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Aims: Classification of European bog vegetation (Oxycocco-Sphagnetea class); identification of diagnostic species for the class and vegetation subgroups (orders and alliances); development of an expert system for automatic classification of vegetation plots; and production of distribution maps of the Oxycocco-Sphagnetea class and its alliances. Location: Europe. Methods: A data set of vegetation-plot records was compiled to include various bog types over most of the European continent. An unsupervised classification (beta-flexible linkage method, Sørensen distance measure) and detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) ordination were applied. Formal definitions of syntaxa based on species presence and covers, and respecting the results of the unsupervised classification, were developed and included in a classification expert system. Results: The Oxycocco-Sphagnetea class, its two orders (Sphagno-Ericetalia tetralicis and Sphagnetalia medii) and seven compositionally distinct alliances were formally defined. In addition to the syntaxa included in EuroVegChecklist, three new alliances were distinguished: Rubo chamaemori-Dicranion elongati (subarctic polygon and palsa mires); Erico mackaianae-Sphagnion papillosi (blanket bogs of the northwestern Iberian Peninsula); and Sphagno baltici-Trichophorion cespitosi (boreal bog lawns). The latter alliance is newly described in this article. Conclusions: This first pan-European formalized classification of European bog vegetation partially followed the system presented in EuroVegChecklist, but suggested three additional alliances. One covers palsa and polygon mires, one covers Iberian bogs with endemics and one fills the syntaxonomical gap for lawn microhabitats in boreal bogs. A classification expert system has been developed, which allows assignment of vegetation plots to the types described.

Increasing evidence for the effects of Holocene history on modern biotic communities suggests that current explanations of community patterns and conservation strategies require revisiting. Here we focused on Central European rich fens that are at high risk among mire habitats because of their relatively low environmental stability, and hence sensitivity to successional shifts. At each of 57 study sites, inventory of specialist species of bryophytes, vascular plants and land snails, measurements of local environmental conditions, area, and radiocarbon dating were conducted. We used Moran’s I spatial autocorrelation, multiple linear regression models, MDS, db-RDA, and null models to identify drivers of species richness and occurrence. We tested the importance of site age and historical metacommunity dynamics expressed by regional age of the habitat for the diversity of three taxonomic groups of fen organisms differing in dispersal and life history strategies. The richness of specialist species was affected by local environmental conditions and area in all three groups, but the effect of regional age was significant and positive for vascular plants and snails, once the effect of fen area was set as a covariable. We identified 11 species significantly associated with ancient fens independently of site area and pH effects; this group includes species currently considered to be umbrella species in European habitat conservation (the moss Hamatocaulis vernicosus and the snail Vertigo geyeri). The effect of fen age per se on the communities of specialists calls for the incorporation of age into conservation schemes. Restoration or de novo construction of peat-forming fens cannot compensate for a loss of ancient fens.

An undesired succession of rich fens leads to the formation of dense Sphagnum carpets that outcompete brown mosses and some vascular plants, resulting in biodiversity loss in fen habitats of high conservation importance. Small-scale Sphagnum removal is a rarely implemented conservational measure, whose success may depend on soil alkalinity and fertility (i.e., nutrient availability). Therefore, characterizing the effects of pH and fertility levels would potentially allow for the development of better Sphagnum removal strategies. Two experiments were conducted across 24 rich fens of different alkalinity and fertility located in an area of ~32,000 km

This study provides an illustration of the contemporary extinction trend of a selected wet grassland species, Pedicularis sylvatica, within a region of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands, Czech Republic. Historically, it was a relatively common species in the study region, but it has been severely reduced in recent decades due to the abandonment of the traditional management of the grasslands, or inappropriate management practices, including extensive drainage, fertilisation, and liming. Low precipitation in recent years, a depleted soil seed bank, inbreeding in small, isolated populations, the inability to germinate, and the emergence of seedlings can also play an important role. After personal resurvey, P. sylvatica was not confirmed on 28 % of the localities where it was documented between two and 20 years ago. In a selected south-eastern subregion, only one of 19 localities persist nowadays. A steep decrease of local subpopulations of P. sylvatica points to the holistic problem of both the low-productive wet meadow species’ extinctions and their habitat collapses in central Europe. Without proper protection and management, it is likely that low-productive wet meadows will continue to decline and, in the next few decades, only a fraction of today’s already faint frequency will remain within a few higher-elevated subregions.

