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CAFF Proceeding Series Report Nr. 10September 2013
Arctic Vegetation Archive (AVA) WorkshopKrakow, Poland, April 14-16, 2013
CAFF Flor
a G
roup
CAFF Designated Agencies: DirectorateforNatureManagement,Trondheim,Norway EnvironmentCanada,Ottawa,Canada FaroeseMuseumofNaturalHistory,Trshavn,FaroeIslands(KingdomofDenmark) FinnishMinistryoftheEnvironment,Helsinki,Finland IcelandicInstituteofNaturalHistory,Reykjavik,Iceland TheMinistryofHousing,NatureandEnvironment,GovernmentofGreenland RussianFederationMinistryofNaturalResources,Moscow,Russia SwedishEnvironmentalProtectionAgency,Stockholm,Sweden UnitedStatesDepartmentoftheInterior,FishandWildlifeService,Anchorage,Alaska
CAFF Permanent Participant Organizations: AleutInternationalAssociation(AIA) ArcticAthabaskanCouncil(AAC) GwichinCouncilInternational(GCI) InuitCircumpolarCouncil(ICC)Greenland,AlaskaandCanada RussianIndigenousPeoplesoftheNorth(RAIPON) SaamiCouncil
Thispublicationshouldbecitedas:Walker,D.A.Breen,A.L.,Raynolds,M.K.&Walker,M.D.(Ed).2013.ArcticVegetationArchive(AVA)Workshop,Krakow,Poland,April14-16,2013.CAFFProceedingsReport#10.Akureyri,Iceland.ISBN:978-9935-431-24-0
Coverphoto:FredDanilssamplingawetrelevplotinthehighArcticatIsachsen,EllefRingnesIsland,Canada.DominantspeciesintherelevincludeLuzula nivalis,Alopecurus alpinus,Schistidium holmeniunum,Oncophorus wahlenbergii,Aulacomnium turgidum,Polytrichastrum alpinum,Collema ceraniscum,andLecidia ramulosa.
Backcoverphoto:Fred Danils
Formoreinformationpleasecontact:
CAFF International SecretariatBorgir, Nordurslod600 Akureyri, IcelandPhone: +354 462-3350Fax: +354 462-3390Email: [email protected]: www.caff.is
Editing:D.A.Walker,A.Breen,M.K.Raynolds,M.D.WalkerLayout:CourtneyPrice
Acknowledgements
___CAFFDesignatedArea
www.geobotany.uaf.edu
Alaska Geobotany Center
Institute of Arctic Biolog
y
CAFF Flor
a G
roup
mailto:caff%40caff.is%0D?subject=http://www.caff.is%20
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. 4
Preface ...................................................................................................................................................... 5
21YearstoCommonGround:ProtectingOurSharedBiodiversityLegacy............................................................ 5Marilyn D. Walker
Introductory Talks ................................................................................................................................... 6
OverviewoftheArcticVegetationArchiveWorkshop,14-16April,Krakow,Poland........................................... 6D.A. Walker
Keynote address: Some reflections on the realization of an international pan-Arctic vegetation classification ..........................................................................................................................................12
Fred J.A. Danils
Short and extended abstracts of papers presented at the workshop...............................................17
TowardanAlaskaPrototypefortheArcticVegetationArchive.................................................................................17Amy L. Breen, Martha K. Raynolds, Stephan Hennekans, Marilyn Walker & Donald A. Walker
GreenlandDatastoredintheArcticVegetationArchive(AVA)inMnster...........................................................30Helga Bltmann & Fred J. A. Danils
PhytosocioloyoftheWesternCanadianArctic................................................................................................................34Fred J.A. Danils and Dietbert Thannheiser
YamalandGydanvegetationdatasets...............................................................................................................................41Ksenia Ermokhina
VegetationdatafromborealtundraoftheNorthAtlanticandNorthPacificregions......................................46Anna Maria Fosaa, Fred J. A. Danils, Starri Heimarsson, Ingibjrg S. Jnsdttir and Stephen S. Talbot
Unifyingandanalyzingvegetation-plotdatabasesinEurope:theEuropeanVegetationArchive(EVA)andtheBraun-Blanquetproject.......................................................................................................................................... 51
Borja Jimnez-Alfaro, Iva Apostolova, Andra arni, Milan Chytr , Jnos Csiky, Jrgen Dengler, Panayotis Dimopoulos, Xavier Font, Valentin Golub, Stephan Hennekens, Ute Jandt, Florian Jansen, Zygmunt Kcki, Balzs Kevey, Daniel Krstonosi, Flavia Landucci, Tatyana Lysenko, Vassiliy Martynenko, Ladislav Mucina, John Rodwell, Joop Schamine, Jozef ibk, Urban ilc, Alexey Sorokin, Zvjezdana Stani, Wolfgang Willner, Sergei Yamalov
ApplicationofRussianArcticLocalFloraDatabasetotheIssuesofArcticBiodiversityConservation...... 53O.V. Khitun, T.M. Koroleva, S.V. Chinenko , V.V. Petrovsky, E.B. Pospelova, A.A Zverev
ASyntaxonomicanalysisofthenorthwesttosouthwestvegetationgradientinthewesternpartofEuro-peanRussiaArctic..................................................................................................................................................................... 58
N. E. Koroleva
VegetationoftheVasyakhaRiverBasin(YugorskyPeninsula,Pai-HoyRidge)ACaseStudyofVegeta-tionDiversityintheEuropeanSectoroftheRussianArctic...................................................................................... 61
Ekaterina Kulyugina
SpatialvegetationstructureofsoutherntundrafromthreesectorsoftheSiberianArctic.......................... 65Nikolay Lashchinskiy
VegBank:APermanentOnlineRepositoryforInternationalPlotandRelevData........................................... 67Michael T. Lee and Robert K. Peet
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TheKrakowworkshopwassponsoredbyaworkshopgrantfromtheInternationalArcticScienceCommittee(IASC)withadditionalsupportprovidedbytheU.S.NationalAeronauticsandSpaceAdministration(NASAGrantsNNX09AK56GandNNX13AM20G).TheConservationofArcticFloraandFauna(CAFF),theCAFFFloraGroup,andtheInstituteofArcticBiology,UniversityofAlaskaFairbanks,providedadministrativesupportforthemeeting.WeparticularlythankCAFFpersonnel,TomBarry,CourtneyPrice,andKriFannarLrussonfortheirhelppriortoandduringtheworkshopandforpreparationofthisproceedingsreport.WealsothankthestaffattheFloriaskaGuesthouseinKrakowfortheexcellentlodgingandfacilitiesforthemeeting.TheplanningfortheKrakowworkshoptookplaceattwoearlierworkshopsin2012atAarhusUniversity,Roskilde,DenmarkfundedbyTFINetworksgranttoProf.Chr.Damgaard,EffectStudiesandAdaptationtoClimateChange,undertheNorforskinitiative(20112014).
Acknowledgements
VegetationdataavailableforclassificationofCanadianArcticsites...................................................................... 72Esther Lvesque, William H. MacKenzie, and Greg H.R. Henry
AdatacompilationofCanadianArcticvegetationrelevdataandpreliminaryclassification................... 76William H. MacKenzie
TheRussianinputtotheArcticVegetationArchiveandanexampleofthevalueofplotdataforassess-ingclimatechangeontheTaymyrPeninsula................................................................................................................. 77
N.V. Matveyeva, M.M. Cherosov, & M. Yu Telyatnikov
PhytosociologyoftheSvalbardArchipelagoincludingBjrnyaandJanMayen.............................................82Lennart Nilsen and Dietbert Thannheiser
Approachesforstoringandanalyzinggeobotanicaldata..........................................................................................89Alexander Novakovskiy
ThePan-ArcticSpeciesList(PASL)........................................................................................................................................93Martha K. Raynolds, Amy L. Breen, Donald A. Walker, Reidar Elven, Ren Belland, Nadezda Konstantinova, Hrur Kristinsson
& Stephan Hennekens
VegetationdatasetsforChukotka(Russia).......................................................................................................................97V. Razzhivin
TowardsassessingbiodiversityfeedbackstoclimateintheArctic-futureapplicationoftheAVA...................................................................................................................................................................................102
Gabriela Schaepman-Strub, Maitane Iturrate, Reinhard Furrer
TheArcticVegetationArchiveasasourceforunderstandingspatialdistributionofArcticbiodiversity104Laerke Stewart, Niels M. Schmidt, Mary S. Wisz and Loc Pellissier
PlantcommunitiesofsouthernhypoarctictundraoftheAnabarRiverbasin(North-WestYakutia).............................................................................................................................................................109
Mikhail Yu. Telyatnikov, Elena I. Troeva, Mikhail M. Cherosov, Sergey A. Pristyazhnyuk, Paraskovia A. Gogoleva & Lyudmila A. Pestryakova
Participants and authors ....................................................................................................................112
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Preface
21 Years to Common Ground: Protecting Our Shared Biodiversity Legacy
Marilyn D. WalkerHOMER Energy, Boulder, Colorado, USA, [email protected]
AVAsrootsbeganinBoulder,Colorado,intheSpringof1992,whenIconvenedthefirstCircumpolarArcticVegetationWorkshop,consistingofasmallgroupofdedicatedvegetationspecialistsfromtheUS,Canada,Germany,theSovietUnion,Norway,andFinland.Althoughmanyoftheattendeeshadmetatleastafewoftheotherswhowerepresent,itwasthefirsttimethatagroupofspecialistsinterestedprimarilyinarcticphytosociologyhadevercometogethertofocussolelyontheconceptsofclassification.Thereweremanydifferentapproachesinuseatthetime,andthelanguageandcommunicationbarriersthatexistedweresignificant.
ThepoliticalandtechnologicalchangestheworldwasgoingthroughatthetimewerethecatalystforthedevelopmentofacircumpolarviewoftheArctic.GlasnostopeneduptheSovietUnionandmaderealcollaborationwithourcolleaguespossibleforthefirsttime.TheNationalScienceFoundationhadrecentlylaunchedNSFNET,abackboneofconnectivitythatwouldsoonconnectwithothernetworks,formingthenetworkofnetworkswenowknowastheWorldWideWeb.Satellitedatawerebecomingincreasinglyavailable,switchingtheecologistsviewfromthegroundtospace,wheretheunityoftheregionwasmuchmoreevident.
Studiesofarcticfloraalsoargueforacommonphytosociologicalapproach.Thefloraisregionallydepauperatecomparedtootherpartsoftheglobe,andmuchofitisincommonthroughout.Wherespeciesaremissing,theyoftenhaveecologicalequivalentsthatareassociatedwiththesamecommunitiesasinotherregions.
MytriptotheTaimyrPeninsula,inthesummerof1991asaguestoftheSovietAcademyofSciences,openedmyeyestothecriticalimportanceofsharingdataonvegetationandspeciesdistribution.Agrowinglegacyofdatawasscatteredonbitsofpaper,infiledrawersandnotebooks,andincreasinglyonfloppydisks.AsIeditedandcreatedtheBoulderworkshopvolume(Walkeretal.1994),Igrewtoappreciatethepotentialofdatabasestocreateacommonlanguageandmethodforproperlydescribingandunderstandingarcticvegetation.
