FUNDAMENTALS OF PHYTOCENOLOGY AND PLANT GEOGRAPHY - T. P. Larkina - 2017

GLOSSARY

ABORIGINE - a native species of a living organism, indigenous to a given area, though not necessarily originating there.

AUTOCHTHON(S) - a species or other taxonomic category that originated and initially evolved in a given location.

AGROCENOSIS - a biotic community created for agricultural production and regulated by humans, characterized by low ecological reliability but high yield of selected species and varieties.

AZONAL VEGETATION - vegetation that does not form an independent zone anywhere, but occurs across several zones depending on relief, soil, and other conditions (e.g., bogs).

ALLELOPATHY - chemical interactions between plants within a community that exert either a toxic or stimulating effect on the organisms.

ALLOCHTHON(S) - a species or other taxonomic category found in a given area but originating outside of it.

AMENSALISM - a type of interspecific interaction where one species inhibits the survival of another without being affected itself.

ANEMOCHORY - the dispersal of organisms via air currents.

RANGE (DISTRIBUTION AREA) - the portion of the Earth's surface within which a particular species or other taxonomic category is distributed.

NATURAL RANGE - a distribution area unmodified by human activity.

ARTIFICIAL RANGE - a distribution area restricted or expanded in the course of deliberate or unintentional human activity.

COSMOPOLITAN RANGE - the distribution area of a species or other taxonomic group covering vast land or water expanses.

RIB-SHAPED RANGE - a species range stretched in strips along natural formations or boundaries (e.g., along river valleys or ocean coastlines).

MOSAIC RANGE - a species range composed of numerous small patches of permanent habitats.

DISJUNCT RANGE - a species range split into a few significant fragments during the geological history of the area or the evolution of the species (e.g., ranges of broadleaved forests).

RELICT RANGE - a typically small distribution area of a species foreign to the current geographical conditions of the locality.

CONTINUOUS RANGE - a distribution area of a taxonomic group or community type without significant gaps.

ENDEMIC RANGE - a very restricted distribution area of a species, other taxonomic group, or biotic community type.

ARIDITY - the dryness of a climate.

ASPECT - the external appearance, physiognomy, or visual aspect of a phytocenosis, which varies significantly across seasons.

ASSECTATORS - species present in a phytocenosis that play a secondary role in its structure.

ASSOCIATION - the fundamental unit of vegetation classification, representing a set of uniform phytocenoses. It is named after its dominant life forms, for example, spruce-green-moss forest or cowberry pine forest.

AUTOECOLOGY - a branch of ecology studying the interactions of individual organisms with their environment.

BENTHAL - the ocean floor as an environment for benthic organisms.

BENTHOS - the community of plants (phytobenthos) and animals (zoobenthos) living on or near the bottom of a body of water.

BIOME - a major community of organisms (ecosystem) occupying a large geographic area, such as a natural zone: tundra biome, taiga biome, etc.

BIOSPHERE - the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships; the zone of planet Earth that contains all living organisms and the planetary matter in continuous exchange with them.

BIOTA - the total flora and fauna of a particular region, geological period, or habitat, such as the tundra biota, etc.

BIOTIC (BIOLOGICAL) CYCLE - the cyclic circulation of matter and nutrients among soil, plants, animals, and microorganisms.

BIOTOPE - an area of uniform environmental conditions (terrestrial or aquatic) providing a living place for a specific assemblage of plants and animals.

BIOCENOSIS - an interacting assemblage of populations of all species of living organisms inhabiting a specific geographic area that differs from neighboring areas in the chemical composition of its soils and waters, as well as in a number of physical parameters (altitude, solar radiation, etc.).

VERTICAL ZONATION - in mountainous regions, relief, climate, and soils change with altitude, resulting in a succession of vegetation zones similar to the latitudinal zonation observed on plains when moving from south to north.

SPECIES RICHNESS OF A PHYTOCENOSIS -

the number of species per unit area.

VIOLENTS - highly competitive dominant plant species capable of forming phytocenoses and persistently invading them (e.g., couch grass).

ASSOCIATION GROUPS - groups uniting plant associations that share the same dominant species.

DIVERGENCE - the process whereby groups from the same common ancestor evolve and accumulate differences, resulting in the formation of new taxonomic categories.

DOMINANTS - plant species that predominate in phytocenoses.

STAND (TREE STAND) - the main canopy layer of a forest ecosystem formed by trees.

LIFE FORM - the morphological type of adaptation of a plant or animal to its primary environmental factors and specific lifestyle.

INDICATES - environmental components determined through the use of indicator plants.

INDICATIONAL GEOBOTANY - a branch of botany dealing with the theory and practice of phytoindication, focusing on the study of species, phytocenoses, and communities used as indicators of specific ecological conditions.

INTRODUCTION - the intentional or accidental transport of individuals of a living species beyond its native range.

CALCIFILES - plants that thrive in alkaline, lime-rich soils (e.g., thyme, snowdrop anemone).

CALCIFUGES - plants that avoid soils rich in lime (e.g., sphagnum moss, heather).

"TENANCY" (COMMENSALISM) - the use of one species by another (its body or dwelling) as a shelter or home.

CLIMAX - the relatively stable final stage of succession representing a mature biocenosis (ecosystem).

CONVERGENCE - the independent evolution of similar features in species of different, unrelated lineages as a result of adapting to similar lifestyles and environments.

