Can Predictive Vegetation Modeling be a useful tool to support Vegetation Classification?

Classifying plant communities and mapping their potential distribution using very large, heterogeneous, georeferenced datasets: the case study of the forest vegetation in the Italian peninsula.

In recent years, the scientific community has made significant efforts in order to create geo­referenced vegetation databases (Global Index of Vegetation Plot Databases). These databases are useful to carry out assessments of the state of bio­ diversity, conservation of species and habitats, dispersion of alien species and as a support for the planning of land and protected areas. In this context, Italy has given birth to its own project called VegItaly, coordinated by the Italian Society of Vegetation Science and conducted by several research groups, in order to develop a uniform database for the entire country. Within this framework we have created a georeferenced database of phytosociolo…