Ellenberg‐type indicator values for European vascular plant species
Lubomír Tichý, Irena Axmanová, Jürgen Dengler, Riccardo Guarino, Florian Jansen, Gabriele Midolo, Michael P. Nobis, Koenraad Van Meerbeek, Svetlana Aćić, Fabio Attorre, Erwin Bergmeier, Idoia Biurrun, Gianmaria Bonari, Helge Bruelheide, Juan Antonio Campos, Andraž Čarni, Alessandro Chiarucci, Mirjana Ćuk, Renata Ćušterevska, Yakiv Didukh, Daniel Dítě, Zuzana Dítě, Tetiana Dziuba, Giuliano Fanelli, Eduardo Fernández‐Pascual, Emmanuel Garbolino, Rosario G. Gavilán, Jean‐Claude Gégout, Ulrich Graf, Behlül Güler, Michal Hájek, S.M. Hennekens, Ute Jandt, Anni Jašková, Borja Jiménez‐Alfaro, Philippe Julve, Stephan Kambach, Dirk Nikolaus Karger, Gerhard Karrer, Ali Kavgacı, Ilona Knollová, Анна Куземко, Filip Küzmič, Flavia Landucci, Attila Lengyel, Jonathan Lenoir, Corrado Marcenò, Jesper Erenskjold Moeslund, Pavel Novák, Aaron Pérez‐Haase, Tomáš Peterka, Remigiusz Pielech, Alessandro Pignatti, Valerijus Rašomavičius, Solvita Rūsiņa, Arne Saatkamp, Urban Šilc, Željko Škvorc, Jean‐Paul Theurillat, Thomas Wohlgemuth, Milan Chytrý
Abstract
Abstract Aims Ellenberg‐type indicator values are expert‐based rankings of plant species according to their ecological optima on main environmental gradients. Here we extend the indicator‐value system proposed by Heinz Ellenberg and co‐authors for Central Europe by incorporating other systems of Ellenberg‐type indicator values (i.e., those using scales compatible with Ellenberg values) developed for other European regions. Our aim is to create a harmonized data set of Ellenberg‐type indicator values applicable at the European scale. Methods We collected European data sets of indicator values for vascular plants and selected 13 data sets that used the nine‐, ten‐ or twelve‐degree scales defined by Ellenberg for light, temperature, moisture, reaction, nutrients and salinity. We compared these values with the original Ellenberg values and used those that showed consistent trends in regression slope and coefficient of determination. We calculated the average value for each combination of species and indicator values from these data sets. Based on species’ co‐occurrences in European vegetation plots, we also calculated new values for species that were not assigned an indicator value. Results We provide a new data set of Ellenberg‐type indicator values for 8908 European vascular plant species (8168 for light, 7400 for temperature, 8030 for moisture, 7282 for reaction, 7193 for nutrients, and 7507 for salinity), of which 398 species have been newly assigned to at least one indicator value. Conclusions The newly introduced indicator values are compatible with the original Ellenberg values. They can be used for large‐scale studies of the European flora and vegetation or for gap‐filling in regional data sets. The European indicator values and the original and taxonomically harmonized regional data sets of Ellenberg‐type indicator values are available in the Supporting Information and the Zenodo repository.