Le concept de zone de vie de Holdridge : Un point de vue tropical en écologie
The concept of life zone has been elaborated by an american ecologist, L. R. HOLDRIDGE, in order to classify the great plant formations of the world on physionomical basis. The HOLDRIDGE'S system' is applied by his school in numerous tropical countries. It takes place within the framework of the physionomical tradition of the geographical botany which was born in the begining of the XIX th century in Europe, developed in the USA in the begining of the XX th century. It also integrates the concepts of the American dynamic ecology. HOLDRIDGE'S school tries to promote a change in the point of view, a kind of copernician revolution, in reference to the great ecological schools created in the Northern countries, deeply marked by a genius loci which would cause prejudice to the generalization of their methods.