Skip to main content
Log in

Transitional Objects in Hierarchical Classifications, Regionalizations and Periodizations in Geography and Ecology

  • Research techniques
  • Published:
Geography and Natural Resources Aims and scope Submit manuscript

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.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  1. Boch, M.S. and Masing, V.V., Ecosystems of Mires of the USSR, Leningrad: Nauka, 1989 [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  2. P’yavchenko, N.I., Peat Bogs, Their Natural and Economic Significance, Moscow: Nauka, 1985 [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  3. Odum, E.P., Basic Ecology, – Philadelphia: Saunders College Pub., 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Kolomyts, E.G., Landscape Research in Transition Zones, Moscow: Nauka [in Russian].

  5. 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].

  6. 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.

  7. 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].

    Google Scholar 

  8. Serebryakov, I.G., Ecological Morphology of Plants. Life Forms of Angiosperms and Conifers, Moscow: Vysch. Shk., 1962 [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  9. Mueller-Dombois, D. and Ellenberg, H., Aims and Methods of Vegetation Ecology, New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1974.

    Google Scholar 

  10. 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].

  11. Kisilev, A.N. and Kudryavtseva, E.P., High-Mountain Vegetation of Southern Primorie, Moscow: Nauka, 1992 [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  12. Aleksandrova, V.D., Geobotanical Regionalization of the Arctic and Antarctica, Leningrad: Nauka, 1977 [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  13. 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].

  14. Osipov, S.V., Vegetation Cover of Taiga-Goletz Landscapes of the Bureya Highland, Vladivostok: Dal’nauka, 2002 [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  15. Norin, B.N., The Structure of Plant Communities of the East-European Forest Tundra, Leningrad: Nauka, 1979 [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  16. 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].

    Google Scholar 

  17. 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].

  18. 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].

  19. 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].

    Google Scholar 

  20. International Classification and Mapping of Vegetation, Ecology and Conservation, Paris: UNESCO, 1973, no. 6.

  21. Demyanov, V.A., Open Forests as the Type of Vegetation, Izv. Akad. Nauk. Ser. Biol., 1992, no. 4, pp. 590–597 [in Russian].

  22. 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].

    Google Scholar 

  23. 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].

  24. 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].

    Google Scholar 

  25. 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].

  26. Shlotgauer, S.D., The Vegetation World of Suboceanic High Mountains, Moscow: Nauka, 1990 [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  27. 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].

  28. 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].

  29. 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].

  30. Tikunov, V.S., Classification in Geography: Renaissance or Wasting Away? (Experience of Formal Classifications), Moscow; Smolensk: Izd. Smolensk. Gumanitar. Univ., 1997 [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  31. 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.

  32. 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].

  33. Dobrynin, A.P., Oak Forests of the Russian Far East (Biology, Geography, Origin), Vladivostok: Dal’nauka, 2000 [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  34. 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].

    Google Scholar 

  35. Mil’kov, F.N., Physical Geography: Theory of Landscape and Geographical Zonation, Voronezh: Izd. Voronezh. Univ., 1986 [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  36. Mirkin, B.M. and Naumova, L.G., Current Status of the Main Concepts of Science on Vegetation, Ufa: Gimen, 2012 [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  37. 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].

  38. Mucina, L., Classification of Vegetation: Past, Present and Future, J. Veg. Sci., 1997, vol. 8, issue 6, pp. 751–760.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. 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.

Download references

Funding

This work was done ith the financial support from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (18–05–00086).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. V. Osipov.

Additional information

Translated by V.B.Sochava Institute of Geography SB RAS

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

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

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1875372820020122

Keywords:

Navigation