Abstract
Contrary to a widely held view of transitional (intermediate) objects as being “noise” in a research process, the idea that transitional objects are essential elements of classifications, regionalizations, periodizations and other structural schemes is substantiated. The methodological basis for these propositions is provided by the concepts of descriptive and fuzzy sets and its underlying multi-valued (fuzzy) logic. It is shown that there are several variants for the representation of transitional classes, regions and periods, and some of them allow avoiding “fragmentation” and an excessive increase in the number of transitional elements. It is emphasized that any variants of representation of transitional classes, regions or periods are only the formal (methodological) techniques which serve as a tool that allows more appropriately reflecting the structure of a single object or a set of objects. It is this principle that should determine selection of a particular variant of separation of transitional elements in structural schemes. It is noted that the concepts of the transitional class and the structure of the class lie at the intersection of classification and ordination approaches and allow developing ordination-classification schemes that combine the features of hierarchical classification and ordination. The concepts of transitional elements allowed suggesting new solutions to a number of problems. Communities of dwarf pine (Pinus pumila) are referred to a special class of formations: “hypoarctic krummholz”. Three separate class formations of open woodland communities (woodlandtundra, woodland-meadow and woodland-bog) are identified. Macrocomplexes that include the mountain tundra, subgoletz (subalpine) and, partially, boreal-forest belts of vegetation were referred to a separate goletz (alpine) boreal-forest class. For the subgoletz belt, on the one hand, its independence as the belt of rank II, and, on the other, its transitional nature between goletz and boreal-forest belts of rank I are confirmed. Such solutions allow representing not only the transitional nature of the objects in question but also their uniqueness at a certain taxonomic level.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Boch, M.S. and Masing, V.V., Ecosystems of Mires of the USSR, Leningrad: Nauka, 1989 [in Russian].
P’yavchenko, N.I., Peat Bogs, Their Natural and Economic Significance, Moscow: Nauka, 1985 [in Russian].
Odum, E.P., Basic Ecology, – Philadelphia: Saunders College Pub., 1983.
Kolomyts, E.G., Landscape Research in Transition Zones, Moscow: Nauka [in Russian].
Semkin, B.I., Descriptive Sets and Their Applications, in Systems Research, Part 1: Analysis of Complex Systems, E.V. Zolotov, Ed., Vladivostok: Izd. Dal’nevost. Nauch. Tsentra AN SSSR, 1973, pp. 83–94 [in Russian].
Zadeh, L.A., Calculus of Fuzzy Restrictions, Proc. U.S.‒Japan Seminar “Fuzzy Sets and Their Applications to Cognitive and Decision Processes (July 1‒4, 1974, Berkeley), New York: Academic Press, 1975, pp. 1–39.
Grosset, G.E., On the Study of the Ecology of Pinus pumila Rgl. (Mechanism of Active Drowning at the Onset of Frosts, Byull. Mosk. Obshchestva Ispytatelei Prirody. Otd. Biol., 1959, vol. 64, issue 2, pp. 85–96 [in Russian].
Serebryakov, I.G., Ecological Morphology of Plants. Life Forms of Angiosperms and Conifers, Moscow: Vysch. Shk., 1962 [in Russian].
Mueller-Dombois, D. and Ellenberg, H., Aims and Methods of Vegetation Ecology, New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1974.
Sochava, V.B. and Lukicheva, A.N., On the Geography of Dwarf Siberian Mountain Pine, Dokl. Akad. Nauk, 1953, vol. 90, no. 6, pp. 1163–1166 [in Russian].
Kisilev, A.N. and Kudryavtseva, E.P., High-Mountain Vegetation of Southern Primorie, Moscow: Nauka, 1992 [in Russian].
Aleksandrova, V.D., Geobotanical Regionalization of the Arctic and Antarctica, Leningrad: Nauka, 1977 [in Russian].
Neshataev, V.Yu., Neshataev, Yu.N. and Neshataeva, V.Yu., Principles and Methods of Classification of Vegetation of the Kronotskii Nature Reserve, in Vegetation of the Kronotskii Nature Reserve (Eastern Kamchatka), Tr. Komarov Botanicheskogo Inst., issue 16, 1994, p. 215–229 [in Russian].
Osipov, S.V., Vegetation Cover of Taiga-Goletz Landscapes of the Bureya Highland, Vladivostok: Dal’nauka, 2002 [in Russian].
Norin, B.N., The Structure of Plant Communities of the East-European Forest Tundra, Leningrad: Nauka, 1979 [in Russian].
Dem’yanov, V.A., On the Notions of “Open Forest” and “Sparse Stand” in Tundra Studies, Bot. Zhurn., 1988, vol. 73, no. 9, pp. 1313–1318 [in Russian].
Abaimov, A.P. and Bondarev, A.I., Criteria of Identifying Northern Open Forests and Biological Sparse Stands in Open Woodlands of the North, Lesovedenie, 1997, no. 1, pp. 45–50 [in Russian].
Demyanov, V.A., On the Classification of the Open Forest Type of Vegetation, Izv. Akad. Nauk. Ser. Biol., 1995, no. 4, pp. 435–440 [in Russian].
