SIGMACHOROLOGY AS A SUBJECT OF PHYTOSOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH - A REVIEW

The young scientific field of sigmachorology (derived from sigma=sum o f phytocoenoses) deals with the distribution of typified vegetation co mplexes and investigates the vegetation-historical, physical-geographi cal, and/or anthropogenic causes of distribution patterns of the compl exes, e.g. with the help of coincidence analysis. Sigmachorology is a biogeographical, landscape-ecological bridge discipline combining biol ogy and geography. Up to now, results about chorological regularities are available: for selected physiotopes (e.g. coastal habitats, bogs, banks of running waters, rock complexes); and, to a lesser extent, for larger landscape sections. Compared to chorological descriptions of c hosen taxa or syntaxa, a higher level of integration is attained with the help of sigmachorology, in order that some characteristics of ecos ystems or ecosystem complexes can be better recognized and cartographi cally depicted (e.g. trophic levels, mesoclimatic influences, hydrolog ical particularities, disturbances, etc.). Vegetation complexes are of ten used as landscape-ecological main features of ecosystems. There ar e various application possibilities, e.g. in the framework of intermed iate-scale maps (scale 1:100,000 and more), ''Environmental Impact Ass essments'' (EIAs), or for biocoenological approaches.