Kaszab Zoltán (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 63. (Budapest 1971)
Fekete, G. ; Szujkó-Lacza, J.: A survey of the plant life-form systems and the respective research approaches III. Rankiaer's life-form conception. The application of life-forms in the characterization of phytoclimate and in vegetation analysis
It is the very Central European school which teaches that the various "sociability" (an incorrect use of the term!) of the specific populations, and the density of the shoots, are most influenced by habitat and concurrence conditions (BRAUN—BLANQUET, 1951, p. 62—66; p. 386; as for the quantitative criteria of sociability, see NUMATA, 1969). "Sociability" is only the expression of those diversely limited (and per association diversely realized) spreading possibilities —and of various potency per species! —which the species harbour by their diverse but chiefly vegetative means of reproduction. (With respect to this problem, we may refer to SCAMONI, 1969, who gave the best recent formulation of the joint connections extant between "Wuchsform", sociability, and dominance.) These specific features are already independent to a great extent from the life-form which is, after all, still a form of dormancy. ["The adaptations of the individual to survive the unfavourable season is (sic!) independent of the extent of the capacity possessed by the species for multiplication and distribution" —RAUNKIAER, 1909—1910.] A different morphological and physiological reaction of the plant is characteristic of the edaphic effects, changing more rapidly than the climate and thus inducing a quicker adaptation. The mass conditions of the species in a given association are the functions of primarily the concatenation of the above factors and not those of climate —to bind the effects of these factors to, and to express them in, the lifeforms is an ill-considered procedure (especially in closed sward associations and in coenoses where mass conditions depend to a great extent on competitive factors). d. Life-form spectrum and association categories A further problem in the coenological utilization of the life-form spectra is the circumstance that there can be found hardly any metodological approach or even reference to the question whether the life-form spectrum is equally effectively characteristic of every association category? The single quantitative survey known to us in this respect was made by HORÁNSZKY (1963). According to him, owing to e.g. also anthropogeneous effects an inhomogeneity in life-forms may appear even within a single association. At the same time, the life-form spectrum is unsuitable to distinguish floristically established, vicarious local associations. The life-form spectra are incidentally used, mainly within one investigated area, for the nonquantitative analysis of associations on the basis of their differences between them. This fact, too, emphasizes the relativistic character of the application of the lifeform spectra. The most important question in this respect is, however, as follows: Why do we expect an invariable difference in the life-form spectra between two nearly related associations, evolved under the identical climate (in this regard, some earlier papers of the present authors may, unfortunately, serve also certain bad examples), when considerable climatic differences are responsible for the life-forms of the investigated species? We deem the suspicion well-grounded (naturally to be substantiated by investigations conducted on concrete and extensive survey material synthetically treated) that the life-forms are the most suitable for the characterization and differentiation of also climatically characteristic associations of bigger dimensions (extensive zonal coenoses, non-local coenotaxa of a higher rang). In this case, it would be more justified to expect that the life-forms will play the original role of indicator according to RAUNKIAER'S interpretation. To demostrate lifeform differences between adjacent or not too far removed associations, the smaller categories of the life-forms appear to be more suitable (ELLENBERG, 1956, p. 23); a reference in this respect can be found already at RAUNKIAER (1956).
