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QUESTIONS: Which environmental factors influence fine-grain beta diversity of vegetation and do they vary among taxonomic groups? LOCATION: Palaearctic biogeographic realm. METHODS: We extracted 4,654 nested-plot series with at least four different grain sizes between 0.0001 m² and 1,024 m² from the GrassPlot database, covering a wide range of different grassland and other open habitat types. We derived extensive environmental and structural information for these series. For each series and four taxonomic groups (vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, all), we calculated the slope parameter (z-value) of the power law species–area relationship (SAR), as a beta diversity measure. We tested whether z-values differed among taxonomic groups and with respect to biogeographic gradients (latitude, elevation, macroclimate), ecological (site) characteristics (several stress–productivity, disturbance and heterogeneity measures, including land use) and alpha diversity (c-value of the power law SAR). RESULTS: Mean z-values were highest for lichens, intermediate for vascular plants and lowest for bryophytes. Bivariate regressions of z-values against environmental variables had rather low predictive power (mean R² = 0.07 for vascular plants, less for other taxa). For vascular plants, the strongest predictors of z-values were herb layer cover (negative), elevation (positive), rock and stone cover (positive) and the c-value (U-shaped). All tested metrics related to land use (fertilization, livestock grazing, mowing, burning, decrease in naturalness) led to a decrease in z-values. Other predictors had little or no impact on z-values. The patterns for bryophytes, lichens and all taxa combined were similar but weaker than those for vascular plants. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that productivity has negative and heterogeneity positive effects on z-values, while the effect of disturbance varies depending on type and intensity. These patterns and the differences among taxonomic groups can be explained via the effects of these drivers on the mean occupancy of species, which is mathematically linked to beta diversity. The Bavarian Research Alliance (via the BayIntAn scheme) and the Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER) funded the initial GrassPlot workshop during which the database was established and the current paper was initiated (grants to JDe). WU acknowledges support from the Polish National Science Centre (grant 2017/27/B/NZ8/00316). IB, JAC and IG-M were funded by the Basque Government (IT936-16). GF carried out the research in the frame of the MIUR initiative "Department of excellence" (Law 232/2016). SBa was supported by the GINOP-2.3.2-15-2016-00019 project. CM was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (grant no. 19-28491X) and the Basque Government (IT936-16). ID was supported by the Polish National Science Centre (grant DEC-2013/09/N/NZ8/03234) and by a Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship for Postdocs (ESKAS No. 2019.0491). MJ was supported by the Slovak Academy of Sciences (grant VEGA 02/0095/19). AN was supported by a " Master Plan Project" in the University of Mazandaran, Iran. DS was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (grant no. 20-29554X). AK, IV and DV were supported by the National Research Foundation of Ukraine (project no. 2020.01/0140). JDo was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (GA17-19376S) and LTAUSA18007 info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

We interviewed 91 people who use plants for medicinal purposes regularly in Altınova (Balıkesir) and Kozak (İzmir) during 2009–2010. We recorded the local names of plants, useful parts of plants, ailments treated, preparation and application methods during the interviews. We performed a use value (UV) calculation to assess the relative importance of local species. We carried out informant consensus factor (FIC) analysis to find out the level of disease homogeneity. Finally, we identified 63 plant taxa belonging to 32 families. Among these were 47 wild and 16 cultivated. Lamiaceae (14.3%), Asteraceae (12.7%), Rosaceae (9.5%), Chenopodiaceae (6.3%) and Brassicaceae (4.8%) families were the most common. Use values showed Urtica dioica L. and Malva sylvestris L. were the most commonly used species. Homogeneity of diseases (FIC) values were the highest for dermatological, gastrointestinal and blood disorders, 0.93, 0.92 and 0.91, respectively. In our study, herb medicinal species showed more ecological differences than shrub and tree species in terms of altitudinal range and flowering period. Our results also showed that herbal remedies are substantially important among the local people. © 2018, Springer Nature B.V.