Minyaev, N.A., The Structure of Vegetation Associations (Based on Research Into Bilberries-Crowberries Series of Associations in the Khibiny Mountain Massif), Moscow: Izd. AN SSSR, 1963 [in Russian].
International Classification and Mapping of Vegetation, Ecology and Conservation, Paris: UNESCO, 1973, no. 6.
Demyanov, V.A., Open Forests as the Type of Vegetation, Izv. Akad. Nauk. Ser. Biol., 1992, no. 4, pp. 590–597 [in Russian].
Osipov, S.V., Subalpine Open Woodlands of the Bureya Mountains (Far East, Amur and Uda Interfluve), Bot. Zhurn., 2004, vol. 89, no. 4, pp. 598–613 [in Russian].
Osipov, S.V., Forests and Open Woodlands of Alpine-Taiga Landscapes of the Bureya Mountains (Diversity, Structure, and Dynamics), Sib. Lesn. Zhurn., 2015, no. 1, pp. 25–42 [in Russian].
Osipov, S.V., Vegetation Cover of the Bureinskii Nature Reserve (Mountain Taiga and Alpine Landscapes of the Amur Region), Vladivostok: Dal’nauka, 2012 [in Russian].
Sochava, V.B., Vegetation Cover of the Bureya Mountain Ridge North of the Dul’nikanskii Pass, in The Amgun-Selemdzha Expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, V.L. Komarov, Ed., Leningrad: Leningrad: Izd. AN SSSR, 1934, Part 1, pp. 109–242 [in Russian].
Shlotgauer, S.D., The Vegetation World of Suboceanic High Mountains, Moscow: Nauka, 1990 [in Russian].
Safronova, I.N., Yurkovskaya, T.K., Miklyaeva, I.M., and Ogureeva, G.N., Zones and Types of Zonation of Vegetation of Russia and Neighboring Territories: Map. Sc 1 : 8 000 000. Moscow; Izd. Mosk. Univ., 1999 [in Russian].
Osipov, S.V., The Concepts of “Plakor” and “Zonal Sites” and Their Usage for Disclosing Zonal Vegetation and Zonal Ecosystems, Izv. Akad. Nauk. Ser. Geogr., 2006, no. 2, pp. 59–65 [in Russian].
Osipov, S.V., Botanical-Geographical Areas and Zonality of Vegetation Cover in the Upper Reaches of the Bureya River (Far East), Geogr. Prir. Resur., 2012, no. 2, pp. 74–81 [in Russian].
Tikunov, V.S., Classification in Geography: Renaissance or Wasting Away? (Experience of Formal Classifications), Moscow; Smolensk: Izd. Smolensk. Gumanitar. Univ., 1997 [in Russian].
Samec, P., Caha, J., Zapletal, M., Tuček, P., Cudlín, P., and Kučera, M., Discrimination Between Acute and Chronic Decline of Central European Forests Using Map Algebra of the Growth Condition and Forest Biomass Fuzzy Sets: A Case Study, Sci. Total Environ., 2017, vol. 599–600, pp. 899–909.
Sochava, V.B., Botanical-Geographical Relationships Within the Amur Basin, in The Amur Taiga (Comprehensive Botanical Research), A.A. Yunatov, Ed., Leningrad: Nauka, 1969, pp. 5–15 [in Russian].
Dobrynin, A.P., Oak Forests of the Russian Far East (Biology, Geography, Origin), Vladivostok: Dal’nauka, 2000 [in Russian].
Osipov, S.V., Vegetation Synusias of Taiga-Alpine Landscapes of the Bureya Mountains (Russian Far East), Byull. Mosk. Obshchestva Ispytatelei Prirody. Otd. Biol., 2002, vol. 107, issue 1, pp. 49–56 [in Russian].
Mil’kov, F.N., Physical Geography: Theory of Landscape and Geographical Zonation, Voronezh: Izd. Voronezh. Univ., 1986 [in Russian].
Mirkin, B.M. and Naumova, L.G., Current Status of the Main Concepts of Science on Vegetation, Ufa: Gimen, 2012 [in Russian].
Vasilevich, V.I., Theory of the Continuity of Vegetation Cover, in Natural Fodder Fields of the USSR (Essays on Phytocenosis Theory and Technique of Studying It), T.A. Rabotnov, Ed., Moscow: Nauka, 1966, pp. 59–69 [in Russian].
Mucina, L., Classification of Vegetation: Past, Present and Future, J. Veg. Sci., 1997, vol. 8, issue 6, pp. 751–760.
Zadeh, L.A., The Role of Fuzzy Logic in the Management of Uncertainty in Expert Systems, Fuzzy sets and systems, 1983, vol. 11, issues 1–3, pp. 199–227.
Funding
This work was done ith the financial support from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (18–05–00086).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Translated by V.B.Sochava Institute of Geography SB RAS
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Osipov, S.V. Transitional Objects in Hierarchical Classifications, Regionalizations and Periodizations in Geography and Ecology. Geogr. Nat. Resour. 41, 195–202 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1875372820020122
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1875372820020122