Theworkshopconcludedwitharesolutiontocreateaglobaldatabaseofarcticvegetationplots.Realizingthatgoalhastakendecades,againdrivenbyimprovementsindatabasetechnologyaswellasagrowingnationalandglobalawarenessofthevalueofthesedatatoourownheritageandneedtomanageourlands.TheVegbankProject(http://vegbank.org,alsoHarrisetal.2001)tackledmanyofthecomplexissuesregardingdatarights,databasestructure,storageissues,andmore.Vegbankisnowrecognizedasaleadexampleinthegrowingfieldofecoinformatics,whichdependsonreadilyavailabledatafromawidevarietyofsources(Krishna2008).
TheKrakowworkshopisfinallythebeginningoftheconcreterealizationofanarcticvegetationdatabase.Theissuebeforethecommunitynowisnotwhethertodothis,buthowquicklycanitbedone,ascriticaldatasetsarealreadybeinglost.
References
Harris,J.,Walker,M.D.,R.Peet,D.Grossman,andM.Jennings.2001.Aninformationinfrastructureforvegetationscience:Amodelandprototypedatabaseforstoringandintegratingvegetationdata.Posterandabstract,EcologicalSocietyofAmericaAnnualMeeting,Madison,WI.
Krishna,Abhay.2008.Ecoinformatics:wherearewe,wheredowewanttogo,andhowtoreachthere.AvailablefromNaturePrecedings
Walker,M.D.,Danils,F.J.A.&VanderMaarel,E.1994.Circumpolararcticvegetation:Introductionandperspectives.SpecialFeaturesinJournalofVegetationScience5:757920.
mailto:marilyndgwalker%40gmail.com%0D?subject=
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Introductory Talks
Overview of the Arctic Vegetation Archive Workshop, 14-16 April, Krakow, Poland
D.A. Walker
Alaska Geobotany Center, Institute of Arctic Biology and Department of Biology and Wildlife, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, [email protected]
Introduction
ArcticvegetationdataprovidebaselinedescriptiveinformationregardingthevegetativelandcoverpresentintheArcticundertheprevailingclimate.Thedataarepotentiallyvaluableforawiderangeofstudies,includingfoundationvegetationandsoilclassificationresearch,species-diversitymodels,wildlifehabitatresearch,permafrostmodels,andland-coverandecosystem-changemodeling.Thedataareevenmorevaluablebecauseofthelargetime,costs,andrisksassociatedwithcollectingvegetationdatainremoteareasoftheArctic.ArcticvegetationdatahavebeenintensivelycollectedfrommanypartsoftheArcticsincethe1930sbymanyindividualsusingavarietyofmethodsandarescatteredacrossmanyinstitutionsinavarietyofformats.Notallofthesedataarerecoverable.SomeofthedataaremaintainedinelectronicdatabasesmanagedbyvariousresearchgroupsandagenciesworkingintheArctic.Manyoftheclassicvegetationsurveydataareindangerofbecominglostbecausetheywereneverelectronicallycatalogued.Thus,thereisanurgentneedtoarchivethesedatainaconsistentformatbeforetheyarelost.TheArcticVegetationArchive(AVA)isacoordinatedefforttoidentifyandpreservekeyArcticvegetationdatasetsforuseinapanarcticvegetationclassificationandasaresourceforclimate-changeandbiodiversityresearch.
ThebasicconceptfortheAVAwaslaidoutinCAFFStrategySeriesNo.5(WalkerandRaynolds2011).Additionally,twoworkshopsheldinRoskilde,Denmarkin2012(Walkeretal.2013)laidthefoundationforthisfirstinternationalAVAWorkshop,whichwasheldinKrakow,Poland,14-16April2013,inassociationwiththeArcticScienceSummitWeek2013.ThegoaloftheKrakowworkshopwastobringtogethervegetationscientistsfromthecircumpolarArcticcountriestoprovideafirstestimateofthedataavailableandtobeginbuildingthedatabase.
Background
Severalmilestonesledtothismeeting:
1992 ThefirstInternationalArcticVegetationClassificationWorkshopinBoulder,Colorado,resolvedtodevelopadatabaseofarcticrelevsandaprodromusofvegetationtypesfortheArctic.SeveralpaperspresentedattheworkshopreviewedthestatusofphytosociologicalresearchintheArcticandwerepublishedintheJournal of Vegetation Science (Walkeretal.1994).
2003 2003 TheCircumpolarArcticVegetationMap(CAVMTeam2003,Walkeretal.2005b)waspublishedandhelpedtoredefinetheneedforavegetationclassificationfortheArctic.TheattendeesattheconcludingworkshopinTroms,June2004recommittedthemselvestomakingthenecessarydatabase.SeveralcontributionstotheTromsworkshopwerepublishedinPhytocoenologia(Danielsetal.2005).
2011 TheConservationofArcticFloraandFauna(CAFF)andtheInternationalArcticScienceCommitteeendorsedtheInternationalArcticVegetationDatabaseconcept(laterchangedtotheArcticVegetationArchive).CAFFrecognizestheprojectasanimportantpartofitsArcticbiodiveristybiodiversityeffortsandpublishedtheIAVDConceptPaper(WalkerandRaynolds2011).
2012 TwoworkshopssponsoredbytheNordicNetworkonclimateandBiodiversity(CBIO-NET)inRoskilde,Denmark,helpedtolaythefoundationfortheKrakowworkshopandhighlightedtheapplicationoftheAVAformodelingandpredictingbiodiversitytrendsbasedonpatternsofplantdistributiondatathatcouldbederivedfromanArcticvegetationarchive(Walkeretal.2013).
2013 SupportfromtheInternationalArcticScienceCommittee,CAFF,andtheU.S.NationalAeronauticsandSpaceAdministrationsLand-CoverandLand-UseChangeprogrammadethisworkshoppossible.
mailto:[email protected]
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Summary of the Krakow workshop
Forty-twopeopleparticipatedintheKrakowAVAworkshop.Twenty-fivepaperswerepresentedthatincludedreviewsofthehistoryandneedfortheAVA,thestatusofvegetationdatacollectionandclassificationineachofthecircumpolarcountries,andreviewsofthevariousdatabaseapproachescurrentlyinuse.Mostofthesewereconvertedintoshortpapersforthisproceedingsvolumetoprovidearecordoftheworkshopactivities.
Themajoraccomplishmentsoftheworkshopwere:1)athoroughreviewofthenumbersandqualityofplotsamplesintheeachofthecountries;2)aconsensusamongtheArcticcountriesregardingthegeographicscopeofthedatabase,thetypesofdatathatwillbeincluded,andthegeneralapproachforbuildingthedatabase;and3)theinitialstepsforrecruitingpeopleandresourcestocompletethedatabase.Thefollowingsummarycontainsthedailyactivitiesoftheworkshop,majoraccomplishments,andfinalworkshopresolution.
Day 1: Joint CAFF FG/AVA meeting, review of the AVA concept, species database issues, and potential applications of the AVAThefirstdayofthemeetingcontainedajointmeetingbetweentheAVAgroupandtheCAFFFloraGroupthatmetduringtheprecedingtwodays(April12-13).AfterwelcomesbySkipWalkerandKriFannarLrusson(CAFFProgramOfficer),themeetingbeganwithakeynoteaddressbyFredDanils,whoreviewedthehistoryoftheAVAandneedforthedatabase.MarilynWalker,whoinitiatedtheideaofaninternationalapproachin1992(Walkeretal.1994),reflectedonthe21yearsofprogressininternationalcollaborationanddatabasetechnologythatbroughtustothepointwheresuchanarchiveisnowachievable.Muchoftheremainderofthemorningwasdevotedtospecies-levelissuesrelatedtomaintenanceoftheCAFFspecieslists(presentationsbySteffiIckert-BondandMarthaRaynolds)andlocalfloras(OlgaKhitun).TheCAFFspecieslistsofArcticvascularplants,lichens,andmossesarekeyelementsofthedatabasethatareneededforalistofacceptedspeciesnamesthatareusedacrossalltheplotsamplesinthedatabase.TheselistshavebeencombinedintothePanArcticSpeciesList(PASL),whichisthelistofacceptednamesofvascularplants,mosses,lichensandliverwortsusedintheAVA.Thegrouprecognizedtheneedforregularupdatesofthespecieslists,andageneralconsensuswasreachedregardingthemechanismrequiredtoaccomplishthis.Morespecificsareneededfordevelopingaliverwortlistandindividualsresponsibleforthemosslist.Intheafternoon,thediscussionshiftedtopotentialapplicationsoftheAVAincludingasasourceforunderstandingspatialdistributionofArcticbiodiversity(LocPellisierandLaerkeStewart)andassessingbiodiversityfeedbackstoclimatechange(GabrielaSchaepman-Strub,MaitaneIturrate&ReinhardFurrer).
Day 2: Status of circumpolar vegetation data set and database approaches
Inthemorning,twelvepaperspresentedthestatusofcircumpolarplot-basedvegetationstudies,includingreviewsfromAlaska(AmyBreenetal.),ArcticCanada(EstherLevesqueetal.),Greenland(HelgaBultmanetal.),Scandinavia(LennartNilsen&DietbertThannheiserdeliveredbyFredDanils),theborealtundraregionoftheNorthAtlanticandNorthPacific(AnnaMarieFosaaetal.),Russiaintotal(NadyaMatveyevaetal.deliveredbyElenaTroeva),northwestYakutia(MichaelTeyatnikovetal.)theKolaPeninsula(NataliaKorolevadeliveredbySkipWalker),theEuropeansectoroftheRussianArctic(EkaterninaKulygina),threesectorsofSiberianArctic(KikolayLashchinskyi),theYamalandGydanPeninsulas(KseniaErmokina),andChukotka(VladimirRazzhivin,abstractonly).Intheafternoon,fourpaperspresentedthemaindatabaseapproachesthatarebeingusedfortheEuropeanVegetationArchive(BorjaJimnez-Alfaro),theCanadaNationalVegetationClassification(WillMackenzie),theU.S.NationalVegetationClassification(MikeLee)andtheRussiandatabaseIBIS(AlexanderNovakovskiy).
Day 3: Development of a mission statement, workshop resolution, funding possibilities and publications
Inthemorningthreeworkinggroupsdiscussed:1)themissionandapplicationsoftheAVA,2)thegeographicscopeoftheproject,and3)issuesrelatedtothedatabaseconstruction.Afterreconveningamissionstatementandworkshopresolutionweredevelopedbytheworkshopparticipants.Prospectsforfunding,andplansforpublicationoftheworkshopoutcomeswerealsodiscussedandagreedtoandthemeetingwasadjourned.
Major accomplishments of the workshop
Theworkshopreviewedthestatusofrelevdataanddatabaseapproachesineachofthecircumpolarcountries;developedaresolutionbythecircumpolarArcticvegetationcommunitytorededicateitsmemberstodevelopinganArcticVegetationArchiveusinganapproachthatisacceptabletoallinvolved,andtookthefirststepsneededtorecruitthepeopleandresourcesnecessarytocompletethework.
Mission and justification of the AVAThe mission of the Arctic Vegetation Archive Working Group is to create a database of Arctic plot data, and promote its application to northern issues.