Sopotlieva, Desislava/0000-0002-9281-7039; Guler, Behlul/0000-0003-2638-4340; Velev, Nikolay/0000-0001-6812-3670; De Boeck, Hans/0000-0003-2180-8837; Kreyling, Juergen/0000-0001-8489-7289; Bahn, Michael/0000-0001-7482-9776; Dengler, Jurgen/0000-0003-3221-660X; Nijs, Ivan/0000-0003-3111-680X; Wellstein, Camilla/0000-0001-6994-274X; Apostolova, Iva/0000-0002-2701-175X; Stampfli, Andreas/0000-0002-5517-1363; Picon-Cochard, Catherine/0000-0001-7728-8936; Bloor, Juliette M.G./0000-0002-8668-1323; Arfin Khan, Mohammed Abu Sayed/0000-0001-6275-7023; Campetella, Giandiego/0000-0001-6126-522X WOS:000413145900006 PubMed ID: 28941071 Biodiversity can buffer ecosystem functioning against extreme climatic events, but few experiments have explicitly tested this. Here, we present the first multisite biodiversityxdrought manipulation experiment to examine drought resistance and recovery at five temperate and Mediterranean grassland sites. Aboveground biomass production declined by 30% due to experimental drought (standardised local extremity by rainfall exclusion for 72-98 consecutive days). Species richness did not affect resistance but promoted recovery. Recovery was only positively affected by species richness in low-productive communities, with most diverse communities even showing overcompensation. This positive diversity effect could be linked to asynchrony of species responses. Our results suggest that a more context-dependent view considering the nature of the climatic disturbance as well as the productivity of the studied system will help identify under which circumstances biodiversity promotes drought resistance or recovery. Stability of biomass production can generally be expected to decrease with biodiversity loss and climate change. ERA-Net BiodivERsA [01LC1201]; Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO)Belgian Federal Science Policy Office; German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)Federal Ministry of Education & Research (BMBF); Bulgarian Science Found; Ministere de l'Ecologie, du Developpement durable et de l'Energie (France) This work is part of the project SIGNAL which is funded by the ERA-Net BiodivERsA (http://www.biodiversa.org; Funding ID 01LC1201), with the national funders Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO), German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Bulgarian Science Found and Ministere de l'Ecologie, du Developpement durable et de l'Energie (France) as part of the 2011-2012 BiodivERsA call for research proposals. For site FR, we thank P. Pichon, A. Salcedo, J. Pottier, M.E. Lefranc, M. Michaux, A. Vernay and G. Zannin for help during the course of the experiment. We thank three anonymous referees for insightful and constructive comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.

Ethnobotanical relevance Turkey is one of the richest countries in terms of plant diversity, owing to its unique geographical location with different climatic and geomorphological structures. For this reason interest in ethnobotanical studies has been rising. The goal of this study is to document traditional uses of medicinal plants and supply phytomedicines with efficacy and safety for use in primary health care in Bozuyuk in Bilecik district, located in the nortwestern part of Anatolia in Turkey. Materials and methods The ethnomedicinal data was collected during 2009–2010 using semi-structured questionnaires, personal interviews and group discussion with 60 informants (22 men and 38 women). As a statistical method, informant consensus factors ( F IC ) and fidelity level (FL) values were calculated to analyze the importance of ethnobotanical plant species. Results 104 Plant species belonging to 47 families were found in this study. Among them 59 species were wild and 45 species were cultivated plants. The most common wild species belongs to Lamiaceae (15.3%), Apiaceae (6.8%), Fabaceae (5.1%), Asteraceae (5.1%), Polygonaceae (5.1%) and the most common cultivated species belongs to Rosaceae (24.4%), Apiaceae (11.1%), Fabaceae (11.1%), Brassicaceae (8.9%) and Poaceae (6.7%) families. The most common preperation method is infusion with the rate of 45%. According to use value (UV) the most important plant is Linum usitatissimum L. (0.86). The highest Consensus Informants Factor ( F IC ) of the ailments are skeletomuscular and conjunctivitis diseases with the same value of 0.80. The most frequent species is Mentha longifolia (L.) Hudson which is used for diuretic ailments with the amount of 88.33% fidelity level. Conclusions This paper reserves valuable ethnobotanical information for research area. The importance of traditional medicines and indigenous knowledge should be conserved and encouraged. In addition to this further laboratory investigations should be conducted on plants to produce pharmaceutical output.