Aim The first comprehensive checklist of European phytosociological alliances, orders and classes (EuroVegChecklist) was published by Mucina et al. (2016, Applied Vegetation Science, 19 (Suppl. 1), 3-264). However, this checklist did not contain detailed information on the distribution of individual vegetation types. Here we provide the first maps of all alliances in Europe. Location Europe, Greenland, Canary Islands, Madeira, Azores, Cyprus and the Caucasus countries. Methods We collected data on the occurrence of phytosociological alliances in European countries and regions from literature and vegetation-plot databases. We interpreted and complemented these data using the expert knowledge of an international team of vegetation scientists and matched all the previously reported alliance names and concepts with those of the EuroVegChecklist. We then mapped the occurrence of the EuroVegChecklist alliances in 82 territorial units corresponding to countries, large islands, archipelagos and peninsulas. We subdivided the mainland parts of large or biogeographically heterogeneous countries based on the European biogeographical regions. Specialized alliances of coastal habitats were mapped only for the coastal section of each territorial unit. Results Distribution maps were prepared for 1,105 alliances of vascular-plant dominated vegetation reported in the EuroVegChecklist. For each territorial unit, three levels of occurrence probability were plotted on the maps: (a) verified occurrence; (b) uncertain occurrence; and (c) absence. The maps of individual alliances were complemented by summary maps of the number of alliances and the alliance-area relationship. Distribution data are also provided in a spreadsheet. Conclusions The new map series represents the first attempt to characterize the distribution of all vegetation types at the alliance level across Europe. There are still many knowledge gaps, partly due to a lack of data for some regions and partly due to uncertainties in the definition of some alliances. The maps presented here provide a basis for future research aimed at filling these gaps. This project was funded by the Czech Science Foundation (grant no. 19-28491X). LM was supported by Iluka Chair of Vegetation Science & Biogeography, Murdoch University, Perth; IB, JAC and JL by the Basque Government (IT936-16); TMH by the European Social Fund (POCH and NORTE 2020) and National Funds (MCTES) through Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia postdoctoral fellowship (SFRH/BPD/115057/2016) and project UIDB/04033/2020; AC and FK by the Slovenian Research Agency (P1-0236 to AC and program for Young Researchers to FK); SR by the University of Latvia (AAp2016/B041/Zd2016/AZ03); and KS by the Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences (RVO 67985939).

Filtering vegetation plot records according to sampling size is an essential methodological step in vegetation studies. In fens, the variation of traditionally used plot sizes seems to limit continental-scale syntheses following the Braun-Blanquet approach. Which plot sizes harbour the analogous number of habitat specialists (i.e., diagnostic/indicator species) and capture the main compositional gradients identically? The data set of fen vegetation plot records was compiled using large databases and categorised into four distinct habitats. For each habitat, semi-log species–area curves of specialists and other species were fitted using generalised additive models (GAM). In addition, we surveyed 72 sites in a series of plot sizes (0.07, 0.25, 1, 4, 16 m2) where we applied, separately for each plot size, Non-Metric Multi-Dimensional Scaling (NMDS) and compared the resulting patterns with Procrustes analysis. Consistently across different fen habitats, the species–area curves of specialists increased steeply up to the plot size of 1 m2, while increasing negligibly in the plot size range of 1–25 m2. In contrast, the species–area curves of other species displayed mostly linear to linear-exponential trends. NMDS ordinations of medium (1 and 4 m2) and large plots (16 m2) were the most congruent, while the patterns captured in the ordination of the smallest plots (0.07 m2) differed most from the others. In fens, plot sizes of at least 1 m2 describe sufficiently the broad-scale pattern in specialists’ diversity as well as the main environmental gradients. The range of plot sizes of 1–25 m2 may be safely merged in broad-scale analyses of fen vegetation without introducing substantial bias, at least when compared with other possible uncertainty sources.

