LOTVS: A global collection of permanent vegetation plots
Marta Gaia Sperandii, Francesco de Bello, Enrique Valencia, Lars Götzenberger, Manuele Bazzichetto, Thomas Galland, Anna E‐Vojtkó, Luisa Conti, Peter B. Adler, Hannah L. Buckley, Jiří Danihelka, Nicola J. Day, Jürgen Dengler, David J. Eldridge, Marc Estiarte, Ricardo García‐González, Éric Garnier, Daniel Gómez, Lauren M. Hallett, Susan Harrison, Tomáš Herben, Ricardo Ibáñez, Anke Jentsch, Norbert Juergens, Miklós Kertész, Duncan M. Kimuyu, Katja Klumpp, Mike Le Duc, Frédérique Louault, R.H. Marrs, Gábor Ónodi, Robin J. Pakeman, Meelis Pärtel, Begoña Peco, Josep Peñuelas, Marta Rueda, Wolfgang Schmidt, Ute Schmiedel, Martin Schuetz, Hana Skálová, Petr Šmilauer, Marie Šmilauerová, Christian Smit, Minghua Song, Martin Stock, James Val, Vigdis Vandvik, Karsten Wesche, Susan K. Wiser, Ben A. Woodcock, Truman P. Young, Fei‐Hai Yu, Amelia A. Wolf, Martin Zobel, Jan Lepš
Abstract
Abstract Analysing temporal patterns in plant communities is extremely important to quantify the extent and the consequences of ecological changes, especially considering the current biodiversity crisis. Long‐term data collected through the regular sampling of permanent plots represent the most accurate resource to study ecological succession, analyse the stability of a community over time and understand the mechanisms driving vegetation change. We hereby present the LOng‐Term Vegetation Sampling (LOTVS) initiative, a global collection of vegetation time‐series derived from the regular monitoring of plant species in permanent plots. With 79 data sets from five continents and 7,789 vegetation time‐series monitored for at least 6 years and mostly on an annual basis, LOTVS possibly represents the largest collection of temporally fine‐grained vegetation time‐series derived from permanent plots and made accessible to the research community. As such, it has an outstanding potential to support innovative research in the fields of vegetation science, plant ecology and temporal ecology.