Forest vegetation inventory and mapping in the southern Yenisei mountain range using a topogenetic classification

Abstract

A topogenetic approach to vegetation classification implies that forest stands, however diverse, are classified based on the similarity of their forest growing environment, genesis and development trends. This classification reflects natural and human-impacted dynamics of the main structural forest cover units, i.e. forest types, in time and space, and takes into account the forest growing environments. Since this classification shows all the development stages and genetic characteristics of forest stands, it allows their succession rates and trends under different site conditions to be predicted. A classification of the forest environments and associated vegetation types was developed for the Southern Yenisei Mountain Range, with a GIS-based vegetation dynamics map built for a study area representative of the subtaiga and southern taiga forest zones that occur along the Yenisei River in the Krasnoyarsk Region of Siberia. The forest regeneration dynamics were analyzed for a range of environmental conditions. The use of this classification ensures a valid inventory of the diversity of the naturally occurring and human-caused forest cover. © 2006, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.