Showing papers in "Biodiversity and Ecology in 2012"

Forest Inventory and Analysis Database of the United States of America (FIA)

Abstract: Extensive vegetation inventories established with a probabilistic design are an indispensable tool in describing distributions of species and community types and detecting changes in composition in response to climate or other drivers. The Forest Inventory and Analysis Program measures vegetation in permanent plots on forested lands across the United States of America (GIVD ID NA-US-001). Plot sizes and protocols for measuring tree species are standardized across the country. Additional standardized protocols have been implemented to measure the abundance of non-tree vascular plant and epiphytic lichen species. Research using this and re-lated regional datasets have provided new insights into the key biophysical drivers of community composition and their importance at different spatial scales. Studies have also explored regional differences in species diversity patterns, documented the importance of non-native species, and described the importance of environment and management on the distribution of selected species. Although representation of locally rare community types may be low, the probabilistic sample ensures that ecological drivers are regionally sig-nificant and that results are representative of a region as a whole. Remeasurement of permanent plots provides direct evidence of vege-tation change and enables detection of impacts due to climate, natural disturbance, and forest management.

VegBank – a permanent, open-access archive for vegetation-plot data

Abstract: Rapid progress is being made in North American vegetation science through recent developments within the U.S. National Vegetation Classification (USNVC). Central to these advances are sharing, archiving, and disseminating field plot data, the fundamental data required for describing and understanding vegetation communities. VegBank (GIVD ID NA-US-002) is the vegetation plot database of the Panel on Vegetation Classification of the Ecological Society of America. VegBank is a stand-alone, Internetaccessible, vegetation plot archive designed to allow users to easily submit, search, view, annotate, cite, and download diverse types of vegetation data. The archive also includes embedded databases that contain classifications of vegetation and individual organisms, designed and implemented to track the many-to-many relationship betweens names and plant or community concepts, as well as alternative party perspectives on accepted taxa. The VegBank data model is also implemented in VegBranch, a desktop tool for data management and for uploading to and downloading from VegBank.

Slovak Vegetation Database

Abstract: The Slovak Vegetation Database (or Central Database of Phytosociological Samples – CDF; EU-SK-001) was established in 1995 at the Institute of Botany, Slovak Academy of Sciences. The aim was to assemble all available phytosociological releves from the territory of Slovakia and adjacent areas with the objective of producing a vegetation overview of all vegetation types and plant communities of Slovakia. The database provides information not only about the locality, floristic composition and variability of individual vegetation types but also on several environmental variables such as inclination, aspect, geology or soil type, characteristics for individual releves. The Slovak vegetation database is providing the basis for national and supra-national classification overviews and other scientific studies. It can be linked to any international database, and supports not only the exchange of data, but mainly the possibility of bior multilateral projects, vegetation overviews of supra-regional areas (e.g. Carpathians) and supra-regional analyses of vegetation data that will enable a better insight into the functioning and distribution of plant communities, as well as evaluating local and global changes. The current structure of the database used as a basis of Slovak Vegetation Database reflects the experiences and suggestions of the users after years of using the programme TURBOVEG. Very important is also the non-commercial use of the database not only by scientists (botanists, zoologists, ecologists etc.), but also by nature conservation institutions, since it contains high-quality floristic records of both vascular and non-vascular plants with exact localisation and basic environmental characteristics.

Vegetation-plot database of the Carolina Vegetation Survey

Abstract: The Carolina Vegetation Survey (CVS) is a multi-institutional research program designed to document the composition of the natural vegetation of the Carolinas and adjacent states. CVS maintains a system of databases (GIVD ID NA-US-006) that contain data from over 8,200 vegetation plots containing records of in excess of 3,500 species and spanning over 600 vegetation types recognized in the US National Vegetation Classification Standard (NVCS). Over 5,300 of these plots were collected using the level-5 CVS protocol, which provides documentation of composition across a range of spatial scales from 0.01 to at least 100 and often 1,000 m2. As such, the CVS database contains the largest set of multi-scale vegetation plot data yet assembled. In addition, the standard CVS protocol includes tallies of woody stems by diameter and detailed documentation of soil and other environmental attributes. The Carolina Vegetation Survey Database system provides a flexible data archive built on the VegBank data model and is designed to store a wide range of vegetation-plot data, from restoration plots tracking the success of planted stems to plots with a complete inventory of both tree stems and plant cover values. Concept-based taxonomy is implemented for both community types and plant taxa, reducing the ambiguity that is inherent in using names only, as the meaning of a name can vary with taxonomic authority. The plots in the CVS archive have been used in numerous publications to document compositional variation in vegetation of the southeastern US and to address a range of broader questions such as patterns in species richness, patterns of species specialization versus generalization, speciesarea relationships, design of targets for ecological restoration, and documentation of long-term trends in vegetation composition.