Volcanoes often harbour specialized plant communities and shelter endemic plant species. Kula Volcano is one of 14 volcanoes in Turkey. Although this volcano is clearly a landmark of the Aegean region, only few botanical studies analysed the vegetation pattern at the Kula Volcano. None performed a phytosociological classification to delimit different plant communities. We applied a stratified random sampling design according to altitude and aspect and sampled 112 vegetation plots. We classified plant community types using a modified TWINSPAN analysis followed by the determination of diagnostic species based on φ coefficient fidelity values. Floristic relationships between plant community types were interpreted by ordination and ANOSIM analyses. Further, we used partial correlations of the ordination axes and environmental parameters in order to identify relationships between vegetation zonation and environment. We identified five major plant community types based on 85 diagnostic species. These plant comm...

Ovacık (Karabük) ve Çevresinin Floristik ÖzellikleriAraştırma alanı Karabük ilinin Ovacık ilçesini ve yakın çevresindeki köyleri kapsamaktadır. Araştırma alanında 2015-2016 yılları arasında toplanan 283 bitki örneğinin değerlendirilmesi ile 58 familyaya ait 163 cins ve 237 tür ve tür altı takson tespit edilmiştir. Endemik bitkilerin sayısı 15’tir (%6.33). Taksonların % 10’u İran-Turan, %12’si Akdeniz ve %18’i Avrupa-Sibirya fitocoğrafik bölgeleri elementi olup %59’u çok bölgeli ve bilinmeyen taksonlardan oluşmaktadır. En fazla takson sayısına sahip familyalar Fabaceae, Asteraceae ve Lamiaceae’dirFloristic Characteritics of Ovacık (Karabük) DistrictThe research area is situated in Ovacık district and its villages located nearby in Karabük province. In research area, during the period of 2015-2016 283 plant specimens were collected and 58 families, 163 genus and 237 specific and intraspecific taxa were identified. Fifteen (6.33%) of endemic species were found. Phytogeographical regions of identified species are 10% of Irano-Turanian, 12% of Mediterranean and 18% of Euro-Siberian elements and 59% of unknown and cosmopolits. The most common families regarding to species richness are Fabaceae, Asteraceae and Lamiaceae.

We asked: (i) Which environmental factors determine the level of α-diversity at several scales and β-diversity in steppic grasslands? (ii) How do the effects of environmental factors on α- and β-diversity vary between the different taxonomic groups (vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens)? We sampled nested-plot series ranging from 0.0001 to 100 m2 and additional 10-m2 plots, covering different vegetation types and management regimes in steppes and semi-natural dry grasslands of Central Podolia (Ukraine). We recorded all terricolous taxa and used topographic, soil, land-use and climatic variables as predictors. Richness-environment relationships at different scales and across taxonomic groups were assessed with multimodel inference. We also fitted power-law species-area relationships, using the exponent (z value) as a measure of β-diversity. In general, the richness values in the study region were intermediate compared to those known from similar grasslands throughout the Palaearctic, but for 1 cm2 we found seven species of vascular plants, a new world record. Heat index was the most important factor for vascular plants and bryophytes (negative relation), while lichen diversity depended mainly on stone and rock cover (positive). The explanatory power of climate-related variables increased with increasing grain size, while anthropogenic burning was the most important factor for richness patterns at the finest grain sizes (positive effect). The z values showed more variation at the finest grain sizes, but no significant differences in their mean between scales. The results highlight the importance of integrating scale into ecological analyses and nature conservation assessments in order to understand and manage biological diversity in steppe ecosystems.

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).

