Vegetation classification is often performed by state based agencies as part of land use, resource and environmental management.
Whereas older forestry-based schemes considered factors such as height, species and density of the woody canopy, floristic community mapping shifts the emphasis onto ecological factors such as climate, soil type and floristic associations.
Classification mapping is usually now done using geographic information systems (GIS) software.
Although this scheme is in fact of a climate classification, it has a deep relationship with vegetation studies: Wagner & von Sydow (1888) scheme: Vegetationsgürtel (vegetation belts):[1] Warming (1895, 1909) oecological classes:[2][3] Warming's types of formations: Schimper (1898, 1903) climatic chief formation[clarification needed] types:[4] Schimper formation types across the zones and regions Formation-types:[5][6] Ellenberg and Mueller-Dombois (1967) scheme: A vegetation classification with six main criteria ("hierarchical attributes", with exemplified categories applicable mainly to Neotropical region):[8][9] Other important schemes: Grisebach (1872), Tansley and Chipp (1926), Rübel (1930), Burtt Davy (1938), Beard (1944, 1955), André Aubréville (1956, 1957), Trochain (1955, 1957), Dansereau (1958), Küchler (1967), Webb and Tracey (1975).
This method uses data collected from specific plots to compare the plant communities and understand how these patterns are influenced by environmental factors.