Editing Vegetation (section)

==History of definition==
The distinction between vegetation (the general appearance of a community) and [[flora]] (the taxonomic composition of a community) was first made by [[Jules Thurmann]] (1849). Prior to this, the two terms (vegetation and flora) were used indiscriminately,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Thurmann|first=Jules|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/51540|title=Essai de phytostatique appliqué à la chaîne du Jura et aux contrées voisines, ou Étude de la dispersion des plantes vasculaires envisagée principalement quant à l'influence des roches soujacentes|date=1849|publisher=Jent et Gassmann|location=Berne}}</ref><ref name="Martins">Martins, F. R. & Batalha, M. A. (2011). Formas de vida, espectro biológico de Raunkiaer e fisionomia da vegetação. In: Felfili, J. M., Eisenlohr, P. V.; Fiuza de Melo, M. M. R.; Andrade, L. A.; Meira Neto, J. A. A. (Org.). ''Fitossociologia no Brasil: métodos e estudos de caso.'' Vol. 1. Viçosa: Editora UFV. p. 44-85. {{cite web |url=http://files.hisaias.webnode.com/200000112-37f2239e9a/Cap%202.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2016-08-25 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924062109/http://files.hisaias.webnode.com/200000112-37f2239e9a/Cap%202.pdf |archive-date=2016-09-24 }}. Earlier version, 2003, {{cite web |url=http://www2.ib.unicamp.br/profs/fsantos/bt682/2003/Apostila-FormasVida-2003.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2016-08-25 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827014258/http://www2.ib.unicamp.br/profs/fsantos/bt682/2003/Apostila-FormasVida-2003.pdf |archive-date=2016-08-27 }}.</ref> and still are in some contexts. [[Augustin de Candolle]] (1820) also made a similar distinction but he used the terms "station" ([[habitat]] type) and "habitation" ([[phytochorion|botanical region]]).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Candolle|first=Augustin Pyramus de|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R7J3yRwiLLcC|title=Essai élémentaire de géographie botanique|date=1820|journal=Dictionnare des Sciences Naturelles|volume=18|location=Flevrault, Strasbourg|language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Lomolino|first1=Mark V.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KbkCgsEPv6YC|title=Foundations of Biogeography: Classic Papers with Commentaries|last2=Sax|first2=Dov F.|last3=Brown|first3=James H.|last4=Brown|date=July 2004|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-49236-0|language=en|pages=263–275}}</ref> Later, the concept of vegetation would influence the usage of the term [[biome]] with the inclusion of the animal element.<ref name="Coutinho">Coutinho, L. M. (2006). O conceito de bioma. ''Acta Bot. Bras.'' 20(1): 13-23, {{cite journal |title=O conceito de bioma |journal=Acta Botanica Brasilica |volume=20 |pages=13–23 |doi=10.1590/S0102-33062006000100002 |year=2006 |last1=Coutinho |first1=Leopoldo Magno |doi-access=free }}.</ref>

Other concepts similar to vegetation are "[[physiognomy]] of vegetation" ([[A. von Humboldt|Humboldt]], 1805, 1807) and "formation" ([[August Grisebach|Grisebach]], 1838, derived from "''Vegetationsform''", [[Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius|Martius]], 1824).<ref name="Martins"/><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Humboldt|first1=Alexander von|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/9309|title=Essai sur la géographie des plantes : accompagné d'un tableau physique des régions équinoxiales, fondé sur des mesures exécutées, depuis le dixième degré de latitude boréale jusqu'au dixième degré de latitude australe, pendant les années 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802 et 1803|last2=Bonpland|first2=Aimé|date=1805|publisher=Chez Levrault, Schoell et compagnie, libraires|location=Paris|language=French}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Humboldt|first1=Alexander von|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/9310|title=Ideen zu einer Geographie der Pflanzen : nebst einem Naturgemälde der Tropenländer : auf Beobachtungen und Messungen gegründet, welche vom 10ten Grade nördlicher bis zum 10ten Grade südlicher Breite, in den Jahren 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802 und 1803 angestellt worden sind|last2=Bonpland|first2=Aimé|date=1807|publisher=Bey F.G. Cotta|location=Tübingen|language=German}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Garcke|first1=Aug.|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/109746|title=Linnaea : Ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange|last2=Schlechtendal|first2=D. F. L. von|date=1838|publisher=F. Dümmler|volume=12|location=Berlin|language=German}}</ref><ref>Martius, C. F. P. von. 1824. ''Die Physiognomie des Pflanzenreiches in Brasilien. Eine Rede, gelesen in der am 14. Febr. 1824 gehaltnen Sitzung der Königlichen Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.'' München, Lindauer, [http://www.brasiliana.usp.br/handle/1918/01305200#page/5/mode/1up] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012193530/http://www.brasiliana.usp.br/handle/1918/01305200|date=2016-10-12}}.</ref>

