Synchorology of the Northern Apennine summit vegetation. An outline

Abstract

Abstract A numerical chorological analysis of the 28 vegetation types still described in the boreal vegetation belt of the Northern Apennines was performed. Chorotypes were grouped into 7 main types: arctic-alpine, circumboreal, cosmopolitan, endemics, European orophytes, Eurasian, Mediterranean. Phytosociological vegetation types were classified into 9 groups on the basis of their chorological composition. Such groups include vegetation types with high ecological similarities. The reciprocal ordering of chorotypes and vegetation groups show that most chorotypes are distributed into two or more vegetation groups. The chorotypes which locally have the less number of taxa (Mediterranean and endemic elements) are linked to single vegetation types. The synchorological analysis supplies useful information for a preliminary ecological description of communities as well as suggestions for the biological conservation.