NATURDATA.DK – Danish monitoring program of vegetation and chemical plant and soil data from non-forested terrestrial habitat types

Abstract: Vegetation and chemical plant and soil data from 18 terrestrial non-forested natural habitat types have been collected each year since 2004 (Table 1). Presently, cover data of plant species measured by pinpoint (16 grid points in 0.5 m x 0.5 m frame) and plant frequency data (5 m circles) exist for more than 50,000 plots; the measuring of chemical properties in plant, soil, and water samples has been less intense. Presently there are more than 12,000 registrations of carbon content and 57,000 measurements of pH in topsoil. Soils are always samples from the top 5 cm. On heathland habitats the thickness of the mor layer is measured. All data are georeferenced and can be accessed at http://www.naturdata.dk/ The data comprises approximately 1,200 sites both within and outside of Natura 2000 areas. At each site the measurements were made at 20-60 randomly positioned plots. 70% of the plots have been revisited each year, whereas 30 % have only been visited once. Each year a total number of additional 5,000 sample plots and registrations will be performed. The protocols for the different measurement types (in Danish) may be downloaded from http://www.dmu.dk/fileadmin/Attachments/TAN1_106_01_FDCNY1.pdf. This report describes the available content in the vegetation-plot database NATURDATA.DK (GIVD ID EU-DK-001).

The Dutch national vegetation database

Abstract: The Dutch National Vegetation Database (GIVD ID EU-NL-001) is currently the largest database of its kind in the world, comprising more than 600,000 computerized vegetation-plot descriptions, covering the whole variety of vegetation types in the country. It was started in 1987, when the government – in close collaboration with a number of nature conservation agencies – commissioned a new national vegetation classification, based on field data and documented with vegetation tables. Within the framework of this initiative, it was decided to develop adequate software for handling the large amount of data that would be brought together. This has resulted in the computer package TURBOVEG. After the publication of the new vegetation classification between 1995 and 1999 (De Vegetatie van Nederland), the focus was shifted towards the development of so-called information systems, for which the vegetation databases form the basis. Within the Netherlands, the information system SynBioSys Netherlands has been developed, which proved to be a model for similar initiatives elsewhere in the world. The databases and allied information systems offer great opportunities for fundamental and applied research in the field of community ecology, nature conservation and landscape planning.

Austrian Vegetation Database

Abstract: The aim of the Austrian Vegetation Database (GIVD ID EU-AT-001) is to gather computerised phytosociological information (vegetation releves) from the territory of Austria. The data are stored in TURBOVEG format. Large parts of the database have been gathered between 1997 and 1999 and between 2001 and 2003 (partly funded by the Austrian Academy of Science). However, the database is still far from being complete. Especially, ruderal and weed communities and (semi-)aquatic vegetation is only insufficiently covered yet. Due to the absence of funding, progress is rather slow at the moment.

