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 vegetationplot 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 largescale analyses of European vegetation diversity both for fundamental research and nature conservation applications. Updated information on EVA is available online at http://euroveg.org/evadatabase.

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Lysenko 91,92 | Armin Macanović 93 | Parastoo Mahdavi 94 | Peter Manning 35 | Corrado Marcenò 13 | Vassiliy Martynenko 95 | Maurizio Mencuccini 96 | Vanessa Minden 97 | Jesper Erenskjold Moeslund 54 | Marco Moretti 98 | Jonas V. Müller 99 | Abstract Aims: Vegetation-plot records provide information on the presence and cover or abundance of plants co-occurring in the same community. Vegetation-plot data are spread across research groups, environmental agencies and biodiversity research centers and, thus, are rarely accessible at continental or global scales. Here we present the sPlot database, which collates vegetation plots worldwide to allow for the exploration of global patterns in taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity at the plant community level.Results: sPlot version 2.1 contains records from 1,121,244 vegetation plots, which comprise 23,586,216 records of plant species and their relative cover or abundance in plots collected worldwide between 1885 and 2015. We complemented the information for each plot by retrieving climate and soil conditions and the biogeographic context (e.g., biomes) from external sources, and by calculating community-weighted means and variances of traits using gap-filled data from the global plant trait database TRY. Moreover, we created a phylogenetic tree for 50,167 out of the 54,519 species identified in the plots. We present the first maps of global patterns of community richness and community-weighted means of key traits. Conclusions: The availability of vegetation plot data in sPlot offers new avenues for vegetation analysis at the global scale. K E Y W O R D S biodiversity, community ecology, ecoinformatics, functional diversity, global scale, macroecology, phylogenetic diversity, plot database, sPlot, taxonomic diversity, vascular plant, vegetation relevé 166 |

Aims Phytosociological classification of fen vegetation (Scheuchzerio palustris‐Caricetea fuscae class) differs among European countries. Here we propose a unified vegetation classification of European fens at the alliance level, provide unequivocal assignment rules for individual vegetation plots, identify diagnostic species of fen alliances, and map their distribution. Location Europe, western Siberia and SE Greenland. Methods 29 049 vegetation‐plot records of fens were selected from databases using a list of specialist fen species. Formal definitions of alliances were created using the presence, absence and abundance of Cocktail‐based species groups and indicator species. DCA visualized the similarities among the alliances in an ordination space. The ISOPAM classification algorithm was applied to regional subsets with homogeneous plot size to check whether the classification based on formal definitions matches the results of unsupervised classifications. Results The following alliances were defined: Caricion viridulo‐trinervis (sub‐halophytic Atlantic dune‐slack fens), Caricion davallianae (temperate calcareous fens), Caricion atrofusco‐saxatilis (arcto‐alpine calcareous fens), Stygio‐Caricion limosae (boreal topogenic brown‐moss fens), Sphagno warnstorfii‐Tomentypnion nitentis (Sphagnum‐brown‐moss rich fens), Saxifrago‐Tomentypnion (continental to boreo‐continental nitrogen‐limited brown‐moss rich fens), Narthecion scardici (alpine fens with Balkan endemics), Caricion stantis (arctic brown‐moss rich fens), Anagallido tenellae‐Juncion bulbosi (Ibero‐Atlantic moderately rich fens), Drepanocladion exannulati (arcto‐boreal‐alpine non‐calcareous fens), Caricion fuscae (temperate moderately rich fens), Sphagno‐Caricion canescentis (poor fens) and Scheuchzerion palustris (dystrophic hollows). The main variation in the species composition of European fens reflected site chemistry (pH, mineral richness) and sorted the plots from calcareous and extremely rich fens, through rich and moderately rich fens, to poor fens and dystrophic hollows. ISOPAM classified regional subsets according to this gradient, supporting the ecological meaningfulness of this classification concept on both the regional and continental scale. Geographic/macroclimatic variation was reflected in the second most important gradient. Conclusions The pan‐European classification of fen vegetation was proposed and supported by the data for the first time. Formal definitions developed here allow consistent and unequivocal assignment of individual vegetation plots to fen alliances at the continental scale.

