ARCHIMER

Archive Institutionnelle de l'Ifremer

ARCHIMER

search DOI 10.1111/geb.13346

sPlotOpen – An environmentally balanced, open‐access, global dataset of vegetation plots

Motivation

Assessing biodiversity status and trends in plant communities is critical for understanding, quantifying and predicting the effects of global change on ecosystems. Vegetation plots record the occurrence or abundance of all plant species co-occurring within delimited local areas. This allows species absences to be inferred, information seldom provided by existing global plant datasets. Although many vegetation plots have been recorded, most are not available to the global research community. A recent initiative, called ‘sPlot’, compiled the first global vegetation plot database, and continues to grow and curate it. The sPlot database, however, is extremely unbalanced spatially and environmentally, and is not open-access. Here, we address both these issues by (a) resampling the vegetation plots using several environmental variables as sampling strata and (b) securing permission from data holders of 105 local-to-regional datasets to openly release data. We thus present sPlotOpen, the largest open-access dataset of vegetation plots ever released. sPlotOpen can be used to explore global diversity at the plant community level, as ground truth data in remote sensing applications, or as a baseline for biodiversity monitoring.

Main types of variable contained

Vegetation plots (n = 95,104) recording cover or abundance of naturally co-occurring vascular plant species within delimited areas. sPlotOpen contains three partially overlapping resampled datasets (c. 50,000 plots each), to be used as replicates in global analyses. Besides geographical location, date, plot size, biome, elevation, slope, aspect, vegetation type, naturalness, coverage of various vegetation layers, and source dataset, plot-level data also include community-weighted means and variances of 18 plant functional traits from the TRY Plant Trait Database.

Spatial location and grain

Global, 0.01–40,000 m².

Time period and grain

1888–2015, recording dates.

Major taxa and level of measurement

42,677 vascular plant taxa, plot-level records.

Software format

Three main matrices (.csv), relationally linked.

Keyword(s)

big data, biodiversity, biogeography, database, functional traits, macroecology, vascular plants, vegetation plots

Full Text

FilePagesSizeAccess
Publisher's official version
252 Mo
Download
Fig S1
2760 Ko
Download
Supplementary Material
11627 Ko
Download
How to cite
Sabatini Francesco Maria, Lenoir Jonathan, Hattab Tarek, Arnst Elise Aimee, Chytry Milan, Dengler Juergen, de Ruffray Patrice, Hennekens Stephan M., Jandt Ute, Jansen Florian, Jimenez-Alfaro Borja, Kattge Jens, Levesley Aurora, Pillar Valerio D., Purschke Oliver, Sandel Brody, Sultana Fahmida, Aavik Tsipe, Acic Svetlana, Acosta Alicia T. R., Agrillo Emiliano, Alvarez Miguel, Apostolova Iva, Arfin Khan Mohammed A. S., Arroyo Luzmila, Attorre Fabio, Aubin Isabelle, Banerjee Arindam, Bauters Marijn, Bergeron Yves, Bergmeier Erwin, Biurrun Idoia, Bjorkman Anne D., Bonari Gianmaria, Bondareva Viktoria, Brunet Jorg, Carni Andraz, Casella Laura, Cayuela Luis, Cerny Tomas, Chepinoga Victor, Csiky Janos, Custerevska Renata, de Bie Els, de Gasper Andre Luis, de Sanctis Michele, Dimopoulos Panayotis, Dolezal Jiri, Dziuba Tetiana, El-Sheikh Mohamed Abd El-Rouf Mousa, Enquist Brian, Ewald Joerg, Fazayeli Farideh, Field Richard, Finckh Manfred, Gachet Sophie, Galan-De-Mera Antonio, Garbolino Emmanuel, Gholizadeh Hamid, Giorgis Melisa, Golub Valentin, Alsos Inger Greve, Grytnes John-Arvid, Guerin Gregory Richard, Gutierrez Alvaro G., Haider Sylvia, Hatim Mohamed Z., Herault Bruno, Hinojos Mendoza Guillermo, Hoelzel Norbert, Homeier Juergen, Hubau Wannes, Indreica Adrian, Janssen John A. M., Jedrzejek Birgit, Jentsch Anke, Juergens Norbert, Kacki Zygmunt, Kapfer Jutta, Karger Dirk Nikolaus, Kavgaci Ali, Kearsley Elizabeth, Kessler Michael, Khanina Larisa, Killeen Timothy, Korolyuk Andrey, Kreft Holger, Kuehl Hjalmar S., Kuzemko Anna, Landucci Flavia, Lengyel Attila, Lens Frederic, Lingner Debora Vanessa, Liu Hongyan, Lysenko Tatiana, Mahecha Miguel D., Marceno Corrado, Martynenko Vasiliy, Moeslund Jesper Erenskjold, Monteagudo Mendoza Abel, Mucina Ladislav, Muller Jonas V., Munzinger Jerome, Naqinezhad Alireza, Noroozi Jalil, Nowak Arkadiusz, Onyshchenko Viktor, Overbeck Gerhard E., Partel Meelis, Pauchard Anibal, Peet Robert K., Penuelas Josep, Perez-Haase Aaron, Peterka Tomas, Petrik Petr, Peyre Gwendolyn, Phillips Oliver L., Prokhorov Vadim, Rasomavicius Valerijus, Revermann Rasmus, Rivas-Torres Gonzalo, Rodwell John S., Ruprecht Eszter, Rusina Solvita, Samimi Cyrus, Schmidt Marco, Schrodt Franziska, Shan Hanhuai, Shirokikh Pavel, Sibik Jozef, Silc Urban, Sklenar Petr, Skvorc Zeljko, Sparrow Ben, Sperandii Marta Gaia, Stancic Zvjezdana, Svenning Jens-Christian, Tang Zhiyao, Tang Cindy Q., Tsiripidis Ioannis, Vanselow Kim Andre, Vasquez Martinez Rodolfo, Vassilev Kiril, Velez-Martin Eduardo, Venanzoni Roberto, Vibrans Alexander Christian, Violle Cyrille, Virtanen Risto, von wehrden Henrik, Wagner Viktoria, Walker Donald A., Waller Donald M., Wang Hua-Feng, Wesche Karsten, Whitfeld Timothy J. S., Willner Wolfgang, Wiser Susan K., Wohlgemuth Thomas, Yamalov Sergey, Zobel Martin, Bruelheide Helge (2021). sPlotOpen – An environmentally balanced, open‐access, global dataset of vegetation plots. Global Ecology And Biogeography. 30 (9). 1740-1764. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13346, https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00702/81385/

Copy this text

ContactAboutLegal noticeRSSTwitterOAI-PMH