Preserving a Comprehensive Vegetation Knowledge Base--An Evaluation of Four Historical Soviet Vegetation Maps of the Western Pamirs (Tajikistan).
PLoS One
; 11(2): e0148930, 2016.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26881428
ABSTRACT
We edited, redrew, and evaluated four unpublished historical vegetation maps of the Western Pamirs (Tajikistan) by the Soviet geobotanist Okmir E. Agakhanjanz. These maps cover an area of 5,188 km2 and date from 1958 to 1960. The purpose of this article is to make the historic vegetation data available to the scientific community and thus preserve a hitherto non available and up to now neglected or forgotten data source with great potential for studies on vegetation and ecosystem response to global change. The original hand-drawn maps were scanned, georeferenced, and digitized and the corresponding land cover class was assigned to each polygon. The partly differing legends were harmonized and plant names updated. Furthermore, a digital elevation model and generalized additive models were used to calculate response curves of the land cover classes and to explore vegetation-topography relationships quantitatively. In total, 2,216 polygons belonging to 13 major land cover classes were included that are characterized by 252 different plant species. As such, the presented maps provide excellent comparison data for studies on vegetation and ecosystem change in an area that is deemed to be an important water tower in Central Asia.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Árvores
/
Ecossistema
/
Fenômenos Geológicos
/
Poaceae
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Humans
País/Região como assunto:
Asia
Idioma:
En
Revista:
PLoS One
Assunto da revista:
CIENCIA
/
MEDICINA
Ano de publicação:
2016
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Alemanha