1. The relative importance of global versus local environmental factors for growth and thus carbon uptake of the bryophyte genus Sphagnum—the main peat‐former and ecosystem engineer in northern peatlands—remains unclear. 2. We measured length growth and net primary production (NPP) of two abundant Sphagnum species across 99 Holarctic peatlands. We tested the importance of previously proposed abiotic and biotic drivers for peatland carbon uptake (climate, N deposition, water table depth and vascular plant cover) on these two responses. Employing structural equation models (SEMs), we explored both indirect and direct effects of drivers on Sphagnum growth. 3. Variation in growth was large, but similar within and between peatlands. Length growth showed a stronger response to predictors than NPP. Moreover, the smaller and denser Sphagnum fuscum growing on hummocks had weaker responses to climatic variation than the larger and looser Sphagnum magellanicum growing in the wetter conditions. Growth decreased with increasing vascular plant cover within a site. Between sites, precipitation and temperature increased growth for S. magellanicum. The SEMs indicate that indirect effects are important. For example, vascular plant cover increased with a deeper water table, increased nitrogen deposition, precipitation and temperature. These factors also influenced Sphagnum growth indirectly by affecting moss shoot density. 4. Synthesis. Our results imply that in a warmer climate, S. magellanicum will increase length growth as long as precipitation is not reduced, while S. fuscum is more resistant to decreased precipitation, but also less able to take advantage of increased precipitation and temperature. Such species‐specific sensitivity to climate may affect competitive outcomes in a changing environment, and potentially the future carbon sink function of peatlands.

Aim The EUNIS Habitat Classification is a widely used reference framework for European habitat types (habitats), but it lacks formal definitions of individual habitats that would enable their unequivocal identification. Our goal was to develop a tool for assigning vegetation-plot records to the habitats of the EUNIS system, use it to classify a European vegetation-plot database, and compile statistically-derived characteristic species combinations and distribution maps for these habitats. Location Europe. Methods We developed the classification expert system EUNIS-ESy, which contains definitions of individual EUNIS habitats based on their species composition and geographic location. Each habitat was formally defined as a formula in a computer language combining algebraic and set-theoretic concepts with formal logical operators. We applied this expert system to classify 1,261,373 vegetation plots from the European Vegetation Archive (EVA) and other databases. Then we determined diagnostic, constant and dominant species for each habitat by calculating species-to-habitat fidelity and constancy (occurrence frequency) in the classified data set. Finally, we mapped the plot locations for each habitat. Results Formal definitions were developed for 199 habitats at Level 3 of the EUNIS hierarchy, including 25 coastal, 18 wetland, 55 grassland, 43 shrubland, 46 forest and 12 man-made habitats. The expert system classified 1,125,121 vegetation plots to these habitat groups and 73,188 to other habitats, while 63,064 plots remained unclassified or were classified to more than one habitat. Data on each habitat were summarized in factsheets containing habitat description, distribution map, corresponding syntaxa and characteristic species combination. Conclusions EUNIS habitats were characterized for the first time in terms of their species composition and distribution, based on a classification of a European database of vegetation plots using the newly developed electronic expert system EUNIS-ESy. The data provided and the expert system have considerable potential for future use in European nature conservation planning, monitoring and assessment. The previous versions of the expert system and related reports were produced within a contract from the European Environment Agency to Wageningen Environmental Research and Masaryk University. The opinions expressed are those of the contractor and do not represent the Agency's official position. EVA data management and preparation of this paper were supported by the Czech Science Foundation (project no. 19-28491X to MC, LT, IK, TP, CM, JDa, MH, PN, DZ, GB, AJ, AKu, ZL and DV). IB and JAC were supported by the Basque Government (project no. T936-16). TB, ET, and LK were supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (TB and ET project no. AAAA-A18-118052590019-7; LK project no. AAAA-A19-119012490096-2).