COMPETITION is a rivalry or contest between individuals of the same or different species, where each has a detrimental effect on the other. Species compete for food, shelter, light, etc.

COMMENSALISM is a relationship between organisms where one partner benefits without harming the other.

MUTUALISM is a symbiotic relationship in which both coexisting species derive mutual benefit.

ABUNDANCE is the absolute, relative, or visually estimated population density of individuals referred to a specific observation site or area. It can be expressed in scores or absolute units depending on the accounting method.

OBLIGATE PARASITE is entirely incapable of surviving without a host organism.

FACULTATIVE PARASITE is capable of surviving even outside a host organism.

PATIENTS are plants that win the struggle for existence through high endurance, such as saltworts.

A. A. GRIGORIEV AND M. I. BUDYKO'S PERIODIC LAW OF GEOGRAPHICAL ZONATION - with

the shift of physical-geographical belts of the Earth, analogous landscape zones and some of their general properties periodically recur.

WEATHER is the continuously changing state of the atmosphere near the Earth's surface, roughly up to an altitude of 20 km (the boundary of the troposphere).

POPULATION is an elementary grouping of organisms of a particular species possessing all the necessary conditions to maintain its numbers indefinitely over a very long period in constantly changing environmental conditions.

PROTOCOOPERATION is a simple type of symbiotic interaction. In this form, coexistence is beneficial to both species, yet not mandatory for them—meaning it is not an essential condition for the survival of the populations.

PSAMMOPHYTES are plants adapted to life on shifting sands.

INDICATOR PLANTS are species used as indicators of specific ecological conditions (e.g., proximity of groundwater, rock type, etc.).

VEGETATION is the totality of plant communities (phytocenoses) of the planet or its individual regions. It is the highest taxonomic unit in the classification of phytocenoses. All Earth's vegetation is divided into 4 types: woody, herbaceous, desert, and floating.

REGIONAL relates to a specific region, a single country, or several neighboring countries (e.g., regional flora).

REDUCERS are heterotrophic organisms (bacteria, fungi) that obtain energy by breaking down dead tissues or by absorbing dissolved organic matter released spontaneously or extracted by saprophytes from plants and other organisms.

RUDERAL PLANTS are plants of refuse dumps and similar habitats where the soil is enriched by the waste of various human activities.

SYMBIOSIS is the coexistence and inseparable mutually beneficial relations of two species, implying a mandatory close cohabitation of organisms, sometimes even with elements of parasitism.

SYNUSIA is a structural component of a phytocenosis.

SYNECOLOGY is a branch of ecology that investigates the relationships of communities and ecosystems.

TABLE-FELLOWSHIP (COMMENSALISM) is the consumption of different substances or different parts of the same resource. For example, the relationship between saprophytic soil bacteria species that process various organic substances from decayed plant debris and higher plants that consume the resulting mineral salts.

COOPERATION is when both species form a community. It is not obligatory, as each species can exist separately and in isolation, but living in a community benefits both.

SUCCULENTS are plants with juicy, fleshy above-ground organs featuring well-developed water-storage tissue. Leaf and stem succulents are distinguished.

SUCCESSION is the sequential replacement of one biocoenosis by another.

SECONDARY SUCCESSION - the restoration of an ecosystem that previously existed in a given area.

PRIMARY SUCCESSION - the process of ecosystem development and replacement on previously uninhabited sites, beginning with their colonization.

SUCCESSIONAL SERE - a sequential series of communities replacing one another gradually and predictably during succession.

FLORA - the aggregate of plant species inhabiting a specific territory.

FLORISTIC REGIONALIZATION - the division of the Earth into floristic kingdoms, regions, and provinces.

FLORISTIC KINGDOM - the highest taxonomic category in the classification of all world floras. Most scientists tend to divide continental flora into 6 floristic kingdoms: Holarctic, Paleotropical, Neotropical, Cape, Australian, and Antarctic.

FORMATION - a collection of associations similar in the plant dominants of the biotic community's main layer and, ideally, sharing the same edifier composition. Formation groups: spruce forests, oak forests. Formation classes: coniferous forests, deciduous forests.

PREDATION - a type of population interaction in which representatives of one species consume (destroy) representatives of another, i.e., organisms of one population serve as food for organisms of another.

CENTRES OF ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS - regions of the globe where certain plant species useful to humans originated and were brought into cultivation, and where their greatest genetic diversity is concentrated. The theory of centers of origin was developed by Academician N.I. Vavilov.

POPULATION SIZE - the total number of individuals in a given territory or volume.

EDIFIERS - plants that most actively and profoundly transform the environment and determine the living conditions for other co-inhabitants.

EXPLERENTS - plants with very low competitive capacity within a phytocenosis, capable of occupying newly vacated areas for a very short period (e.g., certain weeds).

EXTRAZONAL VEGETATION - communities that are typical (zonal) in other zones, but occupy sites with specific, atypical conditions within the given zone (e.g., mountain vegetation).

ENDEMIC - a native species that inhabits a specific region and does not occur anywhere else.

EPIPHYTES - plants that live on other plants (on tree branches and trunks) without any connection to the soil.

SOIL EROSION - the most hazardous process of soil degradation caused by water or wind. Wind erosion is also referred to as deflation.

CANOPY LAYER - an element of the vertical structure of a terrestrial ecosystem.

STRATIFICATION - the vertical layering of biocenoses into structural parts of equal height — horizons, strata, tiers, etc. Both aboveground and underground stratification (the latter for root systems) are distinguished, though the latter is rare.