BIOGEOGRAPHIC ASPECTS OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ZONALITY, HEIGHT BELTS AND EXTRAZONALITY IN THE STRUCTURE OF VEGETATION (LAKE BAIKAL REGION)

The ideas concerning continuity and discreteness of vegetation cover are always in the basis of numerous classification structures. The development of biogeography and geobotanic mapping as a method allowed to accumulate a huge experience for establishing of classification systems and approaches reflecting these or those peculiarities in territories under definite physical-geographic conditions. It starts with description of communities without ranges determining regional-zonal features of vegetation and results in establishing of formations characterizing historical-genetic links in formation and development of vegetation in concrete territories. Due to this fact, the revealed arealogical (geoelemental) and belt-zonal compositions of plants species in communities are basic criteria for assessment of structural-dynamic organization of vegetation under concrete physical-geographic conditions at any territory.