"Who the heck is this Jonathan Adams, anyway?" Submitted to
Environmental Management, January 1998. Jonathan M. Adams, MS
6335, Environmental Sciences Division, Bldg 1000, Oak Ridge
National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA. Understanding of
global ecological problems is at least partly dependent on clear
assessments of vegetation change, and such assessment is always
dependent on the use of a vegetation classification scheme. Use
of satellite remotely sensed data is the only practical means of
carrying out any global-scale vegetation mapping exercise, but
if the resulting maps are to be useful to most ecologists and
conservationists, they must be closely tied to clearly defined
features of vegetation 'on the ground'. Furthermore, much of the
mapping which does take place involves more local-scale
description of field sites; for purposes of cost and
practicality, such studies usually do not involve remote sensing
using satellites. There is a need for a single scheme which
integrates the smallest to the la