European Vegetation Archive (EVA): An integrated database of European vegetation plots

© 2016 International Association for Vegetation Science. The European Vegetation Archive (EVA) is a centralized database of European vegetation plots developed by the IAVS Working Group European Vegetation Survey. It has been in development since 2012 and first made available for use in research projects in 2014. It stores copies of national and regional vegetation- plot databases on a single software platform. Data storage in EVA does not affect on-going independent development of the contributing databases, which remain the property of the data contributors. EVA uses a prototype of the database management software TURBOVEG 3 developed for joint management of multiple databases that use different species lists. This is facilitated by the SynBioSys Taxon Database, a system of taxon names and concepts used in the individual European databases and their corresponding names on a unified list of European flora. TURBOVEG 3 also includes procedures for handling data requests, selections and provisions according to the approved EVA Data Property and Governance Rules. By 30 June 2015, 61 databases from all European regions have joined EVA, contributing in total 1 027 376 vegetation plots, 82% of them with geographic coordinates, from 57 countries. EVA provides a unique data source for large-scale analyses of European vegetation diversity both for fundamental research and nature conservation applications. Updated information on EVA is available online at http://euroveg.org/eva-database

Invasion patterns in riparian habitats: The role of anthropogenic pressure in temperate streams

<div><p>The riparian flora and the level of invasion in the rivers of the Cantabric watershed in Spain were studied in relation to the ecological status and the anthropogenic pressure. The level of invasion was also analyzed in different riparian habitats: forests, river bars and man-made slopes. For this purpose, 18 sites were sampled and a list of native and alien plant species was made along a 100-m strip at each site. The habitat/s where alien species were found and their abundance per habitat and in the total area were also indicated. Out of 112 alien taxa found, 51 were classified as invasive. Exotic plants native to America were the most common (35%). The level of invasion was significantly higher in the sampling sites subject to high levels of hydrological and morphological disturbances, proxies of the anthropogenic pressure. River bars and man-made slopes supported similar number of alien plant species, higher than forests. We suggest that disturbance in river banks should be minimized as much as possible in order to diminish the risk of invasion.</p></div

Benchmarking plant diversity of Palaearctic grasslands

Background and Aim: Knowledge on typical levels of plant species richness of plant communities is required both for fundamental research and biodiversity conservation. Vegetation ecologists and practitioners need reference richness values to be able to assess the diversity value of specific plant communities. Palaearctic grasslands, which cover around 22% of the realm surface, are known to host high plant diversity at small spatial scales, some of them being the world record holders. However, there are also some very species-poor Palaearctic grasslands. In any case, maximum and minimum richness values are only a small part of the story. It is evident that for a robust knowledge on plant diversity mean values averaged using many replicates are needed. As plant diversity is strongly dependent on spatial scale, here we aim at providing benchmarks of plant richness values of different Palaearctic grassland types at eight grain sizes: 0.0001 m2, 0.001 m2, 0.01 m2, 0.1 m2, 1 m2, 10 m2, 100 m2 and 1000 m2. Previous studies have already proved that richness of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens is not congruent across vegetation types, therefore, besides total plant diversity, we aim to assess separately vascular and non-vascular plant diversity, as well as the two components of the latter, bryophytes and lichens. Location: Palaearctic grasslands and low-scrubs. Taxa: Vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens. Methods: We will use data extracted from the GrassPlot database, which stores standardized vegetation-plot data sampled in precisely delimited plots. They make a total of 117,777 plots of the eight standard grain sizes, which will be analysed together with 1,051 additional plots provided specifically for this survey by Milan Chytrý and other colleagues. The 118,828 plots span a wide range of grassland and low scrub types, including rocky, sandy, xeric, meso-xeric, mesic, wet, Mediterranean, and alpine grasslands, as well as heathlands, thorn-scrubs, ruderal communities and azonal grasslands such as dune grasslands, salt marshes, wetlands, and rocks and screes. All these vegetation types are distributed across eight biomes throughout the Palaearctic realm