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TheAVAwillbeusefulforawidevarietyofpurposes,including:preservinglegacydatasetsindangerofbeinglost;designing,locatingandextrapolatingfieldexperimentsatArcticObservingStations;identifyingresearchgaps;mappingandremotesensingofvegetation,habitattypes,andlandcover;assessingArcticterrestrialbiodiversityandbiogeographicrelationships;modelingfunctionsandecosystemservicesofArcticvegetation;educatingscientists,thepublicandpolicymakersaboutthevalueofArcticterrestrialsystemsinrelationtolocaltoglobalsystems;industrialandland-useplanning;andconservingandmanagingArcticterrestrialecosystems.
Additionally,theAVAisdirectlyrelevanttoseveralothercircumpolareffortsoftheArcticCouncilandnationalArcticinitiativesincluding:
Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring ProgrammeandtheArctic Biodiversity Assessment:TheAVAisafoundationdatasettoassesschangesinArcticplantbiodiversityandhabitatforothertrophiclevels.
Inter-Act:OneofInter-Actsgoalsisthediscoveryandpreservationofkeylegacyvegetationdatasets. Back to the Future:ManyofthedatasetsarefromoldInternationalBiologicalProgramme(IBP),ongoing
Long-TermEcologicalResearch(LTER)andotherlarge-scaleecosystemstudiesestablishedinthe1960sto1990s.ThesedatasetscontaininformationregardingthebaselineconditionoftheArcticbeforethemoderneraofrapidclimatechange.
Arctic Development and Adaptation to Permafrost in Transition (ADAPT)and other permafrost-related initiatives:Vegetationisthekeyelementofthebufferlayerthatprotectsthepermafrostfromcatastrophicthawing.Aconsistentmeanstocharacterizethislayerwouldbehighlybeneficialtopermafrostscientists.
International Tundra Experiment (ITEX):CharacterizationofcontrolplotsandbaselinestudieswouldbenefitfromaconsistentmeanstocharacterizevegetationacrosstheITEXnetwork.
Arctic Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS):ThenextgenerationofinternationalterrestrialecosystemscientistswouldbenefitimmenselyfromaconsistentinternationalapproachtodescribingthelandcoveroftheArctic.TheAVAwouldprovidethisframework.TheAVAwillstrivetoinvolveyounginvestigatorstodevelop,implement,andusetheAVA.
Types of data to be included
Thepreferreddataarepublishedplotdatafromhomogeneousplantcommunitieswithtablesofcoverpercentagesorcover-abundancescoresforallspecies,includingvascularplants,bryophytes,andlichens,preferablywithaccompanyingenvironmentalandgeographiclocationinformation.Braun-BlanquetorUSNVCprotocolsareideal.Highprioritywillalsobegiventodatasetsthatareindangerofbeinglost.
Geographic framework
TheboundariesoftheArcticarethosedefinedbytheCircumpolarArcticVegetationMap(CAVMTeam2003),whichwillbemodifiedtoincludetheArcticportionoftheKolaPeninsulainRussia.Thedatabasewillalsoincludetheborealmaritimetundraareas(AleutianIslands,Iceland,FaroeIslands,CommodoreIslands).ThegroupofvegetationscientistsworkinginthisregionwillneedtoresolvetheissuesrelatedtoborealspeciesthatwillberequiredforthePASL.
Products of the AVA
TheAVAwillusethePanarcticFloraasacommontaxonomicalbasetodevelopacomprehensivesynthesisofArcticphytosociologicalinformationthroughthepublicationofaProdromusofArcticvegetationsyntaxa(listofplantcommunitytypes);publicationofabibliographyofArcticvegetationstudies,developmentofarevisedsyntaxonomicalclassificationforthecircumpolarArctic,andweb-portalwithdescriptionsphotos,maps,andancillaryinformationrelatedtothevegetationunits.SomeearlypotentialapplicationsoftheAVAaredescribedarecentpublication(Walkeretal.2013),andothersweredescribedatthisworkshop.
Database approaches
Aconceptualframeworkforthedatabase(WalkerandRaynolds2011)wasmodifiedwithdatanodesineachcountry(perhapsseveralforRussia).ThedatabaseTurboveg(HennekensandSchaminee2001)willbethestandardforinitialdataentryandtheproceduresbeingdevelopedfortheEuropeanVegetationArchive(Chytretal.2012)willbeusedasapreliminarymodel.MetadatastandardswillfollowinpartthoseoftheGlobalInventoryofVegetationDatabases(Dengleretal.2011).Protocolsforformattingvegetationandenvironmentaldata,metadata,andminimumrequirementsfordataareunderdevelopmentintwoproto-typedatabasesforGreenlandandArcticAlaska.Wewillstriveformaximumcompatibilitywithdatabasesinothercountries,includingVegBankintheU.S.(Peetetal.2012),VproinCanada(MacKenzieandKlassen2004),andIBIS,adatabasecommonlyusedinRussia.CountriesusingdatabaseapproachesotherthanTurbovegwillrequirevegetationdataexchangestandardscurrentlyunderdevelopment(Wiseretal.2011)toconformtotheAVA.ThePanArcticSpeciesList(Raynoldsetal.n.d.)willbethelistofacceptedplantnames.Thelistwillbeupdatedatregularto-be-determinedintervalsandcross-walkedtoothersynonymsusedintheinitialplotdataandinothernationalvegetationclassificationschemes.TheIASCdataprotocolsregardingdatasharingandcredittodatabasecontributorswillbeused(Parsonsetal.2013).Apreliminaryframeworkanddataflowdiagramwillbeusedinthebeginning.Considerableworkremainstoaddressthedetailsofthedataprotocols.AdatabasegroupchairedbyMarilynWalkerwilldeveloptheprotocols.
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Publication of proceedings of the workshop
Theauthorsofthetalksattheworkshopagreedtoprepare5-6pageshortpapersbasedontheirpresentationsattheworkshop.ThesewillbepublishedasaCAFFProceedingsvolume.TheresultswillbesynthesizedintoapaperthatwillbesubmittedtothejournalAppliedVegetationScienceorotherappropriatejournal.
Funding
FundingfortheAVAwillbepursuedbyeachcountry.TheAlaskaportionhasbeensecuredthroughaNASAgranttoD.A.WalkerthatispartoftheofthedatagatheringphasefortheArcticandBorealVulnerabilityExperiment(ABoVE).TheCanadaHighArcticResearchStation(CHARS)hascommittedtosupportingtheCanadianportionofthedatabase.TheRussianparticipantswillpursueanewmega-grantproposalthatwillbesubmittedtotheGovernmentoftheRussianFederationbyMichaelCherosovandagroupofRussiancolleaguesfromseveralinstitutions.ParticipantsfromtheEUandotherEuropeancountries(CzechRepublic,Iceland,Norway,Denmark,Germany,Poland)willpursuefundingforGreenland,Svalbard,andnorthernScandinavia.Thisisveryimportantbecauseofthelongheritageofphytosociologicalresearchandlargeamountofdatainthesecountriesthatisnotarchived.
Timeline
A6-yeartimeframeiscontingentonfunding.Years1-2willbedevotedtoorganizingnationalworkshops,obtaininginternationalfunding,completingIAVDprototypes,andcollectingthekeydatasets.Duringyears2-4,wewillassembledatafromliteraturesourcesatseveralnodes,buildserversitesoftware,andbuildwebpagesforthedataportal.Inyears5-6wewilltestandreleasetheAVA.
Conclusion
TheAVAwasconceived21yearsagoatthefirstInternationalArcticVegetationClassificationWorkshopinBoulder,COtohelpconsolidatethelargeamountofplotdatafromaroundtheArctictoaidindevelopmentofacircumpolarArcticvegetationclassification.ThevisionfromBoulderwasrevitalizedinKrakowwiththehelpofCAFF,IASC,andtheCBIO-NETworkshops.Thegreatchallengenowistofindthefundingtocompletethetask.
Someofthekeyparticipantsatthe1992BoulderworkshopwerepresentinKrakowandhelpedtogenerateagreatdealofexcitementabouttheproject.Otheraddressesbymembersoftheinternationalvegetationsciencecommunityhelpedeveryonerealizethattimesandtechnologyhadchangedsincethe1992workshop.TheneedfortheAVAisclear,andtheprojectissupportedbyastrongatmosphereofinternationalcollaboration.Furthermore,recentadvancesincomputers,databasetechnologyandvegetationclassificationmethodshavemadevegetationarchivesmuchmorefeasible.Eventhedauntingtaskoffindingthefundsseemsachievable.
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Krakow Resolution for Preparation of an Arctic Vegetation Archive
Whereas, the distribution, characteristics, and history of Arctic flora and vegetation are of essential importance with regard to (1) knowledge of how circumpolar terrestrial ecosystems interact with climate and contribute to the changing earth system, (2) conservation of the biodiversity of these regions; and (3) increasing exploration and development in the circumpolar nations; and
Whereas, our knowledge of Arctic regions and the environmental constraints on Arctic vegetation has increased;
Whereas, no single existing classification accurately portrays the synthesis of existing knowledge of the vegetation of the circumpolar Arctic;
Whereas an Arctic Vegetation Archive will be useful for a wide variety of purposes, including: Preserving legacy data sets in danger of being lost; classifying and analyzing Arctic vegetation; designing, locating and extrapolating field experiments; identifying research gaps; mapping, remote sensing of vegetation, habitat types, and land cover; assessing Arctic terrestrial biodiversity and biogeographic relationships; modeling functions and ecosystem services of Arctic vegetation; educating scientists, the public and policy makers about the value of Arctic terrestrial systems in relation to the global system; land-use planning, conserving and managing Arctic terrestrial ecosystems.
And whereas the International Arctic Research Committee and the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna have endorsed the concept of an international Arctic vegetation database,
Be it resolved that the international community of Arctic vegetation scientists rededicates itself to the following joint tasks:1. Develop an international organizational framework and secure funds for the Arctic Vegetation Archive (AVA). 2. Compile vegetation plot data (relevs) into the AVA using the pan-Arctic species lists as a common taxonomical base.3. Develop a syntaxonomical classification for the circumpolar Arctic; 4. Publish a compilation of Arctic vegetation types (Prodromus) and a bibliography of Arctic vegetation studies. 5. Promote the application of the AVA to northern issues.6. Finally, be it resolved that the undersigned scientists will create a prototype Arctic Vegetation Archive by the 3rd
International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP III) in 2015.
Signed by 20 members present on the final day of the workshop, 16 April 2013, Krakow, Poland.
Figure 1. From left to right: Back row: Greg Henry, Will MacKenzie, and Christian Bay. Middle row: Skip Walker, Esther Lvesque, Marilyn Walker, Mikhail Cherosov, Fred Daniels, Nikolay Lashchinkskiy, Mike Lee, Elena Troeva, Ekaterina Kulygina, Laerke Stewart, Lynn Gillespie, and Ingibjorg Svala Jonsdottir. Kneeling: Amy Breen, Starri Heimarsson, Edie Barbour, Borja Jmnez-Alfaro, Alexander Novakovskyi Maitane Iturrate Garcia, Helga Bltmann, Olga Khitun, and Gabriela Schaepman-Strub. Photo by Kri Lrusson.
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References
Chytr,M.,Berg,C.,Dengler,J.,Ewald,J.,Hennekens,S.M.,Jansen,F.,Kliekamp,M.,Landucci,F.,May,R.,Rodwell,J.S.,Schamine,J.,Sibik,J.,Valachovic,M.,Vananzoni,R.&Willner,W.2012.EuropeanVegetationArchive(EVA):anewinitiativetostrengthentheEuropeanVegetationSurvey.Page12inW.Willner,editor.21st European Vegetation Survey Workshop,ViennaUniversity,Vienna,Austria.
