The Vegetation Classification Working Group (VCWG)

The VCWG is an official working group of the International Association for Vegetation Science (IAVS) and its objectives are: 

1. facilitating communication among plant community ecologists who develop and apply vegetation typologies for any organisational level (e.g. synusiae, communities, community complexes, formations, biomes, ...) at any level of typological resolution and for any spatial and ecological extents; 
2. comparing and finding commonalities between approaches to vegetation classification; 
3. discussing concepts and practices of classification approaches that summarize vegetation globally, at coarse typological resolution (e.g. formations, biomes); 
4. discussing concepts and practices of classification approaches that summarize vegetation patterns at fine typological resolution (e.g. associations) with the aim of developing consensus standards; 
5. discussing plot-based analytical procedures for the definition of vegetation types; 
6. supporting national/regional vegetation classification projects, with the aims (1) to develop tools for efficient and scientifically sound nature conservation and land stewardship and (2) to deepen our knowledge of vegetation and ecosystems; and 
7. supporting vegetation classification projects aiming at (1) the integration of classification systems already existing in different countries/regions and/or (2) the development of new classification systems with a spatial extent encompassing multiple countries or continents.

Chair: Scott Franklin (University of Northern Colorado, USA): scott.franklin@unco.edu 

Secretary: John T. Hunter (University of New England, Australia): jhunter8@bigpond.com

SC member: Jürgen Dengler (University of Bayreuth, Germany): juergen.dengler@uni-bayreuth.de
SC member: Flavia Landucci (Masaryk University, Czech Republic): flavia.landucci@gmail.com
SC member: Pavel Krestov (Botanical Garden-Institute of the Far Eastern, Russia): pavel.krestov@icloud.com

SC member: Miquel De Cáceres (Forest Sciences Center of Catalonia, Spain): miquelcaceres@gmail.com

1. Dissemination of the outcome of WG activities [Steering Committee]
2. Increasing the international network [Scott Franklin].
3. Compare and find commonalities between approaches to vegetation classification most commonly used [David K. Roberts].
4. Discuss concepts and practices of classification approaches aiming to summarize vegetation globally, at coarse ecological resolution [Pavel Krestov and Javier Loidi].
5. Discuss concepts and practices of classification approaches aiming to summarize vegetation patterns at fine ecological resolution (e.g. associations, alliances) [Miquel De Cáceres and Flavia Landucci].
6. Discuss plot-based analytical procedures for the definition of vegetation types [not yet assigned].
7. Website maintenance [Miquel De Cáceres].