Wisconsin Vegetation Database – plant community survey and resurvey data from the Wisconsin Plant Ecology Laboratory

Abstract: Legacy data provide valuable baselines for assessing ecological changes. Excellent baseline data for Wisconsin's plant communities exist because of the surveys conducted by J.T. Curtis and colleagues (the Wisconsin Plant Ecology Laboratory or PEL) in the 1940s and 1950s. They surveyed > 2,000 sites to test how plant community composition varies along environmental gradients. These sites include upland and lowland forests, prairies, savannas, meadows, sand barrens, dunes, fens, and bogs. They devised new techniques to sample and compare plant communities. Their data include species lists and often quantitative data on occurrences and tree sizes. At intensively sampled prairies and savannas, data include cover and/or the composition of quadrats. At forested sites, researchers characterized the overstory by recording tree identity and measuring size and spacing using plotless methods. For the understory, they tallied all vascular species present in 20 (occasionally 40) spaced 1-m quadrats. Subsequent PEL researchers have resurveyed > 500 of these sites. The original quadrats and sites were not marked, requiring that resurveys approximate the original locations. Sampling uses either the original or more intensive protocols. We have characterized environmental conditions at many sites (soil chemistry, exotic earthworms, deer browse, and landscape conditions). We also now measure functional traits on many species. Our goals are to test theories of community assembly and assess how plant traits interact with patch size and landscape conditions to affect species and community dynamics. We have also redesigned sampling methods. The many sites and species provide great statistical power to characterize ecological changes and evaluate the factors driving these changes. These results serve to inform the public about ecological change and improve our ability to manage these communities wisely. Both the new and the legacy data are stored in the database Wisconsin Vegetation Database (GIVD ID NA-US-008).

The Brazilian Program for Biodiversity Research (PPBio) Information System

Abstract: The database of the Brazilian Program for Biodiversity Research (PPBio; GIVD ID SA-BR-001) includes data on the environment and biological groups such as plants. It is organized by site, which is usually a grid with 10 to 72 uniformly-distributed plots, and has already surveyed 1,638 releves across different Brazilian ecosystems. The sampling design is based on the RAPELD system to allow integration of data from diverse taxa and ecosystem processes. RAPELD is a spatially-explicit sampling scheme to monitor biodiversity in long-term ecological research sites and during rapid appraisals of biodiversity that has attracted support from many management agencies, which are using it as their long-term monitoring system. Vegetation surveys include measurements of cover, biomass and number of individuals from woody and herbaceous vascular plants, along with environmental data. We have recently migrated to a metadata catalog and data repository which allows searching for specific groups across all sites. All RAPELD data have been collected since 2001, though the site also allows data from other long-term plots to be archived as associated projects.

German Vegetation Reference Database (GVRD)

Abstract: The German Vegetation Reference Database (GVRD; GIVD ID EU-DE-014) was established in 2008 as a reference vegetation database for vegetation records of the German Biodiversity Exploratories (http://www.biodiversity-exploratories.de/). Initially, the database had a focus on forest and grassland vegetation but is currently undergoing a continuous broadening of scope. Releves were digitized and compiled from published and unpublished sources and from various thematic, regional or local databases with the ambition to cover the whole territory of Germany. The database is hosted at the Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg at the Institute of Biology in the Department of Geobotany and is one of the database platforms of the German Centre of Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv, http://www.idiv-biodiversity.de). The functionality of the database is increasingly enhanced, currently comprising links to Germany’s trait databases and GIS. At present, the database is used to test current theories in community assembly rules (http://www.biodiversity-exploratories.de/1/projects/weitere-projekte/botany-related-studies/berich/). Further current analyses are the temporal and geographical distribution of species and of vegetation types and the assessment of biodiversity.

Ukrainian Grasslands Database

Abstract: The Ukrainian Grasslands Database (GIVD ID EU-UA-001) includes releves of herbaceous vegetation of the Forest and Forest-Steppe zones of the plain part of Ukraine, carried out by 22 authors between 1932 and 2010. Most are releves of Anna Kuzemko (998 entries), Lev Balashov (435), Olexander Kuzyarin (391), and Danylo Afanasiev (338). The releves were established in the 18 administrative regions of Ukraine, the largest number of releves are from Chernihiv (563 entries), Lviv (420), Kiev (413), Poltava (387) regions. The plot size ranged from 16 to 100 m. The nomenclature is given in accordance to the “Russia” species list which is based on S. Cherepanov (1995) vascular plants checklist, M. Ignatov & O. Afonina checklist (1992) for mosses and the lichens identification guides of the USSR (1971–1978) and Russia (1996, 1998) for lichens. The database was used to develop the classification of grassland vegetation of the Forest and Forest-Steppe zones of the plain part of Ukraine using the JUICE program. It was identified that the releves of the database include seven classes of vegetation: Molinio-Arrhenatheretea (2,122 releves), FestucoBrometea (390), Phragmito-Magno-Caricetea (318), Parvo-Caricetea (197), Koelerio-Corynephoretea (90), Festuco -Puccinellietea (33), Calluno-Ulicetea (31).

