Vegetation Survey and Classification of Subtropical Forests of Southern Africa

Prof Ladislav (Laco) Mucina completed his education in Slovakia and at the Technical University Berlin (Germany). He then served as a professor at universities in Austria, Italy, Sweden, Kuwait, South Africa and Australia; currently he is the Iluka Chair in Vegetation Science and Biogeography at the University of Western Australia, and an elected Honorary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His scientific interests span descriptive vegetation science (especially vegetation surveys, classification and mapping), biosystematics, molecular phylogeny, population ecology, evolutionary biology, biogeography, biodiversity science, environmental management, plant community restoration, and conservation biology.

1.Introduction: Rationale and Objectives.- 2.Materials and Methods: How to Survey Forests?.- 3.Legacy Data: Some Data-analytical Experiments.- 4.Classification of the Albany Coastal Forests.- 5.Classification of the Pondoland Scarp Forests.- 6.Classification of the Eastern Scarp Forests.- 7.Modelling of Forest-Environmental Relationships.- 8.Lessons for a Forest Vegetation Survey.