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.

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 |

Aim: Formalized classifications synthesizing vegetation data at the continental scale are being attempted only now, although they are of key importance for nature conservation planning. Therefore, we aim to provide a vegetation classification and to describe the main biogeographical patterns of floodplain forests and alder carrs in Europe. Location: Europe.Methods: A database of more than 40 000 vegetation plots of floodplain forests and alder carrs across Europe was compiled. After geographic stratification, 16 392 plots were available for classification, which was performed using the supervised method Cocktail. We also searched for new associations using semi-supervised Kmeans classification. The main biogeographic patterns and climate-related gradients in species composition were determined using detrended correspondence analysis and cluster analysis.Results: Thirty associations of floodplain forests and alder carrs were distinguished, which belong to five alliances. The Alnion incanae includes riparian, seepage and hardwood floodplain forests in the nemoral and hemiboreal zones (dominated by Alnus glutinosa and Fraxinus excelsior) and in the boreal zone (dominated by A. incana). The Osmundo-Alnion represents oceanic vegetation dominated by Alnus glutinosa, Fraxinus angustifolia and F. excelsior distributed mostly on the Iberian Peninsula and composed of species with Atlantic distribution and Iberian endemics. The Populion albae comprises floodplain forests frequently dominated by Fraxinus angustifolia, Populus alba and P. nigra that are widespread in floodplains of large rivers under summer-dry climates in the Mediterranean region. The Platanion orientalis represents eastern Mediterranean floodplain forests dominated by Platanus orientalis. The Alnion glutinosae includes forest swamps dominated by Alnus glutinosa distributed mostly in the nemoral and hemiboreal zones. The main biogeographic patterns within European floodplain forests and alder carrs reflect the climatic contrasts between the Mediterranean, nemoral, boreal and mountain regions. Oceanic floodplain forests differ from those in the rest of Europe. The hydrological regime appears to be the most important factor influencing species composition within regions.Conclusions: This study is the first applying a formalized classification at the association level for a broad vegetation type at the continental scale. The proposed classification provides the scientific basis for the necessary improvement of the habitat classification systems used in European nature conservation.

Questions What are the main floristic patterns in European beech forests? Which classification at the alliance and suballiance level is the most convincing? Location Europe and Asia Minor. Methods We applied a TWINSPAN classification to a data set of 24 605 relevés covering the whole range of Fagus sylvatica forests and the western part of Fagus orientalis forests. We identified 24 ‘operational phytosociological units’ (OPUs), which were used for further analysis. The position of each OPU along the soil pH and temperature gradient was evaluated using Ellenberg Indicator Values. Fidelity of species to OPUs was calculated using the phi coefficient and constancy ratio. We compared alternative alliance concepts, corresponding to groups of OPUs, in terms of number and frequency of diagnostic species. We also established formal definitions for the various alliance concepts based on comparison of the total cover of the diagnostic species groups, and evaluated alternative geographical subdivisions of beech forests. Results The first and second division levels of TWINSPAN followed the temperature and soil pH gradients, while lower divisions were mainly geographical. We grouped the 22 OPUs of Fagus sylvatica forests into acidophytic, meso‐basiphytic and thermo‐basiphytic beech forests, and separated two OPUs of F. orientalis forests. However, a solution with only two ecologically defined alliances of F. sylvatica forests (acidophytic vs basiphytic) was clearly superior with regard to number and frequency of diagnostic species. In contrast, when comparing groupings with three to six geographical alliances of basiphytic beech forests, respectively, we did not find a strongly superior solution. Conclusions We propose to classify F. sylvatica forests into 15 suballiances – three acidophytic and 12 basiphytic ones. Separating these two groups at alliance or order level was clearly supported by our results. Concerning the grouping of the 12 basiphytic suballiances into ecological or geographical alliances, as advocated by many authors, we failed to find an optimal solution. Therefore, we propose a multi‐dimensional classification of basiphytic beech forests, including both ecological and geographical groups as equally valid concepts which may be used alternatively depending on the purpose and context of the classification.