Benchmarking plant diversity of Palaearctic grasslands and other open habitats

Abstract

Aims Understanding fine‐grain diversity patterns across large spatial extents is fundamental for macroecological research and biodiversity conservation. Using the GrassPlot database, we provide benchmarks of fine‐grain richness values of Palaearctic open habitats for vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens and complete vegetation (i.e., the sum of the former three groups). Location Palaearctic biogeographic realm. Methods We used 126,524 plots of eight standard grain sizes from the GrassPlot database: 0.0001, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, 100 and 1,000 m2 and calculated the mean richness and standard deviations, as well as maximum, minimum, median, and first and third quartiles for each combination of grain size, taxonomic group, biome, region, vegetation type and phytosociological class. Results Patterns of plant diversity in vegetation types and biomes differ across grain sizes and taxonomic groups. Overall, secondary (mostly semi‐natural) grasslands and natural grasslands are the richest vegetation type. The open‐access file ”GrassPlot Diversity Benchmarks” and the web tool “GrassPlot Diversity Explorer” are now available online (https://edgg.org/databases/GrasslandDiversityExplorer) and provide more insights into species richness patterns in the Palaearctic open habitats. Conclusions The GrassPlot Diversity Benchmarks provide high‐quality data on species richness in open habitat types across the Palaearctic. These benchmark data can be used in vegetation ecology, macroecology, biodiversity conservation and data quality checking. While the amount of data in the underlying GrassPlot database and their spatial coverage are smaller than in other extensive vegetation‐plot databases, species recordings in GrassPlot are on average more complete, making it a valuable complementary data source in macroecology.

Proposals for improvement of Annex I of Directive 92/43/EEC: Sardinia

“…Motivation: The conservation value of the European traditional farming systems has been recognized for several decades because of the biodiversity levels they support and the socio-ecological values they provide (Bignal and McCracken 2000). Among traditional farming systems, semi-natural grasslands host high levels of plant diversity and habitat richness at different spatial scales (Biurrún et al 2021), responding to different drivers such as grazing intensity, soil and topographical variables (Napoleone et al 2021). Moreover, they support several ecosystem services (Bagella et al 2020a).…”

Regional typology of spring vegetation in Parc Ela (Grisons, Switzerland)

“…For springs in the Swiss Alps, western Carpathians, and mountains of Bulgaria, Sekulová et al (2012) found a mean species richness of 25.0, 22.2, and 17.3 species in 16 m 2 , respectively. The GrassPlot database (Dengler et al 2018;Biurrun et al 2019) gives a mean total species count of 15.4 species in 1 m 2 (n = 493) for wetlands in alpine, boreal, and temperate climates (GrassPlot Diversity Explorer v. 2.10; https://edgg.org/databases/GrasslandDiversityExplorer; see Biurrun et al 2021); in this study, a mean species count of 21.7 species in 1 m 2 was recorded. However, few records of Montio-Cardaminetea are represented in the database at present, and other wetlands (e.g., reedbeds and riparian habitats) are generally species-poorer on average.…”

Plant communities, synusiae and the arithmetic of a sustainable classification

“…In the field, it is a good idea to make an effort to collect the best possible data, given the time, logistical, and resource constrains. The recording of non-vascular taxa can represent important added value in studies on the drivers of α-diversity, as well as species-area curves used to study fine-grain β-diversity (Löbel et al 2016;Biurrun et al 2021;Dembicz et al 2021). However, it is unlikely that the recording of non-vascular taxa will significantly impact the general paradigms of the current phytosociological classification.…”