ISI Document Delivery No.: DQ2NHTimes Cited: 0Cited Reference Count: 49Guler, Behluel Jentsch, Anke Apostolova, Iva Bartha, Sandor Bloor, Juliette M. G. Campetella, Giandiego Canullo, Roberto Hazi, Judit Kreyling, Juergen Pottier, Julien Szabo, Gabor Terziyska, Tsvetelina Ugurlu, Emin Wellstein, Camilla Zimmermann, Zita Dengler, JuergenERA-Net BiodivERsA; German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF); Bulgarian Science Found; Ministere de l'Ecologie, du Developpement durable et de l'Energie (France); Bayerische ForschungsstiftungThis work is part of the project SIGNAL, coordinated by A.J., which is mainly funded by the ERA-Net BiodivERsA (http://www.biodiversa.org), with the national funders German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Bulgarian Science Found and Ministere de l'Ecologie, du Developpement durable et de l'Energie (France) as part of the 2011-2012 BiodivERsA call for research proposals. The particular study is part of the PhD thesis of B.G., whose research stay in Bayreuth was made possible through a grant from the Bayerische Forschungsstiftung to J.D. We thank Marco Cervellini, Stefano Chelli, Kevin Cianfaglione, Kerstin Grant, Alexandre Salcedo, Desislava Sopotlieva and Jasen Stoyanov for help with the field sampling. Finally, we are grateful to Janos Podani as co-ordinating editor and three anonymous referees who, with their thoughtful comments, significantly contributed to the final quality of this article.0WILEY-BLACKWELLHOBOKENJ VEG SCI; Questions How does the spatial configuration of sampling units influence recorded plant species richness values at small spatial scales? What are the consequences of these findings for sampling methodology and rarefaction analyses? LocationSix semi-natural grasslands in Western Eurasia (France, Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Turkey). MethodsIn each site we established six blocks of 40cm x280cm, subdivided into 5cm x5cm micro-quadrats, on which we recorded vascular plant species presence with the rooted (all sites) and shoot (four sites) presence method. Data of these micro-quadrats were then combined to achieve larger sampling units of 0.01, 0.04 and 0.16m(2) grain size with six different spatial configurations (square, 4:1 rectangle, 16:1 rectangle, three variants of discontiguous randomly placed micro-quadrats). The effect of the spatial configurations on species richness was quantified as relative richness compared to the mean richness of the square of the same surface area. ResultsSquare sampling units had significantly lower species richness than other spatial configurations in all countries. For 4:1 and 16:1 rectangles, the increase of rooted richness was on average about 2% and 8%, respectively. In contrast, the average richness increase for discontiguous configurations was 7%, 17% and 40%. In general, increases were higher with shoot presence than with rooted presence. Overall, the patterns of richness increase were highly consistent across six countries, three grain sizes and two recording methods. ConclusionsOur findings suggest that the shape of sampling units has negligible effects on species richness values when the length-width ratio is up to 4:1, and the effects remain small even for more elongated contiguous configurations. In contrast, results from discontiguous sampling units are not directly comparable with those of contiguous sampling units, and are strongly confounded by spatial extent. This is particularly problematic for rarefaction studies where spatial extent is often not controlled for. We suggest that the concept of effective area is a useful tool to report effects of spatial configuration on richness values, and introduce species-extent relationships (SERs) to describe richness increases of different spatial configurations of sampling units.

The main gradients in compositional diversity of Turkey’s oak woodland vegetation range from xerophytic evergreen woodlands near the Mediterranean Sea coast to mesophytic deciduous forests near the Black Sea coast and to continental open (semi-) deciduous (south-) east Anatolian woodlands and shrublands. These compositional gradients are associated with gradients in species traits and macroclimate. Silvopastoralism and coppicing are very common forms of land use of Turkish oak forests, although both have somewhat declined recently. Old-growth forests are scarce or absent in most oak-dominated systems.

The genus Quercus is one of the most important tree species in Turkey. However, little is known on the ecological preferences of Turkish oak species regarding climate. We analyzed species response curves using a HOF-model approach to describe the general pattern of oak distributions along climatic gradients and to identify the driving climatic factors for eight oak species in Turkey. While climate data were extracted from the free available worldclim dataset, occurrence data on oak species were assembled from the literature into a vegetation database (n = 1,104). From the analyzed species response curves, only fa ew (16%) showed unimodal responses, while most were linear (31%) or exhibited a threshold response (31%). The driving factors were seasonality of temperature and seasonality of precipitation, indicating that Turkish oak species can be characterized best by the preference of climatic stability. These findings have important implications for conservation and climate change research, which usually focuses on trends of the mean values of temperature or precipitation but less often on the seasonality. In this study, we further tested whether niche optima derived from raw mean values of occurrences could replace missing model optima due to non-responsiveness of HOF models of type I. However, we did not find this to be a satisfactory solution. Finally, we discuss the need for the construction of a national database based on phytosociological relevés for Turkey.

