InboVeg - NICHE-Vlaanderen groundwater related vegetation relevés for Flanders, Belgium

Els De Bie1, Dimitri Brosens1

1 Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), Kliniekstraat 25, 1070, Brussels, Belgium

Corresponding author(s): Els De Bie (els.debie@inbo.be)Dimitri Brosens (dimitri.brosens@inbo.be)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

De Bie E, Brosens D (2021): InboVeg - NICHE-Vlaanderen groundwater related vegetation relevés for Flanders, Belgium. v1.7. Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). Dataset/Samplingevent. https://doi.org/10.15468/gouexm https://doi.org/10.15468/gouexm

Abstract

The NICHE-Vlaanderen project had the goal to develop an hydro-ecological prediction model, used in ecological impact assessment studies. The data in this dataset is part of the vegetation-plot data used to feed the model and contains groundwater depending terrestrial vegetation relevées in relation to groundwater levels. Vegetation plot relevés were performed near selected piezometers (WATINA database, groundwater network Flanders) between May and August in 2002, 2004 and 2005. Initially the vegetation surveys were recorded in Turboveg (Hennekens, 1998) and later on moved to INBOVEG, the INBO vegetation plot database. The dataset contains 569 vegetation relevées, recorded during the fieldwork of the NICHE-Vlaanderen project. Relevées contain species coverage data, coverage data for layers, vegetation height and the date of recording. All the vegetation relevées were classified as vegetation types. Issues related to the dataset can by submitted here: https://github.com/inbo/data-publication/tree/master/datasets/inboveg-niche-vlaanderen-events
To allow anyone to use this dataset, we have released the data to the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). We would appreciate however, if you read and follow these norms for data use (http://www.inbo.be/en/norms-for-data-use) and provide a link to the original dataset (https://doi.org/10.15468/gouexm) whenever possible. If you use these data for a scientific paper, please cite the dataset following the applicable citation norms and/or consider us for co-authorship. We are always interested to know how you have used or visualized the data, or to provide more information, so please contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata, opendata@inbo.be or https://twitter.com/LifeWatchINBO.

Keywords: Samplingevent, relevés, groundwater dependent vegetation, WATINA, terrestrial survey, Samplingevent

General description

Purpose: The goal of "NICHE-Vlaanderen" is to adapt the Dutch hydro-ecological prediction model “NICHE (Nature Impact Assessment of Changes in Hydro‐Ecological Systems)" for Flanders. The "NICHE-Vlaanderen" tool will be used to predict the effects on vegetation due to changes in hydrological conditions. This dataset only contains the vegetation plot data collected during the time of the project (2002 – 2006). The complete NICHE-Vlaanderen set also contains data of literature.

Data published through GBIF: https://ipt.inbo.be/resource?r=inboveg-niche-vlaanderen-events

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: For every vegetation plot the tracheophytes and bryophytes were determined.
Taxonomic ranks
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta, Bryophyta
Common names: vascular plants, mosses

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: Flanders, Watina (Water in Nature Reserves) Network
Flanders, Belgium

Flanders has a temperate maritime climate influenced by the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, with relatively moderate summers and mild winters. Flanders is the northern part of Belgium. The two main geographical regions of Flanders are the Yser basin, in the North-West and the central plain. 

All the vegetation survey data originates from plots close to the measuring points of the WATINA hydrologic monitoring network in Flanders.
Coordinates: 50°40'48''N and 51°30'36''N Latitude; 2°32'24''E and 5°55'12''E Longitude 

Temporal coverage: May 21, 2002 - July 7, 2005

Methods

Method step description: Vegetation relevé data is recorded in the InboVeg database. This data was mapped to Darwin Core by creating a specific view. We mapped the data to Darwin core event, Darwin Core occurrence extension and Darwin Core Measurements or Facts for the specific Relevé data.
Study extent description: InboVeg Niche Vlaanderen
Vegetation plot surveys were performed between May and July 2002 near selected Piezometers (INBO-watina project). Coördinates were registered with a GPS.
Sampling description: Sampling Methods
Vegetation surveys

Vegetation, neighbouring each WATINA Piezometer is described using a nearby vegetation plot. In forests the plot measures 10X10m² in open vegetations this plot measures 3X3 m². The Piezometer usually is one of the corners of the plot.
A orientated location sketch was created for every survey, to make repeatability possible.
For every plot, all occurring species were determined and for every vertical layer (Trees, Shrubs, Herbs and Mosses) the coverage was measured (Londo scale).
Londo scale
Low coverage		High coverage	 
Code	coverage	Code	coverage
*.1	1%	1-	5-10%
*.2	2-3%	1+	10-15%
*.4	4-5%	2	15-25%
combination with:		3	25-35%
r.	some occurrences (1 or 2)	4	35-45%
p.	little occurrences (about 10)	5	45-55%
a.	many occurrences (about 100)	6	55-65%
m.	a lot occurrences (about 1000)	7	65-75%
8	75-85%
9	85-95%
10	95-100%
Quality control description: Records are validated

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive InboVeg - NICHE-Vlaanderen groundwater related vegetation relevés for Flanders, Belgium
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: https://ipt.inbo.be/archive.do?r=inboveg-niche-vlaanderen-events
Publication date of data: 2021-05-04
Language: English
Licences of use: Public Domain (CC0 1.0)

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2016-02-17
Hierarchy level: Dataset

References
Rogiers, B., Lermytte, J., De Bie, E. and Batelaan, O., 2011. Evaluating the impact of river restoration on the local groundwater and ecological system: a case study in NE
Flanders. Geologica Belgica, 14 (3-4), 265-276
Callebaut J., De Bie E., Huybrechts W. & De Becker P. (2007) NICHE-Vlaanderen. SVW, 1-7.