Distribution maps of vegetation alliances in Europe
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2022-01Author
Preislerová, Zdenka
Jiménez-Alfaro, Borja
Mucina, Ladislav
Berg, Christian
Bonari, Gianmaria
Kuzemko, Anna
Landucci, Flavia
Monteiro-Henriques, Tiago
Novák, Pavel
Vynokurov, Denys
Bergmeier, Erwin
Dengler, Jürgen
Apostolova, Iva
Bioret, Frederic
Capelo, Jorge
Čarni, Andraž
Çoban, Süleyman
Csiky, János
Ćuk, Mirjana
Ćušterevska, Renata
Daniëls, Fred J.A.
De Sanctis, Michele
Didukh, Yakiv
Dítě, Daniel
Fanelli, Giuliano
Golovanov, Yaroslav
Golub, Valentin
Guarino, Riccardo
Hájek, Michal
Iakushenko, Dmytro
Indreica, Adrian
Jansen, Florian
Jašková, Anni
Jiroušek, Martin
Kalníková, Veronika
Kavgacı, Ali
Kucherov, Ilya
Küzmič, Filip
Lebedeva, Maria
Lososová, Zdeňka
Lysenko, Tatiana
Milanović, Đorđije
Onyshchenko, Viktor
Perrin, Gwenhael
Peterka, Tomáš
Rašomavičius, Valerijus
Rodríguez-Rojo, María Pilar
Rodwell, John S.
Rūsiņa, Solvita
Sánchez-Mata, Daniel
Schaminée, Joop H.J.
Semenishchenkov, Yuri
Shevchenko, Nikolay
Šibík, Jozef
Škvorc, Željko
Smagin, Viktor
Stešević, Danijela
Stupar, Vladimir
Šumberová, Kateřina
Theurillat, Jean-Paul
Tikhonova, Elena
Tzonev, Rossen
Valachovič, Milan
Vassilev, Kiril
Willner, Wolfgang
Yamalov, Sergey
Chytrý, Milan
Večeřa, Martin
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Applied Vegetation Science 25(1) : (2022) // Article ID e12642
Abstract
Aim The 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. Location Europe, Greenland, Canary Islands, Madeira, Azores, Cyprus and the Caucasus countries. Methods We 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. Results Distribution 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. Conclusions The 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.
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.© 2022 International Association for Vegetation Science