Vegetation dynamics of beech forests on limestone in central Germany over half a century - effects of climate change, forest management, eutrophication or game browsing?

Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the vegetation dynamics of suboceanic, submontane, mesic beech forests on limestone that are very rich in spring geophytes over half a century, considering changes in abiotic and biotic conditions including global climate change. Vegetation releves sampled in the Gottinger Wald, southern Lower Saxony, Germany, between 1955 and 1960 (n = 25) and in 1968 (n = 10) were re-surveyed in 2009 on quasi-permanent plots. Differences in species composition, species abundance and vegetation structure were compared between inventories using detrended correspondence analysis (DCA), multiple response permutation procedure (MRPP) and the Wilcoxon signed ranks test. Forty to fifty years ago, a shrub layer was scarcely present, but is common today as a consequence of intensified hunting. An increasing abundance of Allium ursinum, Urtica dioica and Sambucus nigra and a general shift to species composition with higher Ellenberg indicator values for nitrogen can be ascribed to atmospheric nitrogen deposition. The spring geophytes A. ursinum, Corydalis cava and Leucojum vernum can also benefit from global climate change with an earlier start of the vegetation period. A shift towards more oceanic conditions, with mild winters in the past fifty years, may also have increased the competitive strength of evergreen species that are susceptible to long frost periods (e.g. Hedera helix). The resampling of the beech forest vegetation on limestone revealed that many factors have influenced the dynamics over the past half century. These include eutrophication and a reduction in roe deer browsing, but our results also indicate a possible influence of climate change on community composition. In focussing on a small dataset from a very rich sub-unit of beech forests on limestone, the positive response of the spring geophytes becomes particularly obvious.

The West African Vegetation Database

Abstract: The West African Vegetation Database (http://www.westafricanvegetation.org; GIVD ID AF-00-001) is an online database that has been designed to securely store, edit and manage phytosociological and dendrometrical releves from West Africa to provide data for research projects dealing with, but not limited to, plant communities, biogeography, population structure, and vegetation dynamics. An integrated access management system allows data owners to keep data private, to grant selected users access or to make data sets available to the general public. Data entry is possible online or in a local offline database that can be synchronized with the online database. The database allows the calculation of biodiversity indices and has several export options.

Toward an Italian national vegetation database: VegItaly.

Abstract: VegItaly (http://www.vegitaly.it; GIVD ID EU-IT-001) is a web database designed to store, retrieve and analyse the vegetation data of Italy. Designed for both floristic and phytosociological data, it can handle any field plot according to the definition of “vegetation database” suggested by the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD) and the IAVS Ecoinformatics Working Group. VegItaly, supported by Societa Italiana di Scienza della Vegetazione (formerly Societa Italiana di Fitosociologia), is hosted by AnArchive (http://www.anarchive.it), a collaborative project aimed at archiving botanical data that involves several Italian universities coordinated by the University of Perugia. VegItaly’s main aim is to contribute to data archiving and sharing in order to offer the possibility to manage large data sets for statistical analysis on a wide geographic scale.

A methodological framework to quantify the spatial quality of biological databases

Abstract: The basic information necessary for biogeographical analysis is the geographical location appended to the data contained in biological databases. Reliability of analyses thus crucially depends on the quality of the spatial information available. In the present study we build on a database of vascular plants of West Africa (Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Benin), containing 53,205 georeferenced observations distributed over 2,931 collection localities. We propose a methodology to quantify the quality of the database through a series of spatial analyses of spatial configuration of the collection localities, their spatial and environmental bias and inventory completeness. The spatial configuration of the database followed a highly clustered pattern and was strongly biased with respect to the distance to cities, the coast, rivers, roads and protected areas. The same biased pattern was found in relation to several environmental factors. Inventory completeness was calculated by estimating the total number of species based on two non-parametric estimates (firstorder Jackknife and Bootstrap) and at different grid cell sizes. At the highest resolution (100 km2) only 5.5% of the cells contained a near-complete (> 80% of Jackknife estimates) species inventory. The percentage of near-complete cells increased as the resolution of analysis decreased. Results of all analyses were integrated into a new index (Gap Selection Index) that serves to guiding future field work campaigns and as cautionary criterion for the uncertainties related to biogeographical application based on the current database.