Dengler,J.,Jansen,F.,Glckler,F.Chytr,M.,DeCseres,M.,Ewald,J.,OLdeland,J.,Peet,R.K.,Finckh,M.,Mucina,L.,Schamine,J.&Spenser,N.2011.TheGlobalIndexofVegetation-PlotDatabases(GIVD):anewresourceforvegetationscience.Journal of Vegetation Science22:582-597.
Hennekens,S.M.&Schaminee,J.H.J..2001.TURBOVEG,acomprehensivedatabasemanagementsystemforvegetationdata.Journal of Vegetation Science12:589-591.
MacKenzie,W.&Klassen,R.2004.VPro User Guide.Parsons,M.,Huber,R.,Pulsife,P.,Tishkov,A.,Yabuki,H.&Rachold,V.2013.AnopendatapolicyforIASC.Paperpresentedat
theArcticScienceSummitWeek13-19April2013,Krakow,Poland.Peet,R.K.,Lee,M.T.,Jennings,M.D.&Faber-Langendoen,D.2012.VegBankapermanent,open-accessarchivefor
vegetation-plotdata.Biodiversity and Ecology4:233-241.Raynolds,M.K.,Breen,A.L.,Walker,D.A.,Elven,R.,Murray,D.F.,Belland,R.,Konstantinova,N.A.,Kristinsson,H.&Hennekens,
S.M.2013(thisvolume).ThePan-ArcticSpeciesList(PASL).Proceedings of the Arctic Vegetation Archive Workshop, 14-16 April, Krakow, Poland.
Walker,D.A.&Raynolds,M.K..2011.An International Arctic Vegetation Database: A foundation for pan-Arctic biodiversity studies.CAFFStrategySeriesReportnr.5.ConservationofArcticFloraandFauna(CAFF),Akureyri,Iceland.
Walker,D.A.,Alsos,I.G.,Bay,C.,Boulanger-Lapointe,N.,Breen,A.L.,Bltmann,H.,Christiansen,T.,Damgaard,C.,Danils,F.J.A.,Hennekens,S.M.,LeRoux,P.C.,Luoto,M.,Pellisier,L.,Peet,R.K.,Schmidt,N.M.,Stewart,L.,Yoccoz,N.G.&Wisz,M.S..2013.RescuingvaluableArcticvegetationdataforbiodiversitymodels,ecosystemmodelsandapan-Arcticvegetationclassification.Arctic:133137.
Walker,M.D.,Danils,F.J.A.&VanderMaarel,E..1994.Circumpolararcticvegetation:Introductionandperspectives.Special Features in Journal of Vegetation Science5:757920.
Wiser,S.K.,Spenser,N.,DeCseres,M.,Kleikamp,M.,Boyle,G.&Peet,R.K.2011.Veg-Xanexchangestandardforplot-basedvegetationdata.Journal of Vegetation Science22:598609.
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Keynote address: Some reflections on the realization of an international pan-Arctic vegetation classification
Fred J.A. Danils
University of Mnster, Institute of Biology and Biotechnology of Plants, Schlossplatz 8, 48143, Mnster, Germany
Introduction
WithpleasureIaddressthekey-notespeechatthisimportantArcticVegetationArchive(AVA)meeting.ThanksareduetoSkipWalkerfortheinvitationandhiskindprefacehighlightingmycontributionstoseveralArcticprojectssuchastheBoulderCircumpolarArcticVegetationMeeting(Walkeretal.1994),theCircumpolarArcticVegetationMap(CAVM-Team2003,Walkeretal.2005),theCircumpolarVegetationClassificationandMappingmeetinginTroms2004,dedicatedtoBorisA.Yurtsev(Danilsetal.2005),theNorthAmericanArcticTransectProject(Walkeretal.2008)andsomeotherCAFFactivities.IwouldliketoalsoacknowledgeespeciallyMarilynWalkerforinvolvingmeearlyintheinternationalArcticvegetationclassificationefforts,andalsothepresentandpaststaffattheAlaskaGeobotanyCenteroftheUniversityofAlaskaanditspredecessortheJointFacilityforRegionalEcosystemAnalysisattheInstituteofArcticandAlpineResearchinBoulder,Colorado,fortheirsuccessfulinitiativesandskillfulleadershipsofprojectsinthefieldofcircumpolarArcticecology,vegetationmappingandclassification.
MuchofmythinkingregardingtheAVAisalreadycoveredinrecentjointpublications(Walker&Raynolds2011,Walkeretal.2013)andreadingtheseisstronglyrecommended.Here,IwouldmainlyliketoadvocatetheapplicationoftheBraun-BlanquetapproachasanindispensabletoolfortheanalysisandclassificationofvegetationbiodiversityoftheArctic.
Some private history and nostalgia
BeforestartingmyreflectionsIliketosaysomenostalgicwordsonmybackgroundandphytosociologicalinterest.IamDutch,bornin1943inArnhem,theNetherlands.MyfirstexpeditiontotheArcticwasin1966.HansdeMolenaar,JanJaapHooftandIwerebiologystudentsoftheUtrechtUniversity(NL).WestudiedthefloraandvegetationoftheAngmagssalikdistrictinSEGreenlandforfourmonthsthatfirstsummer.WewerejustintimetowitnesstheoldGreenlandicwayoflifeinacolderclimatethannow.Hans,andIasstaffmemberoftheUniversityofUtrecht,continuedourstudiesin1968and1969aspartofourPhDtheses(deMolenaar1974,1976,Danils1975,1982).Werevisitedourstudysitesin1981and2007(Danils&deMolenaar2011).ThosefirstthreesummersinSEGreenlandwereparadise-liketimes.Theymademearctophilousandbroadenedmyviewonlife.TheacceptanceofaprofessorshipinGeobotanyattheUniversityofMnster(Germany)1987enabledmetofocusmoreintensivelyonArcticresearch.TheinvitationbyMarilynWalkertoattendtheBouldermeetingin1992cameattherightmomentandopenedthewaytocircumpolarArcticcooperationandlonglastingfriendships.MygeobotanicalinterestandknowledgeoftheArcticincreasedandincludednowlocal,regionalandglobalperspectives.
ThisBouldermeetingwasinstrumentalfornewArcticresearchactivitiesinabroadercontext.Theresolutionfromtheworkshopsaidwewouldprepareacircumpolardatabase,classification,andvegetationmap.Thevegetationmapwaspublishedin2003and2005(CAVM-Team2003,Walkeretal.2005),howeveracircumpolarArcticvegetationdatabaseandclassificationarestilldue.
Phytosociologyrequiresintensivecontactwithnatureandrewardsuswithdeepspeciesandfieldknowledge.Maybethatiswhymakingrelevs,collectingandidentificationofplants,structuringvegetationtablesandclassifyingplantcommunitiesareamongthemostexcitingactivitiesofmylife.Severalleadingscientistsinthefieldsoflichenology,bryologyandvegetationscienceenrichedmyknowledge,includingReinholdTxen,JanBarkman,EddyvanderMaarel,VictorWesthoff,BorisYurtsevandmanyothers.TheywereinstrumentalinfindingmywayintheinternationalandArcticvegetationsciencecommunity.StephenTalbotshowedmetheAleutianIslands,JosephSvobodaandSkipWalkertheCanadianArctic,NadyaMatveyevaandhercolleaguesoftheKomarovBotanicalInstituteinSt.PetersburgintroducedmeintheArcticfloraandvegetationofRussia.VladimirOnipchenkowasinstrumentalinshowingMarinusWergerandmethetaigaandtundraoftheRussianFarEast.IrinaSafronovashowedmethevegetationofKazakhstan.FiveofmystudentsconductedtheirPhDfieldworkinGreenland(HelgaBltmann,BirgitJedrzejek(Sieg),BirgitDrees,ChristophLnterbusch,MichaelGirnth)andoneinIceland(ThomasHvelmann).
The Braun-Blanquet approach
Toconductorpublishecologicalresearchwithoutreferencetothetypeofcommunitytheworkwasconductedinisverymuchlikedepositingaspecimeninamuseumwithoutprovidingalabel(Peet&Roberts2012).AsyntaxonomicalclassificationofvegetationaccordingtotheBraun-Blanquetapproachgroupsplantcommunitytypesinahierarchicalsystemofsyntaxa.Thesyntaxahaveauniquespeciescompositionandnomenclature.Theirnamesarederivedfromplantspecieswithspecificsufficesreflectingtheirhierarchicalstatusandhaveauthorshipwithindicationofyearoffirstvaliddescription.Thissystemallowsapreciseworld-wideidentificationofplantcommunitytypesandprovidesamoreprecisereferenceofa
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vegetationtypeforecological,modelingandmonitoringresearch.Syntaxonomicalunitsarethemostpowerfulelementsintheinternationalscientificcommunicationregardingvegetationtypes.
Simplex sigilum veri;theBraun-Blanquetapproachisintellectuallybrilliantinitssimplicityandthatiswhyitsconceptandmethodologyareappliedworld-wide(cf.Dierschke2011).Theapproachprovidesclassificationofvegetationandderivedkeyinformationonplantcommunityspeciescompositionandstructure,ecologicalsetting,phytogeographyandconnectivitywithintheplantcover.
Thebasicconceptisthatfloristicvariationinplantcoverisnotrandom.Inthesamephytogeographicalregionandunderaboutthesameenvironmentalconditions,similarassemblagesofplantspeciesoccur.Inthefield,eachparticularconcreteassemblageofplantspeciesisconsideredaplant community.Plantcommunitieswithsimilarspeciescompositionaregroupedintoabstractplant community types.Thesephytoceonaareclassifiedinauniqueinductive(bottom-up),hierarchicalsystemofvegetationtypes,characterizedbydiagnosticspecies,intoassociation,alliance,ordersandclasses.Thesehierarchicalgroupsorsyntaxahavearank-specificnomenclaturesimilarinprincipaltorank-basedclassificationapproachusedtodescribeorganisms,suchasthatusedforplantspecies,genera,families,orders,andclasses.Furthermore,therearerulesofnomenclatureforthevariouslevels(syntaxa)intheclassificationsystem,wherebyeachdescribedsyntaxonisidentifiedbyauniquenamethatcontainsthefirstandlastauthorthatdescribedthesyntaxonandthedateofvalidpublicationaccordingtotheRulesoftheInternationalCodeofPhytosociologicalNomenclature(Weberetal.2000).Theserulesarebasedonfiveprinciples(Moravec1968).Eachsyntaxon(withdefiniterank,positionanddelimitation)hasonlyonecorrectname;eachnamecanbecorrectlyusedforonesyntaxononly;thecorrectnameisestablishedaccordingtotherulesbasedonthepriorityprinciple,theassociationisthefundamentalnomenclaturalunit(syntaxon);andthevalidityofnomenclaturalrulesisretroactive.Thisapproachallowsdistinctionandidentificationofvegetationtypesandassuchprovidesaworld-widedetailedcomparisonandclassificationofvegetationtypesaccordingthesamescientificlanguage.
