Published in

Wiley, Applied Vegetation Science, 1(25), 2022

DOI: 10.1111/avsc.12642

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Distribution maps of vegetation alliances in Europe

Journal article published in 2022 by Zdenka Preislerová ORCID, Borja Jiménez‐Alfaro ORCID, Ladislav Mucina ORCID, Christian Berg ORCID, Gianmaria Bonari ORCID, Anna Kuzemko ORCID, Flavia Landucci ORCID, Corrado Marcenò ORCID, Tiago Monteiro‐Henriques ORCID, Pavel Novák ORCID, Denys Vynokurov ORCID, Erwin Bergmeier ORCID, Jürgen Dengler ORCID, Iva Apostolova ORCID, Frederic Bioret and other authors.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

Full text: Unavailable

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Orange circle
Postprint: archiving restricted
Red circle
Published version: archiving forbidden
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

AbstractAimThe first comprehensive checklist of European phytosociological alliances, orders and classes (EuroVegChecklist) was published by Mucina et al. (2016, Applied Vegetation Science, 19 (Suppl. 1), 3–264). However, this checklist did not contain detailed information on the distribution of individual vegetation types. Here we provide the first maps of all alliances in Europe.LocationEurope, Greenland, Canary Islands, Madeira, Azores, Cyprus and the Caucasus countries.MethodsWe collected data on the occurrence of phytosociological alliances in European countries and regions from literature and vegetation‐plot databases. We interpreted and complemented these data using the expert knowledge of an international team of vegetation scientists and matched all the previously reported alliance names and concepts with those of the EuroVegChecklist. We then mapped the occurrence of the EuroVegChecklist alliances in 82 territorial units corresponding to countries, large islands, archipelagos and peninsulas. We subdivided the mainland parts of large or biogeographically heterogeneous countries based on the European biogeographical regions. Specialized alliances of coastal habitats were mapped only for the coastal section of each territorial unit.ResultsDistribution maps were prepared for 1,105 alliances of vascular‐plant dominated vegetation reported in the EuroVegChecklist. For each territorial unit, three levels of occurrence probability were plotted on the maps: (a) verified occurrence; (b) uncertain occurrence; and (c) absence. The maps of individual alliances were complemented by summary maps of the number of alliances and the alliance–area relationship. Distribution data are also provided in a spreadsheet.ConclusionsThe new map series represents the first attempt to characterize the distribution of all vegetation types at the alliance level across Europe. There are still many knowledge gaps, partly due to a lack of data for some regions and partly due to uncertainties in the definition of some alliances. The maps presented here provide a basis for future research aimed at filling these gaps.