Aim Biodiversity databases are valuable resources for understanding plant species distributions and dynamics, but they may insufficiently represent the actual geographic distribution and climatic niches of species. Here we propose and test a method to assess sampling coverage of species distribution in biodiversity databases in geographic and climatic space. Location Europe. Methods Using a test selection of 808,794 vegetation plots from the European Vegetation Archive (EVA), we assessed the sampling coverage of 564 European vascular plant species across both their geographic ranges and realized climatic niches. Range maps from the Chorological Database Halle (CDH) were used as background reference data to capture species geographic ranges and to derive species climatic niches. To quantify sampling coverage, we developed a box-counting method, the Dynamic Match Coefficient (DMC), which quantifies how much a set of occurrences of a given species matches with its geographic range or climatic niche. DMC is the area under the curve measuring the match between occurrence data and background reference (geographic range or climatic niche) across grids with variable resolution. High DMC values indicate good sampling coverage. We applied null models to compare observed DMC values with expectations from random distributions across species ranges and niches. Results Comparisons with null models showed that, for most species, actual distributions within EVA are deviating from null model expectations and are more clumped than expected in both geographic and climatic space. Despite high interspecific variation, we found a positive relationship in DMC values between geographic and climatic space, but sampling coverage was in general more random across geographic space. Conclusion Because DMC values are species-specific and most biodiversity databases are clearly biased in terms of sampling coverage of species occurrences, we recommend using DMC values as covariates in macroecological models that use species as the observation unit. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Fungi are a highly diverse group of organisms and play a significant role in decomposition and carbon cycling in boreal ecosystems. To determine how fungal communities are structured in peat bogs and how to obtain representative samples for monitoring fungal community changes, we separately sampled and sequenced (ITS2, Illumina MiSeq) peat, mixed litter and litter from individual dominant plant species in five permanent plots in raised bogs in the Jizerske Hory Mountains (Czech Republic). In total, we detected 68–103 OTUs per plot. The fungal assemblages were mostly influenced by substrate identity, whereas the effect of the site was minimal. Only a few identified OTUs behave like generalists. The most specific fungi were found in dead parts of Calluna vulgaris, Trichophorum cespitosum and Drosera rotundifolia. The high substrate heterogeneity means that sequencing soil core samples does not provide an exhaustive inventory of the fungal diversity in bogs. Poor correspondence was observed between the recorded OTUs and either visually inspected fruitbodies or literature reports on the fungal taxa associated with the analysed substrates.

Mosses are important ecosystem engineers in mires. Their pH optima and tolerances differ between regions, even though the high dispersal ability of mosses should prevent local adaptations. Nutrient availability is sometimes suggested as a reason for local niche differentiation. Are patterns in moss niche diversification, optima and tolerance with respect to pH consistent between regions differing in nutrient availability and abundance of calcareous bedrock? Location: Western Carpathians (a predominantly calcareous P- and K-poor region), Bohemian Massif (a predominantly crystalline, P- and K-rich region). Although the regions differ in abundance of calcareous fens, species pH optima were consistent between the regions and data sets. Calcium-tolerant peat mosses showed an optimum at pH 6 and rather narrow niches. Sphagnum fallax was the most acidophilous, and both S.palustre and S.flexuosum had rather wide intermediate niches. The pH amplitudes were largely consistent between the regions, but S.fallax and Aulacomnium palustre exhibited wider niches in the Bohemian Massif. Despite no significant difference in niche optimum and width, some more nutrient demanding and more generalist species occurred at higher frequency in specific parts of the pH gradient in the Bohemian Massif, while some fen specialists showed the opposite pattern. The small stratified data set and the database data set yielded rather consistent results regarding fen moss niches in the Bohemian Massif and the Western Carpathians. The consistency in pH niches corresponds to the lack of large-scale genetic differentiation in moss species. The observed inter-regional differences in species response curves may thus reflect an increased frequency of competitively strong species in certain parts of the pH/Ca gradient in the nutrient-richer Bohemian Massif rather than genetically conditioned niche shifts.

The monitoring of currently changing bogs has triggered a need to improve our understanding of correlations between different taxa. We analysed the cross-taxon congruence of six contrasting groups of organisms (vascular plants, bryophytes, fungi, diatoms, desmids and testate amoebae) in permanent plots located in differently polluted summit ombrotrophic bogs in two regions of the Czech Republic. In the suboceanic region, whose bogs are more uniformly polluted, the congruence was generally lower. Vascular plants, bryophytes and fungi showed the same gradient structure, while three groups of protists behaved rather independently of one another. In the subcontinental region where recent aerial liming created a new pH gradient, the congruence was generally higher. The main difference among different taxa corresponded clearly with body size and life span (microorganisms versus macroorganisms), conforming the previous results of a faster response of microorganisms to the artificially created pH gradient. Generally, vascular plants, bryophytes and fungi provided similar information, while diatoms behaved most independently. The major division among the study taxa coincided with body size rather than with nutrition or propagule size.