Analytical phase: fieldwork and relevs
Thevegetationisanalyzedbymeansofarelevofarepresentativevegetationplot,homogenousinfloristicalcomposition,vegetationstructure,andhabitat.Inthisplot,abundanceandcover(scale)ofallspecies,andthestructureofthevegetationandenvironmentalconditionsareassessed.Unknownspeciesarecollectedforidentification,andsoilsamplesarecollectedforanalyses.Relevplotsizesdependonvegetationfeatures.Chytr&Otpkov(2003)suggestplotssizesbetweenof4m2(foraquaticandlowgrownherbaceousvegetation)and200m2(forwoodlands)basedonmorethan41,000relevsfromEurope.ExamplesofrelevprotocolswithcombinedestimationofcoverandabundanceofspeciesandotherscalesarepresentedinWesthoffandvanderMaarel(1973).Environmentalconditions,altitude,geographicalposition(GPS)andotherrelevantinformationarecollectedforanalysesinthelaboratory.
Synthesis phase: comparing relevs in tables
Groupsofrelevsareformedaccordingtotheirfloristicsimilarity.Thesegroupsareconceivedasplantcommunitytypes(orphytocoena)havingsimilarfloristiccomposition,vegetationstructureandhabitatconditions.Inearliertimestherearrangingofrelevsinatableofallrelevswasmademanually.Now,manycomputerizednumericalclusteringprogramsareavailable(forasurveyseePeet&Roberts2012).Thecharacterizationofplantcommunitytypesinvolvessortingorrearrangingtheorderoftherelevs(columnsinthetable)andtheorderofspecies(rowsinthetable)suchthatrelevswithsimilarspeciescompositionoccurtogether,andspeciesthataremoreorlesspreferentiallyfoundineachgroupalsooccurtogether.Mathematicalrulesareusedtohelpinthissortingprocesstodetermineofthefidelityofeachspeciestothevarioussyntaxa.Diagnosticspeciesincludeso-calledcharacter species(orfaithfulspecies)thosethatdifferentiatetheplantcommunitytypesagainstallotherplantcommunitytypes,differential speciesthosethatdifferentiateagainstanumberofotherplantcommunitytypes,suchaswithinalocalityorregion,andconstant speciesthosethatoccuratsomehighpercentage,say60%,oftherelevswithintheplantcommunitytype.Ifcharacterspeciesoccur,thentheplantcommunitytypemightbeanassociation,thelowestsyntaxonofthesystem.Theassociationandallothersyntaxaareidentifiedbygroupsofdiagnosticspecies,includingcharacter,differentialandconstantspecies.FormoreinformationaboutthisprocedurethereaderisreferredtoWesthoffandvanderMaarel(1973),Danils(1982),Chytr&etal.(2002)andtheInternationalAssociationforVegetationScientists(IAVS)VegetationClassificationMethodsWebsite:https://sites.google.com/site/vegclassmethods/).Forlargeregionalandglobalclassificationsbasedonthousandsofrelevs,computerprogramsforclassificationofverylargedatasets,suchasTURBOVEGbyHennekens&Schamine(2001)andJUICEbyTich(2002),areavailableontheinternet.
Syntaxonomical phase: identification and classification of plant communities
Thistime-consumingphaseincludestheidentificationofthesyntaxonomicalpositionoftheplantcommunitytypesbycomparingitwithothersyntaxaalreadydescribedintheexistingsyntaxonomicalliteraturethathaveusedtheCodeofPhytosociologicalNomenclature(Weberetal.2000).AnexampleofahierarchyofsyntaxaassociatedwithArcticsaltmarshvegetationisinTable1.Theuseofaprodromus,orchecklist,ofnamesofdescribedsyntaxa,ifoneexists,isveryhelpfulinthisphase,suchastheseriesBibliographia Phytosociologica SyntaxonomicastartedandeditedbyTxen(1971-1986)withdeliveryof39classeswiththeirsubordinatedorders,alliancesandassociations.Foraneffectiveapproachtoproduceapan-Arctic
https://sites.google.com/site/vegclassmethods
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syntaxonomicalvegetationclassificationsysteminnearfuture,thedevelopmentofapan-Arcticchecklistofvascularplant,bryophytesandlichensandregionalsyntaxonomicalchecklistsareindispensable(seeRaynoldsetal.2013,thisvolume)
InterestingconsiderationsabouttheclassconceptinsyntaxonomywerepresentedbyPignattietal.(1995)takingintoaccounttheecologicalcharacterization,coherenceofthegeographicaldistributionofcharacterspeciesandthecommonspatialstructureofthevegetation.
Table 1. Example of syntaxomic classification scheme of saltmarsh vegetation of Arctic Europe.
1.ClassJuncetea maritimaeBr.-Bl.InBr.-Bl.,RoussineetNgre19521.1.OrderPuccinellietalia phryganodisHada1946
1.1.1.AlliancePuccinellion phryganodisHada1946(saline)1.1.1.1.AssociationPuccinellietum phryganodisHada1946(lowsaltmarsh)
1.1.1.2.AssociationFestuco-Caricetum glareosaedeMolenaar1974(highsaltmarsh)1.1.2.AllianceDupontion fisheri Hada1946(sub-saline)
Feasibility of a pan-Arctic syntaxonomic vegetation classification
SeveralfactorsmaketheArcticafeasibleareatodevelopaBraun-Blanquetclassificationfortheentirebiome.First,thefloraofvascularplants,bryophytesandlichensisratherpoor,ratherwellknownandstillintact.Thetotalnumberofvascularplantspeciesisabout2,200(withapomictsthenumbergrowstoabout2800(Danilsetal.2013)),bryophytesabout900species(Danilsetal.2013),andlichensabout1750species(Dahlberg&Bltmann2013).Thefloristicuniformityishighduetothehighpercentageofcircum-Arcticandcircum-borealspecies.Vegetationstructureisalsoratheruniformandsimple,relatedtotheyoungpostglaciallandscapesandharshenvironmentalconditions.Thelandsurfaceisstillrelativelyundisturbedbyhumanpopulationandactivities,sothetundraandpolardesertvegetationarestillintact.Fromacircumpolarviewthevegetationisratheruniformaswell.Manygoodvegetationclasseshaveapan-Arcticdistribution.Examplesinclude,thenon-acidicsedgeanddwarfshrubclassCarici rupestris-Kobresietea bellardiiOhba1974,theacidicdwarfshrubheathclassLoiseleurio-VaccinieteaEgglerexSchubert1960,andthecryptogam-richherbclassofthepolardesertDrabo corymbosae-Papaveretea dahlianiDanilsetal.2013ined.).
Albeittherearestillmanyandhugeknowledgegaps,muchvegetationinformationisavailableinglobal(CAVM;CAVM-Team2003,Walkeretal.2005),regional(EVM,Bohn&Neuhusletal.2000/2003)andlocalvegetationsurveysandmaps.ThereareverymanyplotanalysesmadeacrossArcticregionsandthereareseveralexcellentregionalvegetationmonographs(e.g.Matveyeva1998,surveyinDanilsetal.2005,Kohlod2007,Vonlanthenetal.2008;forRussiaseealsothemanypublicationsinthejournalVegetationofRussiaRussianGeobotanicalJournalISSN2073-0659).TheactivitiesoftheEuropeanVegetationSurvey(EVS)resultedinthehierarchicalfloristicclassificationsystemofplant,lichenandalgalcommunitiesofEurope(Mucinaetal.2013)thatcouldbetakenasanexampleofwhatwecanachievefortheArcticvegetation.Athoroughsurveyofvegetationclasses(27)andsubordinatesyntaxaforGreenlandisclosetopublicationnow(Danils&Bltmann2013inprep.).Inmyopinionthereisenoughplot-basedinformationtostartfirstwithaninventoryofplotanalyses;thenstorethisinformationinarchives,andmakesyntaxonomicalchecklistsinordertoproduceafirstcircumpolarvegetationclassificationschemeintheformofanArctic-wideprodromus.Letusseewhatisavailablesofarandthenusethismaterialforapan-Arcticsyntaxonomicclassification.Theproductionofpan-Arcticchecklistwithauniformnomenclatureforvascularplants,bryophytesandlichensisconditio sine qua non.Raynoldsetal.(2013,thisworkshop)presentabetaversionofthepan-ArcticSpeciesList(PASL)thatincludesvascularplants,bryophytesandlichens.Althoughthisundoubtedlywillbemodifiedasweproceed,itistheplacetostart.
The importance for research and nature management
RegardingtheongoingchangeintheArctic(seee.g.Meltofte2013),anArctic-wideclassificationbasedonthehierarchicsyntaxonomicBraun-Blanquetapproachwouldbeextremelyvaluableandbeneficialtoscientificandappliedresearchforseveralreasons:
Sinceplantspeciesandplantcommunitiesarethebuildingblocksandmainstructuralunitsofterrestrialecosystems,theBraun-Blanquetapproachisanindispensabletoolforlandscapeecologicalresearch.Asyntaxonomic-basedvegetationsurveyandmapprovidekeyinformationonthebiodiversityandecologicalsettingofthelandscapeandlandscapequality.Suchdataareindispensableforqualityassessmentsofhabitattypesandconservationlegislation(cf.EUHabitatsDirective).Thedatacanalsobeusedinred-listingofplantspeciesandvegetationtypes.Habitatsareeasilyidentifiedbytheirsyntaxonomicname,thusbysyntaxa!
Relevdataareeasilyintegratedintospeciesandecosystemmodelingeffortsbecausethedatacontainrelativelyconsistentdetailedplot-basedinformationaboutspecies,theirabundance/cover,andoftengeographicalandenvironmentalinformation.
Aphytosociologicalstudyofanareaishighlybeneficialindevelopinghypothesesinbiodiversityandecologicalresearch.
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Phytosociologicalknowledgeisindispensableintheselectionofmonitoringandsurveillancesitesforclimate-changerelatedstudies.
Thesyntaxonomicalclassificationsystemallowsgeneralizationandextrapolationofresultsofexperimentalecologicalresearch.
ThusthestatementofPeetandRoberts(2012)would,inmyopinion,bestrongerifitfocusedonsyntaxaandreadtoconductorpublishecologicalresearchwithoutreferencetothesyntaxontheworkwasconductedinisverymuchlikedepositingaspecimeninamuseumwithoutprovidingalabel.
Insummary,theBraun-Blanquetplantcommunityclassificationapproachisanexcellenttoolforassessingplant-speciesandplant-communitybiodiversityatlocal,regionalandglobalscales,andprovidesasolidbaseforlandscapeprotectionandmanagement.
The AVA
TheresolutionoftheBouldermeetingidentifiedtheneedtoprepareacircumpolardatabase,classification,andvegetationmap.Thevegetationmapwaspublishedin2003and2005(CAVM-Team2003,Walkeretal.2005).ThecircumpolarArcticvegetationclassificationanditsnecessarydatabasestillneedtobeachieved.HereinKrakowwehavetheopportunitytobeginthesetwoothertasks.ConceptualdiagramsoftheInternationalArcticVegetationDatabase(IAVD)orArcticVegetationArchive(AVA)andthedataflowwerepresentedinWalker&Raynolds(2011).ThesediagramsmightbeusedasguidelinesforfurtherdiscussionsinthenextdaysinKrakow.