Departing from [[Linnean taxonomy]], Humboldt established a new science, dividing [[plant geography]] between taxonomists who studied plants as taxa and geographers who studied plants as vegetation.<ref>Ebach, M.C. (2015). ''Origins of biogeography. The role of biological classification in early plant and animal geography''. Dordrecht: Springer, p. 89, [https://books.google.com/books?id=K7UYCgAAQBAJ].
</ref> The physiognomic approach in the study of vegetation is common among biogeographers working on vegetation on a world scale, or when there is a lack of taxonomic knowledge of someplace (e.g., in the tropics, where biodiversity is commonly high).<ref name="Beard">{{Cite book|editor-last=Whittaker|editor-first=R. H.|last=Beard|first=J.S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yFr-CAAAQBAJ|title=Classification of Plant Communities|date=1978|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|pages=33–64|isbn=978-94-009-9183-5|language=en}}</ref>

The concept of "[[vegetation type]]" is more ambiguous. The definition of a specific vegetation type may include not only physiognomy but also floristic and habitat aspects.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Eiten|first=George|date=June 1992|title=How names are used for vegetation|url=http://doi.wiley.com/10.2307/3235768|journal=Journal of Vegetation Science|language=en|volume=3|issue=3|pages=419–424|doi=10.2307/3235768|jstor=3235768 |bibcode=1992JVegS...3..419E |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>Walter, B. M. T. (2006). ''Fitofisionomias do bioma Cerrado: síntese terminológica e relações florísticas''. Doctoral dissertation, Universidade de Brasília, p. 10, {{cite web |url=http://www.pgecl.unb.br/images/sampledata/arquivos/teses/2000a2010/2006/Bruno%20M.T.%20Walter.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2016-08-26 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826132951/http://www.pgecl.unb.br/images/sampledata/arquivos/teses/2000a2010/2006/Bruno%20M.T.%20Walter.pdf |archive-date=2016-08-26 }}.</ref> Furthermore, the [[phytosociology|phytosociological]] approach in the study of vegetation relies upon a fundamental unit, the [[plant association]], which is defined upon flora.<ref>Rizzini, C.T. 1997. ''Tratado de fitogeografia do Brasil: aspectos ecológicos, sociológicos e florísticos''. 2 ed. Rio de Janeiro: Âmbito Cultural Edições, p. 7-11.</ref>

An influential, clear and simple classification scheme for types of vegetation was produced by [[Hermann Wagner (geographer)|Wagner]] & [[Emil von Sydow|von Sydow]] (1888).<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Cox|first1=C. Barry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RBcWCgAAQBAJ|title=Biogeography: An Ecological and Evolutionary Approach|last2=Moore|first2=Peter D.|last3=Ladle|first3=Richard J.|date=2016-05-31|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-118-96858-1|language=en|page=20}}</ref><ref name="Wagner">{{Cite web|title=Sydow-Wagners Methodischer Schul-Atlas (1888-1944)|url=http://www.atlassen.info/atlassen/perthes/sywms.html#belgische_uitgave|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928020019/http://www.atlassen.info/atlassen/perthes/sywms.html#belgische_uitgave|url-status=usurped|archive-date=September 28, 2015|access-date=2023-02-07|website=www.atlassen.info}}</ref> Other important works with a physiognomic approach includes Grisebach (1872), [[Eugenius Warming|Warming]] (1895, 1909), [[Andreas Franz Wilhelm Schimper|Schimper]] (1898), [[Arthur Tansley|Tansley]] and [[Thomas Ford Chipp|Chipp]] (1926), Rübel (1930), [[Burtt Davy]] (1938), [[John Stanley Beard|Beard]] (1944, 1955), André Aubréville (1956, 1957), Trochain (1955, 1957), [[A. W. Kuchler|Küchler]] (1967), [[Heinz Ellenberg|Ellenberg]] and Mueller-Dombois (1967) (see [[vegetation classification]]).