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.

S. (2019) Formalized classification of semi-dry grasslands in central and eastern Europe.-Preslia 91: 25-49 European semi-dry grasslands are among the most species-rich vegetation types in the northern hemisphere and form an important part of the habitat mosaics in the forest-steppe zone. However, there is no comprehensive evaluation of the variation in their composition and the phytosociological classification of these grasslands. For the syntaxonomic revision, we used a dataset of 34,173 vegetation plot records (relevés) from central and eastern Europe, which were assigned to the class Festuco-Brometea using the diagnostic species listed in the EuroVegChecklist. To determine the diagnostic species of the orders, we used a TWINSPAN classification of the whole dataset. Of the total dataset, 15,449 relevés were assigned to the order Brachypodietalia pinnati, which corresponds to semi-dry grasslands. This subset was again classified using TWINSPAN. Formal definitions of the following alliances were established: Mesobromion erecti, Cirsio-Brachypodion pinnati (incl. Fragario-Trifolion montani, Agrostio-Avenulion schellianae, Scabioso ochroleucae-Poion angustifoliae and Adonido vernalis-Stipion tirsae), Scorzonerion villosae and Chrysopogono-Danthonion. Another alliance, Armerion elongatae (= Koelerio-Phleion phleoidis p.p.), is transitional towards the class Koelerio-Corynephoretea and its status needs further evaluation. We also established formal definitions of all of the associations of Mesobromion and Cirsio-Brachypodion within the area studied. Associations were identified using (i) a TWINSPAN classification of the whole order, (ii) TWINSPAN classifications of regionally restricted data sets (usually all Brachypodietalia plots in one country) and (iii) existing national classification schemes. All formal definitions were written in the expert system language of the JUICE program. To obtain a more complete picture of the floristic similarities and gradients, we performed a DCA ordination of the associations. Our results revealed that meadow steppes in the forest-steppe zone in eastern Europe are very similar to semi-dry grasslands in central Europe.

Motivation Assessing biodiversity status and trends in plant communities is critical for understanding, quantifying and predicting the effects of global change on ecosystems. Vegetation plots record the occurrence or abundance of all plant species co‐occurring within delimited local areas. This allows species absences to be inferred, information seldom provided by existing global plant datasets. Although many vegetation plots have been recorded, most are not available to the global research community. A recent initiative, called ‘sPlot’, compiled the first global vegetation plot database, and continues to grow and curate it. The sPlot database, however, is extremely unbalanced spatially and environmentally, and is not open‐access. Here, we address both these issues by (a) resampling the vegetation plots using several environmental variables as sampling strata and (b) securing permission from data holders of 105 local‐to‐regional datasets to openly release data. We thus present sPlotOpen, the largest open‐access dataset of vegetation plots ever released. sPlotOpen can be used to explore global diversity at the plant community level, as ground truth data in remote sensing applications, or as a baseline for biodiversity monitoring. Main types of variable contained Vegetation plots (n = 95,104) recording cover or abundance of naturally co‐occurring vascular plant species within delimited areas. sPlotOpen contains three partially overlapping resampled datasets (c. 50,000 plots each), to be used as replicates in global analyses. Besides geographical location, date, plot size, biome, elevation, slope, aspect, vegetation type, naturalness, coverage of various vegetation layers, and source dataset, plot‐level data also include community‐weighted means and variances of 18 plant functional traits from the TRY Plant Trait Database. Spatial location and grain Global, 0.01–40,000 m². Time period and grain 1888–2015, recording dates. Major taxa and level of measurement 42,677 vascular plant taxa, plot‐level records. Software format Three main matrices (.csv), relationally linked.

QuestionsWhat are the main floristic patterns in the Pannonian and western Pontic steppe grasslands? What are the diagnostic species of the major subdivisions of the class Festuco‐Brometea (temperate Euro‐Siberian dry and semi‐dry grasslands)?LocationCarpathian Basin (E Austria, SE Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, N Croatia and N Serbia), Ukraine, S Poland and the Bryansk region of W Russia.MethodsWe applied a geographically stratified resampling to a large set of relevés containing at least one indicator species of steppe grasslands. The resulting data set of 17 993 relevés was classified using the TWINSPAN algorithm. We identified groups of clusters that corresponded to the class Festuco‐Brometea. After excluding relevés not belonging to our target class, we applied a consensus of three fidelity measures, also taking into account external knowledge, to establish the diagnostic species of the orders of the class. The original TWINSPAN divisions were revised on the basis of these diagnostic species.ResultsThe TWINSPAN classification revealed soil moisture as the most important environmental factor. Eight out of 16 TWINSPAN groups corresponded to Festuco‐Brometea. A total of 80, 32 and 58 species were accepted as diagnostic for the orders Brometalia erecti, Festucetalia valesiacae and Stipo‐Festucetalia pallentis, respectively. In the further subdivision of the orders, soil conditions, geographic distribution and altitude could be identified as factors driving the major floristic patterns.ConclusionsWe propose the following classification of the Festuco‐Brometea in our study area: (1) Brometalia erecti (semi‐dry grasslands) with Scabioso ochroleucae‐Poion angustifoliae (steppe meadows of the forest zone of E Europe) and Cirsio‐Brachypodion pinnati (meadow steppes on deep soils in the forest‐steppe zone of E Central and E Europe); (2) Festucetalia valesiacae (grass steppes) with Festucion valesiacae (grass steppes on less developed soils in the forest‐steppe zone of E Central and E Europe) and Stipion lessingianae (grass steppes in the steppe zone); (3) Stipo‐Festucetalia pallentis (rocky steppes) with Asplenio septentrionalis‐Festucion pallentis (rocky steppes on siliceous and intermediate soils), Bromo‐Festucion pallentis (thermophilous rocky steppes on calcareous soils), Diantho‐Seslerion (dealpine Sesleria caerulea grasslands of the Western Carpathians) and Seslerion rigidae (dealpine Sesleria rigida grasslands of the Romanian Carpathians).

Aims To create a comprehensive, consistent and unequivocal phytosociological classification of European marsh vegetation of the class Phragmito‐Magnocaricetea. Location Europe. Methods We applied the Cocktail method to a European data set of 249,800 vegetation plots. We identified the main purposes and attributes on which to base the classification, defined assignment rules for vegetation plots, and prepared formal definitions for all the associations, alliances and orders of the class Phragmito‐Magnocaricetea using formal logic. Each formula consists of the combination of “functional species groups”, cover values of individual species, and in the case of high‐rank syntaxa also of “discriminating species groups” created using the Group Improvement (GRIMP) method. Results The European Phragmito‐Magnocaricetea vegetation was classified into 92 associations grouped in 11 alliances and six orders. New syntaxa (previously invalidly published according to the International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature) were introduced: Bolboschoeno maritimi‐Schoenoplection tabernaemontani, Glycerio maximae‐Sietum latifolii, Glycerio notatae‐Veronicetum beccabungae, Schoenoplectetum corymbosi and Thelypterido palustris‐Caricetum elongatae. Based on a critical revision, some other syntaxa were rejected or excluded from the class Phragmito‐Magnocaricetea. Conclusions This work provides the first consistent classification of the class Phragmito‐Magnocaricetea at the European scale, which is an important tool for nature conservation. Our classification largely respects previously existing concepts of syntaxa, but it also proposes modifications to the recently published EuroVegChecklist. This work also provides a protocol that can be used for extending the current classification to new syntaxa and geographical regions.