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Westhoff,V.&vanderMaarel,E.1973.TheBraun-BlanquetApproach.InR.Txen(ChiefEditor)HandbookofVegetationScience,PartVWhittaker,R.H.(ed.)Ordination and Classification of Communities,Junk,TheHague,pp.617-726..
17
Toward an Alaska Prototype for the Arctic Vegetation Archive
Amy L. Breen1,2, Martha K. Raynolds1, Stephan Hennekans3, Marilyn Walker1,4 & Donald A. Walker1
1Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, AK, USA, 2International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, AK, USA 3Alterra, Wageningen UR, Netherlands 4Homer Energy, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Abstract
WecreatedanAlaskaprototypedatabasefortheArcticVegetationArchive(AVA).Apreliminarysurveyofkeyvegetation-plotdatainArcticAlaskarevealedover3,000relevsfromsitesontheSewardPeninsula,BrooksRange,ArcticFoothillsandCoastalPlain.Mostofthesedatasetsarehighqualityandincludecompletespecieslistsandcoverestimatesforvascularplants,mosses,andlichensfromsmall,representativeareasofhomogeneousvegetation.TheAlaskaArcticVegetationArchive(AAVA)utilizestheprogramTURBOVEG,acomprehensivedatamanagementsystemforvegetation-plotdata.WeconstructedabetaversionofthePanArcticSpeciesListforuseinTURBOVEGtoprovideastandardofspeciesnomenclaturefortheentireArcticbiomeandhaveimportedapproximately500relevstodate.Weanticipateatwo-yeartimelineforcompletionoftheAAVAandpresentthestepswehavetakentocreatethearchiveandthestepsthatstillremainforusebyotherregionalarchiveefforts.
Introduction
ThegoaloftheArcticVegetationArchive(AVA)istouniteandharmonizerelevdatafromtheArctictundrabiomeforuseindevelopingapan-Arcticvegetationclassificationandasaresourceforclimate-changeandbiodiversityresearch(Walkeretal.2013,WalkerandRaynolds2011).TheAVAwillbeanopenaccessdatabasecomprisedofregionalarchivesfromthevariousArcticnationsthatwillbethefirsttorepresentanentireglobalbiome.HerewepresentthestatusofanAlaskaprototypefortheAVA.Wefirstshareourfindingsfromapreliminarysurveyofkeyvegetation-plotdatafromArcticAlaska.Next,wegiveanupdateonthestatusoftheAlaskaArcticVegetationArchive(AAVA)andproposealistofrequiredandrecommendedmetadataandenvironmentalheaderdataforinclusionintheAVA.Finally,weconcludebyoutliningtheremainingstepstowardcompletionoftheAVA.
Preliminary Survey of Relevs from Arctic Alaska
Apreliminarysurveyofkeyvegetation-plotdatarevealedover3,000relevsfromArcticAlaska(Fig.1andTable1).Thesedataarescatteredacrossmanyinstitutionsinavarietyofformatsrangingfromspreadsheets,todatareportsandpublications,tofieldnotebooks.RelevshavebeencollectedalongtheprimaryArcticenvironmentalgradients,includingtemperature,soilpH,soiltexture,andsoilmoisture.Mostofthesedatasetsarehighqualityandincludecompletespecieslistsandcoverestimatesforvascularplants,mossesandlichensfromsmallrepresentativeareasusually1-100m2.Themorerecentvegetationplotsarealsogeoreferencedandincludesupplementaryinformationsuchasbiomass,canopystructure,soilsdata,andenvironmentalsummaries.
Therichesthistoryofvegetation-plotdatacollectioninArcticAlaskaisperhapsfromsitesontheCoastalPlain.ThisincludesearlyworkbyAlJohnson(Johnsonetal.1966)atCapeThompsonsponsoredbytheAtomicEnergyCommissiontoassesstheareafortheproposedProjectChariotandbyPatWebberaspartoftheInternationalBiologicalProgrammeTundraBiomeprojectatBarrow(Webber1978).PatWebbersstudentswerealsoquiteactivestudyingvegetationontheCoastalPlain.VeraKomrkovcollectedvegetation-plotdataatAtqasuk(Komrkov&Webber1980)and
Short and extended abstracts of papers presented at the workshopin alphabetical order of the first author
Figure1: Locality of key vegetation-plot data in Arctic Alaska. The three bioclimate subzones (CAVM Team 2003) in Arctic Alaska are shown and the quantity and quality of data are indicated by the size and color of the points. The southern boundary of Subzone E is treeline and the gray area is boreal forest. The numbers on the map for each data set coincide with Table 1.
18
theFishCreekOilWellSite(Lawsonetal.1978andKomrkov1983),andJimEbersoleworkedattheOumalikWellSite(Ebersole1985)aspartoftheUSGeologicalServicesNationalPetroleumReserve-Alaskacleanupactivities.Inaddition,SkipWalkercollectedvegetation-plotdataatthePrudhoeBayOilfields(Walker1985)andMarilynWalkerworkedatpingosatmultiplestudyareasonthecentralCoastalPlain(Walker1990)fortheirdoctoralresearch.Twositesonthecoastalplain,BarrowandtheOumalikWellSite,wererepeatsampledtoassessvegetationchangeafterapproximately40(Villarrealetal.2012)and10years(Forbesetal.2001),respectively.
RelevshavealsobeencollectedfromseveralotherlocalitiesinArcticAlaska.ThesesitesrangefromNome(Hanson1953),BeringLandBridgeNationalPreserve(Jorgensonetal.2009),andQuartzCreekandCouncil(Raynoldsetal.2002)ontheSewardPeninsulatoCapeKrusenstern(Jorgensonetal.2009)andtheKobuk(Racine1976,Breen2010)andNoatakRivers(Young1974,Breen2010)innorthwesternAlaska.IntheBrooksRange,plotdataareavailablefromtheArrigetchPeaks(Cooper1986),GatesoftheArcticNationalParkandPreserve(Jorgensonetal.2009)andtheArcticNationalWildlifeRefuge(Jorgensonetal.1994&2010,Breen2010).Severalstudiescollecteddatafromlong-distancetransectsincludingfrostboils(Kadeetal.2005)andwillowcommunities(Schickhoffetal.2002)alongasouth-northtransectfollowingtheDaltonHighwayfromthefoothillsoftheBrooksRangenorthtotheCoastalPlainandfromsitesthatvaryinsoilpHandmoisture(Edwardsetal.2000)alongawest-northtransectfromtheSewardPeninsulanorthwesttoIvotukandnorthtoBarrow.Inthefoothills,relevdataarealsoavailablefromImnavaitCreek(Walkeretal.1987),ToolikLake(Walkeretal.1991),HappyValley(Walkeretal.1997)andUmiat(Churchill1957).
Status of the Alaska Arctic Vegetation Archive
TheAlaskaArcticVegetationArchiveutilizesTURBOVEG(v.2.100;HennekensandSchaminee2001)whichisacomprehensivedatamanagementsystemforvegetation-plotdata.TURBOVEGwasdevelopedforstoring,editingandselectingofrelevsforthetaskofproducinganationalvegetationclassificationforTheNetherlands.Sincethen,theprogramhasevolvedtobecomethestandardfordatastoragefortheEuropeanVegetationArchivewhichisaninitiativeaimedatestablishingandmaintenanceofasingledatarepositoryofvegetation-plotobservations(http://euroveg.org/eva-database).
ThefirststeptowardcreatingtheprototypewastoconstructaspecieslisttoprovideastandardofspeciesnomenclaturefortheentireArcticbiome(Murray1994).WehavenowcompletedthistaskandthebetaversionofthePanArcticSpeciesList(PASL)isavailableforuseandreview(Raynoldsetal.2013,thisworkshop).ThePASLwasdevelopedfromthechecklistsofvascularplants,lichens,mosses,andliverwortsbytaxonomistswithintheConservationofArcticFloraandFaunaWorkingGroup.
Thesecondstepwastoimportthemostreadilyavailablehighqualityvegetation-plotdataintoTURBOVEGdatabasesforproofofconcept.ThefirstrelevsweimportedintotheprototypewerefromMarilynWalkersPhDdissertationstudyingpingosontheCoastalPlain(Walker1990,293relevs)whichisappropriategivenherleadershiproleinthe1995BoulderWorkshopthatleadtotheresolutiontocreatetheArcticVegetationArchivenearly20yearsago(Walkeretal.1995).TheotherdatasetsintheprototypetodateincluderelevsfromToolikLake(Walker1991,81relevs),ImnaviatCreek(Walker1987,84relevs),andHappyValley(Walker1997,56relevs)intheArcticFoothills.
Onceweimportedthefirstvegetation-plotdataintotheAAVA,thenextstepthatisongoingistostandardizerequiredprojectmetadataandheaderdataincludedintheenvironmentalmatrix.WewillaskthatallcontributorssubmittingrelevstotheAVAmeetthesestandards.ThisisanecessaryandimportanttaskasitwillassurethedataincludedareofhighqualityandcaneventuallybeincludedinacircumpolarclassificationofArcticvegetation.TheproposedmetadataandheaderdatastandardsarepresentedinTables2&3forreview.WeviewthesestandardsasastartingpointfordiscussionandanticipatethesewillberefinedandimprovedaswemoveforwardwiththeAVA.
ThemostrecentstepwehavetakenistoregistertheAAVAintheGlobalIndexofVegetation-PlotDatabases(GIVD;Dengleretal.2011).TheGIVDisaninternetresourceaimedatregisteringmetadataonexistingvegetationdatabasesworldwide.ThestatusoftheAAVAislistedasemergingandhasbeenassignedauniqueidentifier(NA-US-014).WeanticipateeachoftheregionalarchivesintheAVAwillregisterindependentlyandupdatetheirstatusastheirarchivesevolve.
Figure 2: Sampling a 1 x 1-m relev in moist acidic tussock tundra post-fire on the Seward Peninsula in western Alaska.
http://euroveg.org/eva-database
19
Timetable for Completion of the AAVA
WerecentlyreceivedfundingfromtheU.S.NASAprogramtoassembletheAAVAinpreparationforNASA'snextmajorfieldcampaigncalledtheArcticBorealVulnerabilityExperiment(ABoVE;http://cce.nasa.gov/terrestrial_ecology/above/).Table5outlinesouranticipated2-yeartimetableforcompletingthemajortaskstowardcreatingtheAAVA.TheBoulderWorkshopscheduledforOctober2013willfocusontheAlaskaandCanadaportionsoftheArctic.ThemajorgoaloftheworkshopistoreviewthestatusofrelevdatafromArcticAlaskaandbeginthetaskofassemblingthesedataintotheAAVAwithconsistentformatandmetadata.Weanticipatebeginninganalysistoclassifyplantcommunitiesandpreparingamanuscriptfromthe
http://cce.nasa.gov/terrestrial_ecology/above/
20
resu
ltsonc
eth
eAAV
Ais
com
plet
e.
Tabl
e 1
Prel
imin
ary
list o
f key
veg
etat
ion-
plot
dat
a fro
m A
rctic
Ala
ska.