Floristic Classification of the Vegetation in Small Wetlands of Kenya and Tanzania

Abstract: Small wetlands in East Africa are increasingly converted into sites for agricultural production. The resulting changes in land use and cropping systems will impact on the wetlands’ vegetation. We characterized the plant communities in four wetlands of Kenya and Tanzania, each comprising four types of land use differentiated by the degree of anthropogenic disturbance (cropland, fallow, grazing land and unused). Since no syntaxonomical scheme was available as a reference, a first classification of vegetation units and the identification of diagnostic species is proposed. We collected 207 releves in the representative wetlands in relation to the current land uses. The plant communities were determined using a modified TWINSPAN classification. For each vegetation unit, diagnostic species were selected according to their fidelity index (phi coefficient). Floristic relationships between vegetation units were surveyed by nMDS ordination analyses. We identified 15 plant communities and selected 147 diagnostic species. The communities were differentiated into (1) semi-natural wetland vegetation (associated with less disturbed environments), (2) grassland and fallow vegetation, and (3) weed communities (associated with eu-hemerobic, drained and cultivated cropland). While the semi-natural vegetation was distinctly matched with unused fields, the differential matching of the other plant communities with land use types was less clear. According to the floristic similarity, the weed communities associated with cropland tended to be aggregated in the nMDS configuration while the semi-natural vegetation was dispersed. The results of the ordination did not differ when involving all species or only the selected diagnostic ones. As the plant communities described are rankless syntaxa, the establishment of a comprehensive syntaxonomic classification for African wetlands will require further vegetation surveys as well as their comparison with published data.

Czech National Phytosociological Database

Abstract: The Czech National Phytosociological Database (GIVD ID EU-CZ-001) was established in 1996 at Masaryk University in Brno. Currently it is hosted by the Department of Botany and Zoology of this university. It is an electronic archive of phytosociological releves and related records of species composition from vegetation plots which have been sampled on the territory of the Czech Republic. The data stored in the database are used for the development of new national vegetation classification of the Czech Republic, biodiversity analyses at local, regional, national and international level, as a source of information about distribution of plant communities and species, and for developing and testing new methods in the analysis of large sets of vegetation-plot data.

Vegetation relevés and soil measurements in the Netherlands: the Ecological Conditions Database (EC)

Abstract: Since its establishment around 1990, the Ecological Conditions Database (EC; GIVD ID EU-00-006) has been accumulating vegetation releves from the Netherlands, each accompanied by at least one abiotic soil measurement (e.g. pH or nutrient availability). On 1-1-2010, the database contained 8,229 releves, covering the period from 1936 to 2009, and representing contributions from 110 authors. The most frequently measured soil parameter is pH, with well over 5,000 entries. All the data in the database are subjected to ISO 9001 quality control. The database can be used as the starting point for estimating plant species responses to a range of abiotic variables, such as pH, groundwater table, or nitrate concentration, and for vegetation modelling (model parameterisation and validation).

SALVIAS – the SALVIAS vegetation inventory database

Abstract: The SALVIAS vegetation inventory database (http://www.salvias.net; GIVD ID 00-00-003) is a compilation of 13,661 vegetation inventories from around the world, with emphasis on the Americas. 12,962 inventories from the USA are shared with VegBank (http://www.vegbank.org); the remaining 699 inventories are mostly tropical forest plots from Mexico and Central and South America, and are available only via SALVIAS. The majority of the plots unique to SALVIAS contain individual measurements of trees, shrubs, lianas and hemiepiphytes, rather than aggregate observations (counts or percent cover). The two most common methods represented are 0.1 ha transects with a minimum stem diameter of 2.5 cm (523 plots) and 1 ha tree plots with a minimum stem diameter of 10 cm dbh (63 plots). The SALVIAS database also contains a taxonomically-standardized version of the Alwyn Gentry Forest Transects, also available in its original form for the Missouri Botanical Gardens website (http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/gentry/transect.shtml)

Database Species-Area Relationships in Palaearctic Grasslands.

