Switzerland has a long tradition of phytosociology, with hundreds of plant associations described for more than one century. However, these descriptions are scattered in more than 2000 publications (articles, books, unpublished reports), without available synthesis. Hence, it is difficult to attribute an observed plant community to one of the described associations.
The project PhytoSuisse, led by Patrice Prunier in hepia, aims to synthetize this huge amount of publications in an identification key of associations and a website presenting these associations. The starting point is a database developed by Robert Pantke after thousands of hours visiting all the university libraries in Switzerland. Each retained association is checked for its validity and a precise description, with main species and ecological conditions, is written. All the finished descriptions are available on the Info Flora website.
Publications
Béguin C., J.-P. Theurillat & P. Vittoz (2018). La lande calcicole à Juniperus sabina en Valais central (Alpes, Suisse). Bulletin de la Murithienne 135/2017: 7-21.
Prunier P., Greulich F., Béguin C., Boissezon A., Delarze R., Hegg O., Klötlzi F., Pantke R., Steffen J., Steiger P. & Vittoz P. (2019). Phytosuisse : un référentiel pour les associations végétales de Suisse. V4. ISSN 2624-6171.
Prunier P., F. Greulich, C. Béguin, R. Delarze, O. Hegg, F. Klötzli, R. Pantke, P. Steiger & P. Vittoz (2014). Un référentiel pour les associations végétales de Suisse: PhytoSuissse. Documents Phytosociologiques 3: 403-411.