Biurrun, Idoia/0000-0002-1454-0433; Rojo, Maria Pilar Rodriguez/0000-0001-5449-9386; Ermakov, Nikolai/0000-0001-7550-990X; De Sanctis, Michele/0000-0002-7280-6199; Svenning, Jens-Christian/0000-0002-3415-0862; Virtanen, Risto/0000-0002-8295-8217; Agrillo, Emiliano/0000-0003-2346-8346; Onyshchenko, Viktor/0000-0001-9079-7241; Marceno, Corrado/0000-0003-4361-5200; Willner, Wolfgang/0000-0003-1591-8386; Fernandez-Gonzalez, Federico/0000-0003-1234-4065; Jansen, Florian/0000-0002-0331-5185; Swacha, Grzegorz/0000-0002-6380-2954; Dengler, Jurgen/0000-0003-3221-660X; Guarino, Riccardo/0000-0003-0106-9416; Sopotlieva, Desislava/0000-0002-9281-7039; Venanzoni, Roberto/0000-0002-7768-0468; Chytry, Milan/0000-0002-8122-3075; Kuzemko, Anna/0000-0002-9425-2756; Danihelka, Jiri/0000-0002-2640-7867; Kuzemko, Anna/0000-0002-9425-2756; Venanzoni, Roberto/0000-0002-7768-0468; Gavilan, Rosario G./0000-0002-1022-445X; Jansen, Florian/0000-0002-0331-5185; Wohlgemuth, Thomas/0000-0002-4623-0894; Svenning, Jens-Christian/0000-0002-3415-0862; Sibik, Jozef/0000-0002-5949-862X; Casella, Laura/0000-0003-2550-3010; Lenoir, Jonathan/0000-0003-0638-9582; Attorre, Fabio/0000-0002-7744-2195; Kacki, Zygmunt/0000-0002-2241-1631; Jandt, Ute/0000-0002-3177-3669; Carni, Andraz/0000-0002-8909-4298; Jirousek, Martin/0000-0002-4293-478X; GARCIA-MIJANGOS, ITZIAR/0000-0002-6642-7782; Campos, Juan Antonio/0000-0001-5992-2753; Fanelli, Giuliano/0000-0002-3143-1212; Haveman, Rense/0000-0001-9127-4549; Acic, Svetlana/0000-0001-6553-3797; De Bie, Els/0000-0001-7679-743X; Font, Xavier/0000-0002-7253-8905; Moeslund, Jesper Erenskjold/0000-0001-8591-7149; Martynenko, Vasiliy/0000-0002-9071-3789; Jimenez-Alfaro, Borja/0000-0001-6601-9597; Ejrnaes, Rasmus/0000-0003-2538-8606; Carlon Ruiz, Luis/0000-0003-3442-8710; Angelini, Pierangela/0000-0002-5321-9757; Silc, Urban/0000-0002-3052-699X; Landucci, Flavia/0000-0002-6848-0384; Ewald, Jorg/0000-0002-2758-9324; Dziuba, Tetiana/0000-0001-8621-0890 WOS: 000368074600018 The European Vegetation Archive (EVA) is a centralized database of European vegetation plots developed by the IAVS Working Group European Vegetation Survey. It has been in development since 2012 and first made available for use in research projects in 2014. It stores copies of national and regional vegetation-plot databases on a single software platform. Data storage in EVA does not affect on-going independent development of the contributing databases, which remain the property of the data contributors. EVA uses a prototype of the database management software TURBOVEG 3 developed for joint management of multiple databases that use different species lists. This is facilitated by the SynBioSys Taxon Database, a system of taxon names and concepts used in the individual European databases and their corresponding names on a unified list of European flora. TURBOVEG 3 also includes procedures for handling data requests, selections and provisions according to the approved EVA Data Property and Governance Rules. By 30 June 2015, 61 databases from all European regions have joined EVA, contributing in total 1 027 376 vegetation plots, 82% of them with geographic coordinates, from 57 countries. EVA provides a unique data source for large-scale analyses of European vegetation diversity both for fundamental research and nature conservation applications. Updated information on EVA is available online at http://euroveg.org/eva-database. Czech Science Foundation (Centre of Excellence PLADIAS) [14-36079G] Our major thanks go to thousands of European vegetation scientists of several generations who collected the original vegetation-plot data in the field, published them or made their unpublished data available to others, and to those who spent myriad hours digitizing data and managing the contributing databases. EVA data management has been partly funded by the Czech Science Foundation (Centre of Excellence PLADIAS, 14-36079G).

We tested whether vegetation composition of ombrotrophic bogs with an undisturbed water regime is resistant or sensitive to ongoing high atmospheric deposition and climatic changes. When water regime is not affected, the bog vegetation seems to be rather resistant to high atmospheric deposition and climate fluctuation. A significant change of the species composition occurs only in the long-term perspective. Particular species could, however, decrease or increase their frequencies more rapidly.