Journal
JOURNAL OF VEGETATION SCIENCE
Volume 32, Issue 3, Pages -Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/jvs.13035
Keywords
biodiversity; Europe; European Vegetation Archive; family-level taxonomy; macroecology; map; plant community; relative species richness; vascular plant family; vegetation
Categories
Funding
- Czech Science Foundation, programme EXPRO [19-28491X]
- Czech Science Foundation [18-02773S]
- Basque Government [IT936-16]
- Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS) [P1-0236]
- National Research Foundation of Ukraine [2020.01/0140]
- Slovak Research and Development Agency [APVV 16-0431]
- National Science Fund [DCOST 01/7/19.10.2018]
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This study aimed to evaluate the representation of vascular plant families within different vegetation formations across Europe. Through analyzing data from 816,005 vegetation plots, distinct spatial patterns for many families in forests, grasslands, scrub, and wetlands were identified. These findings can inspire further biogeographical and macroecological studies and contribute to a better understanding of the evolutionary history of plant families.
Aims Biodiversity is traditionally studied mostly at the species level, but biogeographical and macroecological studies at higher taxonomic levels can provide valuable insights into the evolutionary processes at large spatial scales. Our aim was to assess the representation of vascular plant families within different vegetation formations across Europe. Location Europe. Methods We used a data set of 816,005 vegetation plots from the European Vegetation Archive (EVA). For each plot, we calculated the relative species richness of each plant family as the number of species belonging to that family divided by the total number of species. We mapped the relative species richness, averaged across all plots in 50 km x 50 km grid cells, for each family and broad habitat groups: forests, grasslands, scrub and wetlands. We also calculated the absolute species richness and the Shannon diversity index for each family. Results We produced 522 maps of mean relative species richness for a total of 152 vascular plant families occurring in forests, grasslands, scrub and wetlands. We found distinct spatial patterns for many combinations of families and habitat groups. The resulting series of 522 maps is freely available, both as images and GIS layers. Conclusions The distinct spatial patterns revealed in the maps suggest that the relative species richness of plant families at the community level reflects the evolutionary history of individual families. We believe that the maps and associated data can inspire further biogeographical and macroecological studies and strengthen the ongoing integration of phylogenetic, functional and taxonomic diversity concepts.
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