Dynamic-Catenal Vegetation Mapping as a Tool for Ecological Restoration and Conservation Policy

Traditional or standard vegetation mapping represents a static view of the ecosystems living on earth. The units represented in the map are vegetation types that express one or several features of the existing reality, i.e. species composition, size, structure, etc.; they express little, however, about the dynamic context in which they develop and even less about the spatial relationships network of which they form part. This chapter presents an approach that develops a system of complex geobotanical entities expressing the temporal and spatial relationships between simple vegetation units found in the field. The basic relationships are the successional and ecological gradients. Consequently two basic concepts are established: the sigmetum (or vegetation series), in which the vegetation units are related by successional series; and the geosigmetum, which encompasses the zonation associated with an ecological gradient. Within these categories variants such as minorisigmeta and geominorisigmeta as well as permasigmeta and geopermasigmeta are considered. Maps drawn using these units provide valuable synthetic information for ecological restoration and land management.