title: An ecological map of Europe: why and how?
abstract: After a recall of the recent emergence of the great ecological problems on the scale of the European continent and of the privileged use of vegetation maps as an ecological tool, a cartographic synthesis of the main plant formations in Europe is submitted on the basis of a hierarchized and numerized nomenclature of the vegetation units. Examples of connections between vegetation and ecology, as suggested or facilitated by this map, are given: use of the monthly ombrothermic diagrams as a privileged tool, thermic limits of the boreal zone, indicative value of the Mediterranean xerothermic area, predictive models of the geographical shifts of the great ecosystems according to the expected climate changes.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Ecosystèmes et changements environnementaux, centre de biologie alpine, université Joseph-Fourier, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble, 9, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ozenda
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Borel
mesh_terms: D004463:Ecology; D017753:Ecosystem; D005060:Europe; D010944:Plants / Q000145:classification