Abstract: The Database Species-Area Relationships in Palaearctic Grasslands (GIVD ID EU-00-003) is an initiative of the European Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) and primarily functions as repository for all data sampled during the EDGG Research Expeditions. During these expeditions two types of highly standardised sampling of dry grassland vegetation in the Palaearctic realm are carried out: (i) nested-plot sampling on squares of 0.0001, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, and 100 m2; (ii) additional normal releves of 10-m2 plots. For all plot sizes, the terricolous vascular plants, bryophytes, and lichens are recorded that are superficially present (shoot presence). Additionally, for all 10-m2 plots species cover is estimated directly in percent and a wide range of topographic, soil, and land use parameters is determined. Five such expeditions have been carried out so far (2009: Transylvania, Romania; 2010: Central Podolia, Ukraine; 2011: NW Bulgaria; 2012a: Sicily, Italy; 2012b: N Greece). Additionally, the database contains similar nested-plot data from published and unpublished sources covering dry grasslands in Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The vegetation classes Festuco-Brometea and Koelerio-Corynephoretea prevail, but there are also some data from Mediterranean grasslands. Presently, the database contains data from 402 nested-plot series plus 325 separate 10m2 plots. Data from future EDGG Expeditions will be added and we are open to add other nested-plot data from any type of grassland in the Palaearctic. This huge collection of nested-plot data is very valuable for the study of species-area relationships (SARs) in grasslands and how their function types and parameters (e.g. the z-values of the power-law SARs) depend on grassland type, region, and taxon considered. The 10-m2 plots from the EDGG Expeditions (from inside and outside the nested plots) are an important contribution to consistent large-scale classifications as they were sampled by using a uniform plot size, recording also non-vascular plants, and consistently determining a set of plot-based plot-based environmental variables. The dataset will be available to the scientific public based on individual arrangements.

The Tree Biodiversity Network (BIOTREE-NET): prospects for biodiversity research and conservation in the Neotropics.

Abstract: Biodiversity research and conservation efforts in the tropics are hindered by the lack of knowledge of the assemblages found there, with many species undescribed or poorly known. Our initiative, the Tree Biodiversity Network (BIOTREE-NET), aims to address this problem by assembling georeferenced data from a wide range of sources, making these data easily accessible and easily queried, and promoting data sharing. The database (GIVD ID NA-00-002) currently comprises ca. 50,000 tree records of ca. 5,000 species (230 in the IUCN Red List) from >2,000 forest plots in 11 countries. The focus is on trees because of their pivotal role in tropical forest ecosystems (which contain most of the world's biodiversity) in terms of ecosystem function, carbon storage and effects on other species. BIOTREE-NET currently focuses on southern Mexico and Central America, but we aim to expand coverage to other parts of tropical America. The database is relational, comprising 12 linked data tables. We summarise its structure and contents. Key tables contain data on forest plots (including size, location and date(s) sampled), individual trees (including diameter, when available, and both recorded and standardised species name), species (including biological traits of each species) and the researchers who collected the data. Many types of queries are facilitated and species distribution modelling is enabled. Examining the data in BIOTREE-NET to date, we found an uneven distribution of data in space and across biomes, reflecting the general state of knowledge of the tropics. More than 90% of the data were collected since 1990 and plot size varies widely, but with most less than one hectare in size. A wide range of minimum sizes is used to define a 'tree'. The database helps to identify gaps that need filling by further data collection and collation. The data can be publicly accessed through a web application at http://portal.biotreenet.com. Researchers are invited and encouraged to contribute data to BIOTREE-NET.