Poin
t on
M
ap
Aut
hor(
s) (D
ate)
Loca
tion
Pub-
lishe
d Re
lev
s
Unp
ub-
lishe
d Re
lev
s
rele
v S
ize
(m2 )
Spec
ies
Dat
aEn
viro
n-m
enta
l D
ata
Plan
t Co
mm
uni-
ties
Iden
ti-
fied
Geo
ref-
eren
ced
Form
atA
ppli-
cabl
e to
the
AVA
vasc
ular
pl
ants
bryo
-ph
ytes
liche
ns
1W
alke
r,D.A
.(19
85)
Prud
hoeBa
yOilfi
eld
93-
1-10
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
1,9
Walke
rM.D
.,(199
0)Ping
oco
mm
unities
onth
eCe
ntralA
rctic
Coa
stalPlain
(Kup
aruk
,Pru
dhoe
Bay
,To
olikRiver,K
adlero
shilik
stud
yarea
s)
293
-12
.5
(2m
diam
-et
er)
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
Turb
oveg
yes
2,3,4
,5,6
Kade
,A.,D.A
.Walke
r&M
.K.R
ayno
lds
(200
5)
Fros
tboilsalong
theNor
th-
ernAlask
aArctic
Trans
ect
(How
eIsland
,Dea
dhor
se,
Fran
klinBluffs
,Sag
won
Uplan
ds,H
appy
Valley)
117
-1
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
Exce
lye
s
6W
alke
r,D.A
.,N.A
.Au
erba
ch,T
.K.N
et-
tleto
n,A
.Gallant
&S.
M.M
urph
y(199
7)
Hap
pyValley
56-
19.6
(5m
diam
-et
er)
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes-
mos
tEx
cel
yes
7W
alke
r,D.A
.&N
.Ba
rry(199
1)and
W
alke
r,M.D
.,D.A
.W
alke
r&N
.A.A
uer-
bach
(199
4)
ToolikLak
e73
-19
.6
(5m
diam
-et
er)
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
Turb
oveg
yes
8W
alke
r,D.A
.,N.
D.L
eder
er&
M.D
.W
alke
r(19
87)a
nd
Walke
r,M.D
.,D.A
.W
alke
r&N
.A.A
uer-
bach
(199
4)
Imna
viatCre
ek81
-19
.6
(5m
diam
-et
er)
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
Turb
oveg
yes
9,10
Schick
hoff,U
.,M.D
.W
alke
r&D
.A.W
alke
r(200
2)
Willow
com
mun
ities
along
th
eDalto
nHighw
ay85
-50
or1
00ye
sye
sye
sye
sye
sye
sPD
Fye
s
1 The
statu
sof
Ver
aKo
mr
kov
'sre
lev
sfrom
theNationa
lPet
roleum
Res
erve
-Alask
aisunk
nownan
dlik
elyca
nnot
bere
cove
redafte
rher
dea
thin
200
5.O
urm
ainpo
into
fcon
tactis
her
fir
sthus
band
,Dr.JiKo
mreatth
eDep
artm
ento
fBot
any,Fac
ultyofS
cien
ce,U
nive
rsity
ofS
outh
Boh
emia,
esk
Bud
jov
ice,Cze
chRep
ublic
.
21
Poin
t on
M
ap
Aut
hor(
s) (D
ate)
Loca
tion
Pub-
lishe
d Re
lev
s
Unp
ub-
lishe
d Re
lev
s
rele
v S
ize
(m2 )
Spec
ies
Dat
aEn
viro
n-m
enta
l D
ata
Plan
t Co
mm
uni-
ties
Iden
ti-
fied
Geo
ref-
eren
ced
Form
atA
ppli-
cabl
e to
the
AVA
vasc
ular
pl
ants
bryo
-ph
ytes
liche
ns
11W
ebbe
r(19
78)
andVilla
rrea
l,S.,
R.D
.Hollis
ter,D.R
.Jo
hnso
n,M
.J.L
ara,
P.J.W
ebbe
r&C.E
.Tw
eedie(201
2)
Barrow
430
(197
8)
+33
0(201
2)
-1(197
2)+
0.1(201
2)
yes
noye
sye
sye
sye
sEx
cel
yes
11,1
2Pe
terson
,K.M
.(197
8)Ba
rrow
and
Atq
asuk
--
-ye
sno
nono
nono
HardCo
pyno
11,
12,15,
17
Edwards
,E.J.,A.
Moo
dy&
D.A
.W
alke
r(20
00)
Wes
tern
Alask
aArctic
Tran
sect(B
arro
w,A
tqas
uk,
Oum
alik,Ivo
tuk)
15-
100
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes-
mos
tHardCo
pyye
s
11,2
1Elias,S.A
.,S.K.S
hort,
D.A
.Walke
r&N
.A.
Auer
bach
(199
6)
Barrow
and
Bar
terIslan
d59
-80
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
noHardCo
pyye
s
12Ko
mr
kov
,V.&
P.J.
Web
ber(
1980
)Atq
asuk
73-
unkn
own
yes
nono
yes
yes
unkn
own
HardCo
pyye
s
13La
wso
n,D
.E.,J.
Brow
n,K.R
.Eve
rtt,
A.W
.Joh
nson
,V.
Kom
rko
v,B
.M.
Mur
ray,D
.F.M
urray
&P.J.W
ebbe
r.(197
8)
andKo
mr
kov
,V.
(198
3)
Fish
Cre
ek15
-0,2
yes
nono
yes
yes
unkn
own
HardCo
pyye
s
14Jo
rgen
son,M
.T.,J.E.
Roth
,E.R
.Pullm
an,
R.M
.Bur
gess,M
.K.
Rayn
olds
,A.A
.Stic
k-ne
y,M
.D.S
mith
&T.
M.Z
imm
er.(19
97)
ColvilleRive
rDelta
293
-2.50
0ye
sye
sye
sye
sye
sye
sun
know
nye
s
15Eb
erso
le,J.J.(19
85)
Oum
alik-un
distur
bed
87-
25ye
sye
sye
sye
sye
sno
HardCo
pyye
s
15Eb
erso
le,J.J.(19
85)
Oum
alik-distur
bed
61-
25ye
sno
noye
sye
sno
HardCo
pyye
s
16Ch
urch
ill,E
.D.(19
55)
Um
iat
80-
1ye
sno
nono
yes
noPD
Fye
s1 T
hestatu
sof
Ver
aKo
mr
kov
'sre
lev
sfrom
theNationa
lPet
roleum
Res
erve
-Alask
aisunk
nownan
dlik
elyca
nnot
bere
cove
redafte
rher
dea
thin
200
5.O
urm
ainpo
into
fcon
tactis
her
fir
sthus
band
,Dr.JiKo
mreatth
eDep
artm
ento
fBot
any,Fac
ultyofS
cien
ce,U
nive
rsity
ofS
outh
Boh
emia,
esk
Bud
jov
ice,Cze
chRep
ublic
.
22
Poin
t on
M
ap
Aut
hor(
s) (D
ate)
Loca
tion
Pub-
lishe
d Re
lev
s
Unp
ub-
lishe
d Re
lev
s
rele
v S
ize
(m2 )
Spec
ies
Dat
aEn
viro
n-m
enta
l D
ata
Plan
t Co
mm
uni-
ties
Iden
ti-
fied
Geo
ref-
eren
ced
Form
atA
ppli-
cabl
e to
the
AVA
vasc
ular
pl
ants
bryo
-ph
ytes
liche
ns
18Ko
mr
kov
,V.&
J.D.
McK
endr
ick(198
8)1
Nationa
lPet
roleum
Re-
serv
e-Alask
aSa
ndReg
ion
608
25ye
sun
-kn
own
un-
know
nye
sye
sun
know
nun
know
nun
-kn
own
19,2
0Ra
ynolds
,M.K.,C.R.
Mar
tin,D
.A.W
alke
r,A.M
oody
,D.W
irth,
C.Tha
yer-Sn
yder
(200
2)
Coun
cila
ndQ
uartzCr
eek
52.
100
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
Exce
lye
s
22Jo
rgen
son,J.C.,J.
M.V
erH
oef.&M
.T.
Jorg
enso
n(201
0)
Arctic
Nationa
lWild
life
Refu
ge60
-12
0ye
sye
sye
sun
know
nye
sye
sPD
Fye
s
22Jo
rgen
son,J.C.,P.E.
Joria
,T.R
.McC
abe,
B.R.R
eitz,M
.K.
Rayn
olds
,M.E
mer
s&
M.A
.Wilm
s(199
4)
Arctic
Nationa
lWild
life
Refu
ge13
2-
3.60
0ye
sye
sye
sye
sye
sye
sun
know
nye
s
23Jo
hnso
n,A
.W.,
L.A
.Viere
ck,R
.E.
John
son,and
H.
Melch
ior(
1966
)
Cape
Tho
mps
on54
-4,04
6.9
(1acre)
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
noun
know
nye
s
24Co
oper
(198
6)
Arriget
chM
ount
ains
372
-1-
30
(var
ies)
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
noHardCo
pyye
s
25Ba
tten
(197
7)La
kePet
ers
--
-ye
sno
nono
yes
noHardCo
pyno
26Jo
rgen
sen,M
.T.,J.
E.Rot
h,P.F.M
iller,
M.J.M
acan
der,M.S
.Duff
y,A
.F.W
ells,G
.V
Fros
t&E.R
.Pullm
an
(200
9)
Arctic
Net
wor
kof
Nationa
lPa
rks,Pr
eser
vesan
dMon
umen
ts
793
-31
5
(20m
diam
eter
)
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
unkn
own
yes
27Ra
cine
(197
6)Ko
bukRive
rValley
--
-ye
sno
nono
nono
HardCo
pyno
28Yo
ung(197
4)Noa
takRive
r-
--
yes
nono
nono
noHardCo
pyno
29Mur
ray,D
.F.(19
74)
KillikRive
r-
--
yes
nono
nono
noHardCo
pyno
1 The
statu
sof
Ver
aKo
mr
kov
'sre
lev
sfrom
theNationa
lPet
roleum
Res
erve
-Alask
aisunk
nownan
dlik
elyca
nnot
bere
cove
redafte
rher
dea
thin
200
5.O
urm
ainpo
into
fcon
tactis
her
fir
sthus
band
,Dr.JiKo
mreatth
eDep
artm
ento
fBot
any,Fac
ultyofS
cien
ce,U
nive
rsity
ofS
outh
Boh
emia,
esk
Bud
jov
ice,Cze
chRep
ublic
.
23
Poin
t on
M
ap
Aut
hor(
s) (D
ate)
Loca
tion
Pub-
lishe
d Re
lev
s
Unp
ub-
lishe
d Re
lev
s
rele
v S
ize
(m2 )
Spec
ies
Dat
aEn
viro
n-m
enta
l D
ata
Plan
t Co
mm
uni-
ties
Iden
ti-
fied
Geo
ref-
eren
ced
Form
atA
ppli-
cabl
e to
the
AVA
vasc
ular
pl
ants
bryo
-ph
ytes
liche
ns
30Br
een,A
.L.(20
10)
Balsam
pop
lars
tand
sin
theArctic
Foo
thillsan
dwes
tern
Alask
a
25-
varie
sde
pend
ing
upon
the
size
oft
he
stan
d
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
Exce
lye
s
31Han
son,H
.C.(19
53)
Nom
e70
-1
yes
nono
noye
sno
yes
1 The
statu
sof
Ver
aKo
mr
kov
'sre
lev
sfrom
theNationa
lPet
roleum
Res
erve
-Alask
aisunk
nownan
dlik
elyca
nnot
bere
cove
redafte
rher
dea
thin
200
5.O
urm
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24
Table 2 Project metadata for the Arctic Vegetation Archive. The proposed fields required for inclusion in the AVA are indicated with an asterisk. All other fields are recommended for inclusion.