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Questions: Is vegetation composition of ombrotrophic bogs with an undisturbed water regime resistant or sensitive to ongoing high atmospheric deposition and climatic changes? Location: The Sudeten Mountains (Czech Republic). Methods: Species composition of bryophytes and vascular plants was sampled in 25 permanent plots in suboceanic bogs of the Jizerské hory Mountains and in 26 permanent plots in subcontinental bogs of the Hrubý Jeseník Mountains. The permanent plots were established and first sampled in 1991. These plots were re‐sampled after 14 and 17 years, respectively. We also used historical vegetation plots (1947–1949; 1980) from the same localities in order to reveal possible changes that might start earlier. Water chemistry was analysed annually, usually three times a year. Compositional changes were analysed by PERMANOVA, β‐diversity changes by PERMDISP and other changes by t‐test and Fisher's exact test. Results: At the community level, no statistically significant changes were detected in permanent plots (PERMANOVA, PERMDISP), either in hollows or in hummocks, but the vegetation composition changed between the oldest (historical) and the newest data sets. At the level of functional groups, cover of Cyperaceae significantly decreased and cover of other herbs (excluding graminoids) and Sphagna increased in the Hrubý Jeseník Mountains, whereas no changes were detected in the Jizerské hory Mountains. Cover of ericoid dwarf shrubs has not changed in either area. At the level of particular species, the frequency of Sphagnum magellanicum, Carex limosa, Scheuchzeria palustris and Vaccinium myrtillus decreased, while the frequency of Straminergon stramineum, Sphagnum recurvum agg., Eriophorum angustifolium and Luzula sylvatica increased. These changes were more evident when recent and historical data were compared. Conclusions: When water regime is not affected, the bog vegetation seems to be rather resistant to high atmospheric deposition and climate fluctuation. A significant change of the species composition occurs only in the long‐term perspective. Particular species could, however, decrease or increase their frequencies more rapidly. For some of these species a positive or negative response to nitrogen availability was also found in other studies, whereas for other species further research is needed in order to separate the effects of atmospheric deposition and internal ecosystem dynamics.

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Question: Mosses are important ecosystem engineers in mires. Their pH optima and tolerances presented in the literature differ between regions, even though the high dispersal ability of mosses should prevent local adaptations. Nutrient availability is sometimes suggested as a reason for local niche differentiation. Are patterns in moss niche diversification, optima and tolerance with respect to pH consistent between regions differing in nutrient availability and abundance of calcareous bedrock?Location: Western Carpathians (Slovakia, a predominantly calcareous P-and K-poor region), Bohemian Massif (Czech Republic, a predominantly crystalline, P-and K-rich region).Methods: Analyses of an original stratified data set and a large database using species response curves.Results: Although the above two regions differ in abundance of calcareous fens, species pH optima (either original or adjusted according to calcium level) were consistent between the regions and data sets. Calcium-tolerant peat mosses (Sphagnum warnstorfii, S. contortum, S. teres) showed an optimum at pH 6 and rather narrow niches. Sphagnum fallax was the most acidophilous, and both S. palustre and S. flexuosum had rather wide intermediate niches. The pH amplitudes were largely consistent between the regions (especially when adjusted pH was used), but S. fallax and Aulacomnium palustre exhibited wider niches in the Bohemian Massif. Despite no significant difference in niche optimum and width, some more nutrient demanding and more generalist species occurred at higher frequency in specific parts of the pH gradient in the Bohemian Massif, while some fen specialists showed the opposite pattern. Conclusions:The small stratified data set and the database data set yielded rather consistent results regarding fen moss niches in the Bohemian Massif and the Western Carpathians. The consistency in pH niches corresponds to the lack of large-scale genetic differentiation in moss species. The observed inter-regional differences in species response curves may thus reflect an increased frequency of competitively strong species in certain parts of the pH/Ca gradient in the nutrient-richer Bohemian Massif rather than genetically conditioned niche shifts. Expansion of these species was probably triggered by potassium enrichment that took place in the 1970s-1980s. Inter-regional differences in species response curves were observed in both data sets, but in the large database data set they were more frequently statistically significant.