Ethnobotanical relevance The aim of this study is to document and describe important ethnobotanical features of 14 villages of Turgutlu (Manisa – Turkey). Materials and methods The regular ethnobotanical surveys were carried out during different seasons in the years 2009 and 2010 in 14 villages of Turgutlu. The data was collected from 91 village inhabitants using semi-structured interviews. Use value (UV) was used to calculate the relative importance of species known by the inhabitants. Informant Consensus Factor (FIC) was used to calculate the level of homogeneity of diseases. Results Twenty-nine plant families and 54 plant species were found in this ethnobotanical survey. Among them, 22 (40.7%) species were wild and 32 (59.3%) species were cultivated plants. Rosaceae (14.8%), Asteraceae (9.3%), Lamiaceae (9.3%), Apiaceae (5.6%) and Brassicaceae (5.6%) were the most common plant families. According to results of the use value (UV) calculations, Agropyron repens (L.) P.Beauv., Lactuca sativa L., Beta vulgaris L. var. crassa (Alef.) Helm, Spinacia oleracea L., Brassica nigra (L.) Koch, Capsella bursa-pastoris L. and Eugenia caryophyllata Thunb. yielded the highest use value. Consensus Informants Factor (FIC) ranges were between 0.87 and 0.95. Blood disorders, wounds, dermatological diseases and chest infections were 0.95, 0.93, 0.92, 0.90 while both gastrointestinal and skeletomuscular ailments were 0.87 informant consensus values, respectively. Conclusions The usage of medicinal plants for traditional healers is still popular among the inhabitants of the village. This study documents valuable information for traditional remedies and contributes to the usage of medicinal plants in the research area.

The methanol extracts obtained from endemic Scrophulariaceae. members Verbascum protractum. Fenel ex Tchihat., Verbascum bellum. Hub.-Mor., Verbascum dalamanicum. Hub.-Mor., Scrophularia mersinensis. Lall, Scrophularia cryptophila. Boiss. & Heldr., Pedicularis olympica. Boiss., and Veronica lycica. E. Lehm. have been investigated for their antimicrobial activity. Antimicrobial activity was determined with Escherichia coli. ATCC 11230, Staphylococcus aureus. ATCC 6538P, Klebsiella pneumoniae. UC57, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. ATCC 27853, Proteus vulgaris. ATCC 8427, Bacillus cereus. ATCC 7064, Mycobacterium smegmatis. CCM 2067, Listeria monocytogenes. ATCC 15313, Micrococcus luteus. CCM 169, Candida albicans. ATCC 10231, Rhodotorula rubra. DSM 70403, and Kluyveromyces fragilis.ATCC 8608 by the disk diffusion method. The extracts of all Scrophulariaceae members used in this study had strong antimicrobial activity against the Gram-positive bacteria and yeast cultures.

A survey carried out during the years 2001-2002 revealed that people who lived in the villages of Yunt Mountain use large number of plants for medicinal purposes. Fifty-four medicinal plants belonging to 32 family were recorded. Among them 41 species were wild and 13 species were cultivated plants.

In Turkey, approximately 20,000 vegetation releves do exist in total. However, there is no central database for Turkish vegetation releves at present (2011). I started building the Vegetation Database of Oak Communities in Turkey (GIVD ID AS-TR-002) from published and unpublished data such as master and PhD theses, reports and articles in local and international journals. In total, 1,181 releves were entered in TURBOVEG format for oak vegetation releves, including woodlands and forests. Plots were georeferenced using the Google Earth plugin integrated in the TURBOVEG software. Typical header data, such as altitude or aspect were entered when available. Most of the releves belong to the vegetation classes Quercetea ilicis and Quercetea pubescentis.

In Turkey approximately 20,000 vegetation releves do exist. However, there is no central database for Turkish vegetation releves. We started building a vegetation database based on grassland vegetation releves from published and unpublished data from Turkey. The database contains dune, steppic, alpine and subalpine grassland vegetation. Approximately 1,878 releves have been entered in TURBOVEG format. Plots were georeferenced using the Google Earth plugin integrated in the TURBOVEG software. Typical header data were entered when available. Most of the releves belong to the classes Astragalo-Brometea and DaphnoFestucetea. This report describes the available content in the Vegetation Database of the Grassland Communities in Anatolia (GIVD ID AS-TR-001).