Group for Phytosociological Nomenclature (GPN)

The Group for Phytosociological Nomenclature (GPN)

GPN activity is focused on nomenclatural issues in phytosociology. Therefore, it is looking after the International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature (ICPN), along with collecting proposals of amendments, taking decisions on these and on controversial or doubtful issues in the application of ICPN, and preparing and implementing new editions of the ICPN. In this respect, the GPN Steering Committee published in 2021 the 4th edition of the ICPN on Applied Vegetation Science (AVS). Thanks to the financial support of IAVS, the new edition is Open Access and freely available for download HERE. An important task of GPN is to rule on subjective, controversial, or doubtful cases related to the application or interpretation of ICPN by taking binding decisions on those issues. Another important task of GPN is to decide on proposals about conserving or rejecting a given name, and to manage the lists of those conserved and rejected names. Last but not least, GPN aspires to register all the published names and all the typifications in a database available online.

Our bylaws

Tasks of the GPN are under the responsibility of three Topic Committees:

the Committee for Change and Conservation of Names (CCCN),
the Committee for the Registration and Typification of Names (CRTN), and
the Committee for the Website and Online Database (CWDB).

The Reports and the official documents issued by the GPN are now published in the IAVS journal Vegetation Classification and Survey (VCS; https://vcs.pensoft.net), in the section on Phytosociological Nomenclature edited by Federico Fernández-González Wolfgang Willner. Once a year, all the new Nomenclatural proposals will be published as part of the annual Report of the CCCN.

Founded in 2013, the GPN Working Group counts today 79 members from the five continents