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Institute of Plant Science and Microbiology
    Division BEE  >  Biodiversity & Ecology  >  Vol.4 >  Article 65

Biodiversity & Ecology

Short Database Report    Open Access 

Database Species-Area Relationships in Palaearctic Grasslands


Jürgen Dengler*, Salza Todorova, Thomas Becker, Steffen Boch, Milan Chytrý, Martin Diekmann, Christian Dolnik, Cecilia Dupré, Gian Pietro Giusso del Galdo, Riccardo Guarino, Michael Jeschke, Kathrin Kiehl, Anna Kuzemko, Swantje Löbel, Zdenka Otýpková, Hristo Pedashenko, Robert K. Peet, Eszter Ruprecht, Anna Szabó, Ioannis Tsiripidis & Kiril Vassilev

Article first published online: 24 September 2012

DOI: 10.7809/b-e.00115

*Corresponding author contact: dengler@botanik.uni-hamburg.de

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 321–322, Sep 12
  PDF  (268 kB)

Keywords: biodiversity; bryophyte; dry grassland; European Dry Grassland Group (EDGG); Festuco-Brometea; Koelerio-Corynephoretea; lichen; Mediterranean grassland; scale dependence; soil data.

English

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 relevés 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 Additionally, the database contains similar nested-plot data from published and unpublished sources covering dry grasslands in Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.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 10-m² 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.

Suggested citation:
Dengler, J., Todorova, S., Becker, T., Boch, S., Chytrý, M., Diekmann, M., Dolnik, C., Dupré, C., Giusso del Galdo, G.P., Guarino, R., Jeschke, M., Kiehl, K., Kuzemko, A., Löbel, S., Otýpková, Z., Pedashenko, H., Peet, R.K., Ruprecht, E., Szabó, A., Tsirip (2012): Database Species-Area Relationships in Palaearctic Grasslands. – 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: 321–322. DOI: 10.7809/b-e.00115.