Balkan Dry Grasslands Database

Abstract: Dry grasslands on the Balkan Peninsula are characterized by a rich diversity. They include syntaxa mostly referred to Festuco-Brometea. Releves from Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, Kosovo and Greece are included in this database aiming to cover geographically the central part of the peninsula. Significant parts of the data have been collected in the recent years. More than 150 literature sources have been collected and their data were digitized. The database is in TURBOVEG format. It includes 4,520 releves. All of them contain ecological data as well as quantitative estimates for the species. About 15% of the samples contain cryptogams. Some of the releves overlap with national or private databases. The database is built on collaboration among scientists dealing with vegetation classification from all countries in the Central Balkans. This report describes the available content in the Balkan Dry Grasslands Database (GIVD ID EU-00-013).

ForestPlots.net – managing permanent plot information across the tropics

Abstract: Compiling and analysing tropical forests plot data has provided key insights into the population and carbon dynamics of tropical forests. ForestPlots.net is a web application developed to provide a secure online environment for long-term forest plot data for researchers worldwide working within international networks such as RAINFOR, AFRITRON, and TROBIT, allowing scientists to manage, analyse, and compare their data to other sites. The underlying database (GIVD ID 00-00-001) in ForestPlots.net is a relational database which utilizes more than 50 tables to store plot location, individual taxonomic information and repeated diameter measurements for trees. Currently the database holds information on more than 800 plots from 27 countries with approximately half a million tropical trees tagged, measured, and monitored through time. The web application allows users, depending on their permission level, to view, edit, upload and download data of the plots they have access to. A novel feature of the database is the query library which produces outputs for the selected plots on biomass, basal area, wood productivity, and stem dynamics.

Vegetation-Plot Database of the University of the Basque Country (BIOVEG)

Abstract: BIOVEG (Vegetation Database of the University of the Basque Country; GIVD ID EU-00-011) stores 20,172 phytosociological relevés mostly from the northern-central part of the Iberian Peninsula and southwestern France: Basque Country and surrounding areas. All vegetation types of this area are represented in the database: temperate deciduous, mediterranean evergreen and subalpine coniferous forests and related shrublands and grasslands, rock and scree vegetation, coastal vegetation, aquatic and semiaquatic vegetation and anthropogenic vegetation. Data are stored in TURBOVEG format, and are freely available under request. Many published relevés have also been included in SIVIM database (Information System of Iberian and Macaronesian Vegetation), and thus they are freely available online. Data have been mainly used for vegetation classification, but also for distribution analysis of species and communities.

Bulgarian Vegetation Database: historic background, current status and future prospects

Abstract: For geographical and historical reasons, the Bulgarian vegetation is quite diverse. In the past and up to the beginning of the new millennium, vegetation studies have been conducted in the country basically following the dominance approach. At the end of the 1990s, however, an initiative was started to collect new field data according to European floristic-ecological standards. In 1999, the Bulgarian Vegetation Database (GIVD ID EU-BG-001) was established to collect available data for getting a better insight in the diversity of Bulgarian vegetation. The database uses TURBOVEG software and is located in the Working Group for Vegetation and Habitats in the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia. In September 2010, this database contained 5,901 releves, most of them related to grasslands. The major part of the data has been collected after 2000. The geographic distribution of the field data over the country is uneven. Most of the data are derived from particular projects and gathered at locations with a relatively undisturbed environment. Altogether, thirty authors have contributed to the field sampling. Some 25.5% of the releves were taken from the literature. It has been estimated that some additional 2,900 releves can be derived from the literature and unpublished sources. For the purposes of the database, a full list of expected syntaxa for Bulgaria has been prepared.

