America

Abies bifolia Abies lasiocarpa

Minimal concepts

A B C

Record data

Find data

Merge data

The Andropogon virginicus complex in Carolina: 1 - 9 taxa, 17 different concepts, applied by 8 authors using 27 scientific names.

The challenge:The challenge:• Few large-scale compilations of concepts and their relationships are available.

The good news: The good news: •Multiple organizations are developing tools for concept use and integration.

• The greatest progress has been made here in the Southeast

Carya carolinae-septentrionalis, Radford et al. 1968

How to integrate new sources of data??

http://herbarium.unc.edu/seflora/firstviewer.htm

Carya carolinae-septentrionalis

NCU

RAB

Carya carolinae-septentrionalis

NCU

RAB

USDA

CVS

AAccording to Radford 1968, USDA PLANTS v ccording to Radford 1968, USDA PLANTS v 4.0,4.0, & Weakley 2006 & Weakley 2006 Carya carolinae-septentrionalis Carya ovata

AAccording to Stone 1997 in Flora of Northccording to Stone 1997 in Flora of North America. America. Carya ovata var australis Carya ovata var. ovata

Carya carolinae-septentrionalisCarya carolinae-septentrionalis

Nominal occurrences might Nominal occurrences might or might not represent the or might not represent the

taxontaxon

Carolina Vegetation Survey website http://cvs.bio.unc.edu/

Mike Schafale & Alan Weakley. 1990. Classification of the natural communities of North Carolina. http://www.ncnhp.org/Images/Other%20Publications/class.pdf

U.S. National Vegetation Classification (NVC)

www.vegbank.org

Objective: consistent classification system to product uniform statistics on vegetation cover

Hierarchical:- Upper Levels defined by climate & broad geography-Lower Levels (associations) defined by floristics

TNatureServe Explorer – current home of the

NVC

TCommunity descriptions with links to VegBank

Mountain Vegetation

Montane upland forests

Montane open upland vegetation

Montane alluvial wetland vegetation

Montane nonalluvial wetland vegetation

Piedmont Vegetation

Piedmont upland forests

Piedmont open upland vegetation

Piedmont alluvial wetland vegetation

Piedmont nonalluvial wetland vegetation

Coastal Plain Vegetation

Coastal Plain upland forests

Coastal Plain upland open & woodland vegetation

Coastal Plain alluvial wetland vegetation

Coastal Plain nonalluvial wetland vegetation

Coastal Fringe Vegetation

Maritime upland forests & shrublands

Maritime open upland vegetation

Maritime nontidal wetland vegetation

Tidal wetland vegetation

http://cvs.bio.unc.edu/vegetation.htm

FormationEcological

NVC Association

Carolina Vegetation Survey

http://cvs.bio.unc.edu

Weakley florahttp://herbarium.unc.edu/flora.htm

NCU Atlas of the SE flora

http://herbarium.unc.edu/seflora/firstviewer.htm

Thanks Thanks EEP, NSF (SEEK,

VegBank), NC Bot. Garden