Project Metadata1
Field name ID1 Source2 Type3 Description
Project description
Project name* PROJ_NAME AVA C Projecttitle.
GIVD code* PROJECT TV C GlobalIndexofVegetationDatabasescode,willbeincludedinheaderdata.
Projectdescription PROJ_DESC AVA C Briefdescriptionofthestudy.
Author name* AUTH_NAME TV C Relevprimaryauthor(s).
Locality* LOCALITY AVA C Specificprojectlocality,willbeincludedinheaderdata.
Country* COUNTRY TV C Country,willbeincludedinheaderdata.
Number of relevs* RELEVE_NO AVA N Numberofrelevsinthedataset.
Numberofclassifiedrelevs
CLASSIF_NO AVA N Numberofrelevsinthedatasetforwhichsyntaxonisknown.
Reference* REFE_NAME TV C Ifdataarepublished,includeprimaryreference(s).
Data quality
Taxonomic expertise* EXPERT AVA C Pop-uplist:expert, collections made and sent to experts for determination, moderate, poor.
Permanentlymarked MARKED AVA C Arerelevspermanentlymarked?(yesorno)
Markingmethod MARK_METH AVA C Ifrelevsarepermanentlymarked,specifymethods.
Collection* COLLEC AVA C Pop-uplist:relev, other.
Collectionmethod COLL_METH AVA C Ifdidnotuserelevs,specifycollectionmethodandsource.
Minimumarea MINI_AREA AVA C Relevminimumarearequirementssatisfied?(yesorno)
Homogeneity HOMOGEN AVA C Homogeneityrequirementssatisfied?(yesorno)
Mosses* MOSS_IDENT TV C Atleast80%ofmossesidentified?(yesorno)
Liverworts* LIV_IDENT AVA C Atleast80%ofliverwortsidentified?(yesorno)
Lichens* LICH_IDENT TV C Atleast80%oflichensidentified?(yesorno)
Georeference* GEOREF AVA C Aretherelevsgeoreferenced?(yesorno)
Sitedescription SITE_DESC AVA C Aretherelevsaccompaniedbyadescriptionofthesite?(yesorno)
Vegetationdescription VEGE_DESC AVA C Aretherelevsaccompaniedbyadescriptionofthevegetation?(yesorno)
Soilsdescription SOIL_DESC AVA C Aretherelevsaccompaniedbyadescriptionofthesoils?(yesorno)
Quality score* QUALITY AVA C Pop-uplist:very high quality:acceptableformostapplicationsincludingvegetationclassificationandenvironmentalanalysis(completevascularplant,moss,andlichenspecieslists;coverabundanceorpercentagecoverforallspecies;goodenvironmentaldatathatincludesalltheminimumheaderdata,includingsoildata;goodgeoreferenceatlandscapelevel(GPScoordinates)),intermediate quality a-e:acceptableforsomeapplications(specifyweakpointsinthedataset(a.incompletespecieslist,b.seriousproblemswithplanttaxonomy,c.noorweakenvironmentaldata,d.noorweaksoildata,e.noorweakgeoreference),unacceptable qualitya-d,notusefulformostvegetationclassificationsoranalyses(a.notplotdata,b.veryincompletespecieslist,c.noenvironmentalorheaderdata,d.nogeoreference).
1 For consistency, we suggest column headers across the various prototypes. Column headers are limited to ten characters.2 The source of the proposed fields is either Turboveg (TV) or the AVA. Turboveg includes many fields as standard within the program.3 Fields are either characters (C) or numbers (N).
25
Table 3 Environmental header data for the Arctic Vegetation Archive. The proposed fields required for inclusion in the AVA are in bold and indicated with an asterisk. All other fields are recommended for inclusion.
Relev header data1
Field name ID1 Source2 Type3 Description
Relev description
Relev number* RELEVE_NR TV N RelevnumberisgeneratedautomaticallyinTurboveg.
Fieldrelevnumber FIELD_NR AVA C Relevnumberusedinthefieldbytheauthor(s).
ProjectID?
Locality* LOCALITY AVA C Fromprojectmetadata.Shouldbeaspecificlocalityfortheplot.
Country* COUNTRY AVA C Fromprojectmetadata.
GIVD code* PROJECT TV C Fromprojectmetadata.OruseProjectID
Author* AUTHOR TV C Fromprojectmetadata.Shouldbeplotcollector.
Date* DATE TV C Dateofcollection(yyyy/mm/dd).
Relev size* SURF_AREA TV N Sizeofthereleve(m2).
Standsize STAND_AREA
AVA N Sizeofthestand(m2).
Coverabundancescale
COVERSCALE TV C Pop-uplist:percentage, Braun/Blanquet (old), Braun/Blanquet (new), Londo, presence/absence, Ordinale scale (1-9), Barkman, Doing & Segal, Doing, constancy classes, Domin, Colin, Tansley, Didukh, Numbers
Plantcommunityname
COMM_NAME
AVA C Syntaxonname,formalorother.Willspecifythesourceofthenameinthenextfield.
Sourceofplantcommunityname
COMM_SOUR
AVA C Pop-uplist:Braun-Blanquet syntaxon name, USNVC name, CNVC name, Russian nomenclature system, field community name, other. Ifother,specify.
Locality
Locality code* COUNTRY TV C Generatedforprojectmetadata.
Georeference* GEOREF AVA C Istherelevgeoreferenced?(yesorno)Ifyes,providesubsequentfields.
Georeference source*
GEO_SOURC AVA C Pop-upList:GPS, Google Earth, map, aerial photograph.
Latitude LATITUDE TV N Latitude(decimaldegrees).
Longitude LONGITUDE TV N Longitude(decimaldegrees).
Geodeticdatum GEO_DATUM AVA C IfrelevsaregeoreferencedusingaGPSormap,includethedatum.
Altitude ALTITUDE TV N Altitudeofrelev(m).
Site description
Slope INCLINATIO TV N Slopeofrelev(degrees).
Aspect EXPOSITION TV N Aspectofrelev(degrees).
Habitat* HABITAT AVA C Pop-uplist:moderate to well-drained uplands (including zonal sites),wetland, riparian, snowbed, rocky barrens, zoogenic, saline, dune.
Snowduration DUR_SNOW AVA C Pop-uplist:snow free all year, snow free most of the winter but some snow cover persists after a storm that is blow free soon afterward, snow free prior to melt out but with snow most of winter, snow free immediately after melt out, snow bank persists 1-4 weeks after melt out, very short snow free period, deep snow all year.
1 For consistency, we suggest column headers across the various prototypes. Column headers are limited to ten characters.2 The source of the proposed fields is either Turboveg (TV) or the AVA. Turboveg includes many fields as standard within the program.3 Fields are either characters (C) or numbers (N).
26
Relev header data1
Field name ID1 Source2 Type3 Description
Exposure EXPOSURE AVA C Pop-uplist:protected from winds, moderate exposure to winds, exposed to winds, very exposed to winds
Stability STABILITY AVA C Pop-uplist:stable, subject to occasional disturbance, subject to prolonged but slow disturbance such as solifluction, annually disturbed, disturbed more than once annually.
Disturbance* DISTURBAN AVA C Pop-uplist:natural vegetation or anthropogenically disturbed. What about type of distubance? What about concentrated animal use? Burned? Flooding, Soils distubance...etc
Soils description
Soilclassification SOIL_CLASS AVA C Pop-uplist:US Soil Survey, Canadian Classification, Russian Classification, FAO-UNESCO, other, none. If other, specify.
Soilclassificationmethod
SOIL_METH AVA C Ifothersoilclassificationmethod,specifymethodandsource.
Soiltype SOIL_TYPE AVA C Descriptionofthesoil.Thiswillbespecifictotheclassificationsystemused.
Organiclayerdepth ORG_DEPTH AVA N Depthoforganiclayer(cm).
Humustype?
SoilpH SOIL_PH AVA N pHofthesoil.
Soilmoisture* SOIL_MOIST AVA C Pop-uplist:dry, moist, wet, aquatic.
Vegetation Description
Covertotal COV_TOTAL TV N Totalvegetationcover(%).
Covershrubs COV_SHRUBS
TV N Shrubcover(%).
Coverdwarfshrubs COV_DSHRUB
AVA N Dwarfshrubcover(%).
Covergraminoids COV_GRAMIN
AVA N Graminoidcover(%).
Coverherbs COV_HERBS TV N Herbcover(%).
Coverbryophytes COV_BRYOP AVA N Bryophytecover(%).
Coverlichens COV_LICHEN TV N Lichencover(%).
Coveralgae COV_ALGAE TV N Algaecover(%).
Coversoil COV_SOIL AVA N Soilcover(%).
Coverrock COV_ROCK TV N Rockcover(%).
Coverwater COV_WATER TV N Watercover(%).
Coverlitter COV_LITTER TV N Littercover(%).
Meancanopyheight MEAN_CANOPY
AVA N Meanheightofthecanopywithinthestand.
Maximumcanopyheight
MAX_CANOPY
AVA N Maximumheightofthecanopywithinthestand.
Vascularplants NO_VPLANT AVA N Speciesnumberofvascularplants.
Mosses NO_MOSS AVA N Speciesnumberofmosses.
Liverworts NO_LIVER AVA N Speciesnumberofliverworts.
Lichens NO_LICHEN AVA N Speciesnumberoflichens.
Species NO_SPECIES AVA N Totalnumberofspecies.
Other
Remarks REMARKS TV C Comments.1 For consistency, we suggest column headers across the various prototypes. Column headers are limited to ten characters.2 The source of the proposed fields is either Turboveg (TV) or the AVA. Turboveg includes many fields as standard within the program.3 Fields are either characters (C) or numbers (N).
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Table 4 Timetable for recovery of key vegetation-plot data from Arctic Alaska and creation of an Alaska Arctic Vegetation Archive.
Tasks for Recovery of Key Plot Data for the Alaska Arctic Vegetation Archive Start Year Planned Completion1
Task1.AlaskaAVAWorkshopinBoulder
-Participantswillincludeauthorsofvegetationdatasets2013 31.okt.13-Askparticipantstobringtheirdatatostandardizeandformatforinclusion
intheAAVAduringtheworkshop
Task2.DevelopprototypeAVAdatabaseforArcticAlaska
2.1Inventoryandassessthequalityofavailablevegetationdatasets 2013 31.okt.13
2.2Sendoutinventoryforexternalreview 2013 31.okt.13
2.3Standardizeprojectmetadataandheaderdata 2013 31.g.13
2.4StandardizePASLrevisions&updates 2013 31.des.14
2.5PrioritizevegetationdatasetsforinclusionintheAAVA 2013 31.g.13
2.3Recovervegetationdataincluding: 2013 31.des.14
-formattomeetstandards - -
-enterorformatdatathatisonlyavailableasaPDForhardcopy - -
-compileotherplotrelatedfiles(eg,photographs,soilprofiles,maps,PDFsoforiginalreportsorpublications)toincludeinGeobotanicalCatalog - -
2.4UpdateentryinGlobalIndexofVegetationDatabases(GIVD) 2013 Ongoing
2.5Exportveget