Colombian Páramo Vegetation Database (CPVD) – the database on high Andeanpáramovegetation in Colombia

Abstract: The Colombian Paramo Vegetation Database (CPVD; GIVD ID SA-CO-001) originates from the rush of phytosociological studies developed during the second half of the last century. The efforts of Spanish, Dutch and Colombian botanists have allowed almost the entire territory of the country where this natural region (paramo) is present to be covered. The database currently has records of approximately 1,000 plots representing at least 327 different physiognomic types such as shrubs, Espeletia stem rosettes and bunchgrasses established in localities of the three Andean Cordilleras and in the Caribbean massifs, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and Serrania de Perija. The Eastern Cordillera, which is the most explored mountain range, contains the highest diversity and richness in vegetation types. The construction of the database has allowed us to start the delimitation and syntaxonomical classification of vegetation units, as can be seen in the most recent phytosociological treatments of the paramo vegetation of the Western Cordillera and the massifs of the Caribbean region. The database provides information for programs on conservation of associated flora and fauna species and restoration – recovery of vegetation types under imminent risk due to habitat loss. Also relevant are its applications in spatial delimitation of conservation reserves, development of thematic cartography, and precise definition of altitudinal limits of the paramo region for land use purposes.

News from the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD): the metadata platform, available data, and their properties

Abstract: In 2010, we launched the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD; http://www.givd.info), an internet-based resource offering metadata of existing electronic vegetation databases. On 11 May 2012, 182 databases containing more than 2.8 million non-overlapping vegetation plots had been registered in GIVD. The majority of these plots were from European databases (123 databases, 1.87 million plots). The oldest plot record dated from 1864, but the vast majority of the plots had been collected since 1970. Most of the plots had areas between 1 and 1,000 m2. A total of 68 databases also stored time series and/or nested-plot data. The vegetation-plot data registered in GIVD constitute a major resource for biodiversity research, not only through the large number of species occurrence records, but especially due to the storage of species co-occurrence information, complemented with site-specific structural data and plot-based environmental data. The increased ease of discovering and accessing such datasets, owing to their registration in GIVD, offers significant opportunities for large-scale studies in areas such as community ecology, macroecology, and global-change research. The results from such studies could be very important for nature conservation practice and policy.

The need for and the requirements of EuroSL, an electronic taxonomic reference list for all European plants

Abstract: Biodiversity informatics has experienced tremendous developments in the last 15 years. There are now comprehensive online checklists for plant taxa as well as many large plant-taxon related databases, including the vegetation-plot databases registered in the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD; http://www.givd.info). However, efficient maintenance, analysis, and inte-gration of these databases are still much impeded by the failure of presently available electronic taxonomic reference lists of plants to fully meet the requirements of such applications. Here we outline the principal specifications of an electronic taxonomic reference list for Europe (“EuroSL” = European standard list of plant taxa) and identify features not met in current practice. EuroSL should cover all macroscopic taxa of vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, and algae that occur in European vegetation in a uniform database, irrespec-tive of their floristic status (e.g. native, archaeophyte, neophyte, casual). The adoption of informal aggregates is essential to cover de-viating species concepts and to capture legacy data. EuroSL should not only assign names but also match taxonomic concepts. This task cannot be fully automated, as the same correctly applied taxon name can have different meanings depending on the taxonomic concept applied. In order to be a useful tool, EuroSL would need to be better documented than most existing electronic checklists and be released in fixed versions. Every subsequent version should contain an unambiguous connection linking each taxon to the corre-sponding unit in the previous version. We identify possible components of EuroSL, of which Euro+Med PlantBase, the recent Euro-pean checklists of bryophytes, and the taxonomic crosswalks between various national Turboveg checklists collected for SynBioSys Europe, are the major ones. Concepts developed for GermanSL might be adopted for EuroSL, but implemented in a software frame-work that is yet to be developed from existing tools. Such a framework would allow documented editing of the content by specialists distributed across Europe. To become successful, EuroSL would require intensive collaboration between taxonomists, ecologists and biodiversity informaticians, as well as appropriate funding. Establishing EuroSL would dramatically enhance the usability and reliabil-ity of plant-taxon related databases in Europe for the purposes of pure and applied research and conservation legislation. Its develop-ment should therefore be of highest priority

Vegetation Database of Slovenia

Abstract: The Vegetation Database of Slovenia (GIVD ID EU-SI-001) is held at the Institute of Biology ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana, Slovenia. It contains all available published releve material from the territory of Slovenia. All registered plant communities are covered. Releves originate from published sources and grey literature (theses, survey reports). The database is used for archiving releve material, for preparation of classifications and other analyses of vegetation of Slovenia and neighbouring countries.