Arable Weeds and Management in Europe

Abstract

“Arable Weeds and Management in Europe” is a collection of weed vegetation records from arable fields in Europe, initiated within the Working Group Weeds and Biodiversity of the European Weed Research Society (EWRS). Vegetation-plot data from this scientific community was not previously contributed to databases. We aim to prove the usefulness of collection for large scale studies through some first analyses. We hope to assure other weed scientists who have signalled willingness to share data, and plan to construct a full data base, making the data available for easy sharing. Presently, the collection has over 60,000 records, taken between 1996 and 2015. Many more studies for potential inclusion exist. Data originate mostly from studies exploring the effect of agricultural management on weed vegetation. The database is accompanied with extensive meta-data on crop and weed management on the surveyed fields. The criteria for inclusion were a minimum amount of information on the cultivated crop, and a georeference. Most fields were surveyed repeatedly, i.e. transects, multiple random plots, or repeated visits. All surveys aimed to record the complete vegetation on the plots. Sometimes, taxa were identified only to genus level, due to survey dates very early in the vegetation period. Plant taxonomy is standardized to the Euro+Med PlantBase.

The utility of the ‘Arable Weeds and Management in Europe’ database: Challenges and opportunities of combining weed survey data at a European scale

“…Despite such discrepancies, there is potential for added benefits when surveys are analysed in combination, as demonstrated by the success of several plot‐vegetation databases (e.g., European Vegetation Archive [EVA] [Chytrý et al, 2016 ], European Weed Vegetation Database [Küzmič et al, 2020 ]). The Arable Weeds and Management in Europe (AWME) database (Bürger et al, 2020 ) provides a new resource for combining arable weed survey data and complementary management information from across Europe.…”

Two sides of one medal: Arable weed vegetation of Europe in phytosociological data compared to agronomical weed surveys

“…Arable Weeds and Management in Europe (GIVD ID EU‐00‐033; Bürger et al, 2020) is a collection of vegetation‐plot data created through a call to members of the Working Group Weeds and Biodiversity of the European Weed Research Society in June 2019. The aim of this initiative was to make the data visible and more readily available for further research.…”

AgriWeedClim database: A repository of vegetation plot data from Central European arable habitats over 100 years

“…On September 15, 2020, a total of 39,072 vegetation plots were received from EVA including 3184 vegetation plots from the “European Weed Vegetation database” (Küzmič et al, 2020), which is integrated in EVA. Further data requests distributed among colleagues resulted in 18,471 additional vegetation plots received — including plot data sampled using other methods than Braun‐Blanquet (1964) such as 4224 vegetation plots received from the database “Arable Weeds and Management in Europe” (Bürger et al, 2020), which used absolute counts of individuals as measure of abundance. Additional efforts were focused on digitizing historical data to close remaining gaps, resulting in 1207 vegetation plots from 10 publications being digitized and integrated into the AgriWeedClim database.…”

“…Thus, more specific databases are needed to fill these information gaps and facilitate analyses. Vegetation plot data for arable habitats in (Central) Europe, have recently been compiled in two such databases: (i) the “European Weed Vegetation Database” (Küzmič et al, 2020) and (ii) the “Arable Weeds and Management in Europe” database (Bürger et al, 2020). The former includes vegetation plots from fields as well as ruderal habitats and its geographic focus is mainly on southeastern Europe with less than 25% (ca.…”

“…Vegetation plot data for arable habitats in (Central) Europe, have recently been compiled in two such databases: (i) the "European Weed Vegetation Database" (Küzmič et al, 2020) and (ii) the "Arable Weeds and Management in Europe" database (Bürger et al, 2020).…”