ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

, potential natural vegetation (PNV), also known as Kuchler potential vegetation, is the

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plants and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular Taxon, taxa, life forms, structure, Spatial ecology, spatial extent, or any other specific Botany, botanic ...

that would be expected given environmental constraints (

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

geomorphology Geomorphology () is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features generated by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or near Earth's surface. Geomorphologists seek to understand wh ...

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

) without human intervention or a

hazard A hazard is a potential source of harm. Substances, events, or circumstances can constitute hazards when their nature would potentially allow them to cause damage to health, life, property, or any other interest of value. The probability of that ...

event. The concept was developed in the mid 1950s by phytosociologist Reinhold Tüxen, partly expanding on the concept of climax vegetation.

Concrete applications

PNV is widely used in modern conservation and renaturation projects to predict the most adapted species for a definite

ecotope Ecotopes are the smallest ecologically distinct landscape features in a landscape mapping and classification system. As such, they represent relatively homogeneous, spatially explicit landscape functional units that are useful for stratifying lan ...

Native species In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equi ...

being considered having optimum

ecological resilience In ecology, resilience is the capacity of an ecosystem to respond to a perturbation or Disturbance (ecology), disturbance by resisting damage and subsequently recovering. Such perturbations and disturbances can include stochastic events such as ...

for their native environment, and the best

potential Potential generally refers to a currently unrealized ability. The term is used in a wide variety of fields, from physics to the social sciences to indicate things that are in a state where they are able to change in ways ranging from the simple r ...

to enhance

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

. To determine "natural" vegetation, scientists research the original vegetation of a land through retrospective ecology.

Implications

Study of past ecosystems allowed to demonstrate, for instance, that numerous contemporary biotopes (like the " wild" Slovenian forests for instance), supposedly largely untouched, were in fact very remote from their natural vegetation. In Japan, Akira Miyawaki demonstrated after study that, on the one hand, long supposed "native species" had in fact been introduced on account of human intervention since over 1000 years (especially,

coniferous Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

being privileged over

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

). On the other hand, that

reforestation Reforestation is the practice of restoring previously existing forests and woodlands that have been destroyed or damaged. The prior forest destruction might have happened through deforestation, clearcutting or wildfires. Three important purpose ...

with "original" species gives good and often spectacular results.

Maps A map is a symbolic depiction of interrelationships, commonly spatial, between things within a space. A map may be annotated with text and graphics. Like any graphic, a map may be fixed to paper or other durable media, or may be displayed on ...

of potential natural vegetation are used worldwide for improved ecosystem comprehension and

management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

Criticism

However the concept is subject to debate, on similar grounds as for the climax theory. Critics argue that

ecosystems An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

are not static but ever dynamic: as bioclimatic conditions constantly evolve, it is illusory to define either a final or a primary stage of vegetation.

References

{{reflist Biological invasions Ecology