Biodiversity & Ecology
Short Database Report Open Access
VIOLETEA – heavy metal grasslands
Keywords: biodiversity; Festuco-Brometea; heavy metal; informatics; phytosociology; pollution; soil data; Violetea calaminariae; vegetation classification.
English
Abstract: The VIOLETEA database (GIVD ID EU-00-007) of heavy metal grasslands (Violetea calaminariae) i.e. grasslands on soils containing high concentrations of heavy metals, comprises 656 relevés from seven German regions (federal states: Lower-Saxony, North-Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia). This number represents more than 90% of the total relevé stock existing from heavy metal grasslands in Germany. It was created in the mid of the 2000s combining own relevés with datasets from the literature (in total 17 sources). There are environmental data available for many relevés including measurements of heavy metals. Mosses and lichens are determined mostly in detail. The data base was created for a survey of heavy metal vegetation in Germany and will be used to analyse geographic patterns within plant communities. Hosted by the department of Geobotany of the University of Trier, the data are available for collaborative research.
Suggested citation:
Becker, T. (2012): VIOLETEA – heavy metal grasslands. – In: Dengler, J., Oldeland, J., Jansen, F., Chytrý, M., Ewald, J., Finckh, M., Glöckler, F., Lopez-Gonzalez, G., Peet, R.K., Schaminée, J.H.J. [Eds.]: Vegetation databases for the 21st century. – Biodiversity & Ecology 4: 325–325. DOI: 10.7809/b-e.00118.