Description
"FORMICA_VEG - Vegetation surveys along edge-to-core transects in open and dense forests in the framework of the Forest Microclimate Assessment (FORMICA) project" is a sampling event dataset published by Ghent University. It contains information on 125 sampling events (vegetation relevées of 3 x 3 m²) with 4159 validated occurrences of vascular plants in ancient deciduous broadleaved forests in temperate Europe. These data were collected to study understorey vegetation biodiversity and composition responses to distance to the forest edge in ancient forest stands with different management types in 45 edge-to-interior forest transects across Europe (Govaert et al., 2019, <a>http://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.12844</a>). The aim was to disentangle the effects of the management type and the distance to the edge on alpha diversity of understorey plants in multiple European regions, while accounting for environmental characteristics. Issues with the dataset can be reported at https://github.com/inbo/fornalab-datasets/issues.
We have released this dataset to the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero waiver. If you have any questions regarding this dataset, don't hesitate to contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata or via opendata@inbo.be.
This sampling took place in the framework of the FORMICA project (<a href="https://formica.ugent.be/">FORMICA</a>) and was funded by the European Research Council (ERC) (ERC Starting Grant FORMICA 757833). This dataset was published with technical support provided by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO).
Data Records
The data in this sampling event resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 225 records.
2 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Govaert S, Vangansbeke P, Meeussen C, Vanneste T, De Frenne P (2024). FORMICA_VEG - Vegetation surveys along edge-to-core transects in open and dense forests in the framework of the Forest Microclimate Assessment (FORMICA) project. Version 1.1. Ghent University. Samplingevent dataset. https://ipt.inbo.be/resource?r=formica_veg&v=1.1
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is Ghent University. To the extent possible under law, the publisher has waived all rights to these data and has dedicated them to the Public Domain (CC0 1.0). Users may copy, modify, distribute and use the work, including for commercial purposes, without restriction.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 93fb6063-1eb7-463b-abbb-95d828147d19. Ghent University publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Belgian Biodiversity Platform.
Keywords
Samplingevent; vascular plants; understorey herbs; vegetation survey; forest edges; temperate forests; forest structure
Contacts
- Metadata Provider ●
- Originator ●
- Point Of Contact
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8939-1305
- Metadata Provider ●
- Originator
- Originator
- Originator
Geographic Coverage
Europe
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [-90, -180], North East [90, 180] |
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Taxonomic Coverage
All vascular plants. The herb layer included all vascular species, both woody plants smaller than 1 m and non-woody plants, as well as lianas. The shrub layer was defined as all woody species with a height between 1 and 7 m and the tree layer as all trees reaching heights more than 7 m. Corylus avellana was always classified into the shrub layer, regardless of its height.
| Kingdom | Plantae |
|---|
Temporal Coverage
| Start Date / End Date | 2018-05-08 / 2018-06-30 |
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Project Data
Microclimatic buffering of plant responses to macroclimate warming in temperate forests. Recent global warming is acting on ecosystems across the globe and threatening biodiversity. Yet, due to slow responses, many biological communities are lagging behind warming of the macroclimate (the climate of a large geographic region). The buffering of microclimates near the ground measured in local areas, arising from terrain features such as vegetation and topography, can explain why many species are lagging behind macroclimate warming. However, almost all studies ignore the effects of microclimates and key uncertainties still exist about this mechanism. Microclimates are particularly evident in forests, where understorey habitats are buffered by overstorey trees. In temperate forests, the understorey contains the vast majority of plant diversity and plays an essential role in driving ecosystem processes. The overall goal of FORMICA (FORest MICroclimate Assessment) is to quantify and understand the role of microclimatic buffering in modulating forest plant responses to macroclimate warming. We apply microtemperature loggers, perform experimental heating, use fluorescent tubes and install a large-scale transplant experiment in temperate forests across Europe. The results will then be integrated in models to forecast plant diversity in temperate forests as macroclimate warms. FORMICA is a large integrative study on microclimatic buffering of macroclimate warming in forests. The project will reshape our current understanding of the impacts of climate change on forests and help land managers and policy makers to develop urgently needed adaptation strategies.
| Title | Forest Microclimate Assessment (FORMICA) |
|---|---|
| Funding | European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant FORMICA 757833 |
| Study Area Description | Europe |
| Design Description | Work package 1: Observatory: plant data at individual, population, species, community & ecosystem level Global macroclimate is changing significantly, with a rise in temperature as one of the most studied trends. Less monitored though nevertheless important is the microclimate. As this microclimate can differ considerably from the macroclimate due to local terrain features or vegetation cover, it might protect plants against the consequences of climate change. Forests, which create their own unique microclimatic systems driven by the vegetation structure, can thus buffer organisms against the rising temperature. Therefore, animals and understorey plants would not have to migrate or adapt as quickly as expected. The goal of WP1 is twofold: - To quantify microclimatic buffering and investigate the impact of forest characteristics (tree species composition, management, structure) - To study climate - plant performance relationships along different spatial scales Why? To gain more insight in the establishment of microclimates and to predict the effects of future climate change on understorey species taking into account microclimates. Further, this work package will also provide management guidelines on how to manage forest while focussing on conversation in the face of macroclimate warming. How? A macro- and microclimatic plot network was established across four spatial scales: (1) a latitudinal gradient from Norway to central Italy with plots in nine different regions, (2) an altitudinal gradient in three of the selected regions, (3) a management gradient and (4) and gradient from the forest edge towards the core. In addition to macro- and microclimate, the forest structure, soil and litter characteristics and the vegetation community and its functional traits were assessed. |
The personnel involved in the project:
Bibliographic Citations
- Govaert S, Meeussen C, Vanneste T, et al. (2019). Edge influence on understorey plant communities depends on forest management. Journal of Vegetation Science. 2020;31:281–292. doi.org/10.1111/jvs.12844
Additional Metadata
| Alternative Identifiers | 93fb6063-1eb7-463b-abbb-95d828147d19 |
|---|---|
| https://ipt.inbo.be/resource?r=formica_veg |