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Department of Biology
Institute of Plant Science and Microbiology
    Division BEE  >  Biodiversity & Ecology  >  Vol.4 >  Article 119

Biodiversity & Ecology

Short Database Report    Open Access 

FLOREM – a floristic database on mountain ecosystems


Thomas Spiegelberger* & Claude Bernard-Brunet

Article first published online: 24 September 2012

DOI: 10.7809/b-e.00169

*Corresponding author contact: thomas.spiegelberger@irstea.fr

Biodiversity & Ecology  (Biodivers. Ecol.)

Special Volume: Vegetation databases for the 21st century,
edited by Jürgen Dengler, Jens Oldeland, Florian Jansen, Milan Chytrý, Jörg Ewald, Manfred Finckh, Falko Glöckler, Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez, Robert K. Peet & Joop H.J. Schaminée
Volume 4, pages 380–380, Sep 12
  PDF  (300 kB)

Keywords: French Alps; French Pyrenees; high elevation; montane zone; subalpine zone.

English

Abstract: FlorEM (GIVD ID EU-FR-002) is a database restricted to the flora of the montane and subalpine zones of the French Alps and Pyrenees. More than 5,000 line transects and plot data with the abundance of each species have been inventoried since the 1970s, of which a part is precisely geolocalized by GPS. The metadata of each relevé includes information on abiotic (exposition, altitude, etc.), biotic (bed rocks, physical-chemical soil analyses, etc.) and agronomic variables (productivity, type of cattle, stocking rates, etc.). The majority of the relevés are located in the Northern French Alps (27%, in particular in Vanoise, Beaufortin, Oisans and Maurienne), the Southern French Alps (50%, Vercors, Briançonnais) and in the Pyrenees (13%). Approximately half of the relevés are located above 2,000 m, 1/4 between 1,500 – 2,000 m, and 1/4 below 1,500 m. Two sites in the Department of Isere have been equipped with 12 paired plots, one grazed and the other not grazed for more than 20 years (Haut-Plateaux du Vercors) or 30 years (Alpe d'Huez). The vegetation has been sampled regularly through the study period. These plots constitute an asset of first importance of FlorEM allowing to follow the interactions between climate change and change of pastoral management.

Suggested citation:
Spiegelberger, T., Bernard-Brunet, C. (2012): FLOREM – a floristic database on mountain ecosystems. – In: Dengler, J., Oldeland, J., Jansen, F., Chytrý, M., Ewald, J., Finckh, M., Glöckler, F., Lopez-Gonzalez, G., Peet, R.K., Schaminée, J.H.J. [Eds.]: Vegetation databases for the 21st century. – Biodiversity & Ecology 4: 380–380. DOI: 10.7809/b-e.00169.