Nicola Arndt und Matthias Pohl - Neobiota

Map 10: Comparison of the vegetation unit F4 (West Armorican oak forests with Quercus petraea, Q. robur)
with LANMAP 1 in the basin of Rennes, Loire Atlantique, Maine et Loire, Vendée, Deux Sevres, southeastern
Morbihan. (Code explanations see Figure 3).
Unit codes LANMAP 1: Green colours = lowland; yellow and brown = hills; grey = mountains;
Examples:
LAh = Lowland river alluvium with heterogenous agriculture
LGh = Lowland chrystalline rocks & magmatites with heterogenous agriculture
LGw = Lowland chrystalline rocks & magmatites with wetlands
LTh = Lowlands soft loams with heterogenous agriculture
CGa = Hilly chrystalline rocks & magmatites with arable land
CGg = Hilly chrystalline rocks & magmatites with pastures
CGh = Hilly chrystalline rocks & magmatites with heterogenous agriculture
(1993) observes: “Natural vegetation is notoriously difficult to distinguish from human induced
vegetation. Even in ‘natural’ tropical rain forest relicts of recent cultivation or man-made forest fires
are common. The distinction between the natural and man-made savannahs, prairies, steppes and the
like is nearly impossible given the formative and irreversible role of herbivore and burning, more so
their combination. The same holds for man-made versus climatic deserts. Moreover, the – often
wrongly – inferred vegetation quality ‘natural’ is meaningless for most, if not all, functions of
vegetation. Consequently the term ‘natural’ vegetation should be avoided.”
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