When talking about vegetation refers to the type of plants and plant associations of a given region, often vegetation is an indicator of the soil-climatic characteristics of a region, since certain plants adapt to specific conditions. When studying the vegetation of an ecosystem, the biological forms are taken into account, which is determined by the type of plant growth and, as mentioned, environmental conditions.
In our country Venezuela, in the different ecosystems found throughout the territory a great variety of biological forms in vegetation have been classified, according to Mazparrote (1998), they are described as follows:
Trees: these plants have a great height that can reach more than three meters high, their consistency is woody, for example, in our agricultural ecosystems the saman can be observed among others.
Shrubs: these plants have a height that does not exceed three meters in height and can be of semi-woody and woody consistency.
Herbs: this type of plants are those that are herbaceous because they have a low amount of lignin, their stems can be easily cut, among these can be named grasses and forages or other species families of grasses.
Climbers: they are plants that attach to other plants or walls and objects.They have tendril-shaped organs that allow them to carry out this process, among them you can find some creeping legumes such as the centroceme.
- Epiphytes: this type of plants have the characteristics of living on other plants, but without causing them any harm and also do not compete for nutrients, among this type of plants is the orchid.
- Hydrophytes: they are aquatic plants that have some submerged organs and can float, they can be observed in the channels of rivers or pipes for example those known as bora.
These are just some of the biological forms that can be found in our ecosystems and that are surely also found in their geographical areas depending on the agroecological characteristics. We also talk about vegetation strata to refer to certain areas where these plant varieties are found, for example, it is known as underground strata to the spaces where the roots of plants are located and where a large number of micro, meso and macro organisms that fulfill a specific function in ecosystems are also found.
In this same order of ideas, it is also known as herbaceous stratum that surface where low vegetation is found, consisting of herbaceous species such as meadows and where certain animals feed, we can also mention the shrubby stratum that logically is made up of plant species with an average height of less than three meters, and the tree stratum that is known as the upper stratum as the forests where plants with heights exceeding three meters are observed and the type of plant species varies according to the agroecological characteristics of the area where it is found.
Dear readers as we mentioned above, these biological forms sometimes serve as indicators to know the soil-climatic characteristics of the place, some specialists know these spaces as biomes, defining them as a community of living beings that inhabit natural regions with vegetation and environment of defined characteristics, that is, the term biome refers to the relationships between vegetation, fauna and climate, which tells us in a simple way if a certain geographical area belongs to specific agroecological conditions such as xerophilous zones, tropical forest, paramo, among other existing areas.
- Mazparrote, S. (1998). Biology. Biosphere Publishing House. Guarenas: Miranda, Venezuela.
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Understanding vegetation is important, it provides a more clear picture of our environment and the function of each of these things.
Certainly @gbenga, it is important to know our biodiversity, some species can be indicators of certain natural characteristics.