BIOPOP - a database of plant traits and Internet application for nature conservation

In scientific literature there is a wealth of information about the ecological and life-history traits of plant species. This information would be very valuable for a functional analysis of the response of species and communities to environmental changes and subsequent vulnerability/viability analysis or predictive modelling. However, the information is scattered in a multiple of different sources. Researchers often are discouraged from searching all available information. We are compiling a database of plant traits of the flora of Germany. Our aim is to create a comprehensive, well documented database to be made freely accessible within FLORAWEB, an Internet portal of the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN). An interactive user-interface will enable the data to be readily used for extracting biological risk factors and for decision-making in nature conservation. A further aim of the project is to develop an application to enable simple predictions of plant population responses to habitat conservation or restoration management.