NVIS 4.1 Major Vegetation Groups

Major Vegetation Groups were identified to summarise the type and distribution of Australia's native vegetation. The classification contains different mixes of plant species within the canopy, shrub or ground layers, but are structurally similar and are often dominated by a single genus. In a mapping sense, the groups reflect the dominant vegetation occurring in a map unit where there are a mix of several vegetation types. Subdominant vegetation groups which may also be present in the map unit are not shown. For example, the dominant vegetation in an area may be mapped as dominated by eucalypt open forest, although it contains pockets of rainforest, shrubland and grassland vegetation as subdominants.

本研究通过识别主要植被群系（Major Vegetation Groups），用以总结澳大利亚本土植被的类型与分布特征。该分类体系涵盖冠层、灌丛或地表层中不同的植物物种组合，但其结构特征相似，且通常以单一属植物为优势种。从制图维度来看，这些植被群系反映了某一制图单元内占主导地位的植被类型——即便该单元内混合存在多种植被类型。制图单元中可能同时存在的次优势植被群系则未被标注呈现。例如，某区域的优势植被可被制图标注为桉属疏林（eucalypt open forest），尽管该区域内还零星分布有热带雨林、灌丛与草原等次优势植被。