European vegetation survey: The context of the case studies

Since 1992, a group of phytosociologists has met each spring in Rome to encourage the development of an overview of the vegetation of Europe. Constituted as an official working group of the International Association for Vegetation Science, the European Vegetation Survey represents a new spirit in phytosociology (PIGNATTI 1990, 1995). At the beginning this initiative was strongly supported by a small group of phytosociologists that were carrying out national vegetation survey programmes in Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, and the UK (GRABHERR & MUCINA 1993, MUCINA et al. 1993a, 1993b, RODWELL 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995, SCHAMINiE et al. 1995a, 1995b, 1996). The realm of interest of the European Vegetation Survey is wider Europe, including eastern Europe, the Aegean and Canary Islands, Iceland and Svalbard, and its aims are to promulgate common data standards in phytosociology, to support national vegetation survey programmes and to develop compatible software and an electronic network for data exchange. Summaries of progress in this enterprise have been published from time to time (MUCINA et al. 1993c, PIGNATrI 1995, RODWELL et al. 1995). An early result of a new national programme was the publication of the first volume of the Slovak national vegetation classification (VALACHOVIC et al. 1995). The Rome workshops themselves provide a forum for regular updates on developments across Europe, an exchange of views on important research programmes and concepts in phytosociology and an opportunity for newcomers to vegetation surveying to receive a welcome and encouragement for their work. In this sense there is a social and political aspect to the meetings, the wider implications of which have already been considerable. Two examples