EuroSL – a European taxonomic backbone for vegetation databases and other taxon- related databases: version 1.0

Abstract

Background: A taxonomic reference list is an indispensable tool to sample, manage and match biodiversity data from different sources. Merging vegetation databases or combining them with taxon-related attributes needs reliable and consistent information about the taxon concepts used and an appropriate naming. Aim: Creating a “taxonomic backbone” of European vascular plants and bryophytes with links to widespread taxonomic references. Methods: We used the Euro+Med plant list (Euro+Med 2006ff), version 2015/04. For all families not yet covered there we used taxa from Flora Europaea (Tutin et al. 1980ff). Additionally we included the aggregates from the Ehrendorfer (1973) list. For bryophytes we rely on Grolle & Long (2000) and Hill et al. (2006). Results: EuroSL 1.0 covers > 45T accepted taxa and >77T synonyms from approx. 370 families. At the species level this means approx. 32T accepted names and >44T synonyms. EuroSL list will be published open access to allow referencing and connecting taxon-related databases beyond country borders. Future releases of EuroSL might contain additional taxonomic groups (algae and lichens), aggregates or new names as needed. However, a thorough documentation and transparency regarding taxon concepts, i.e. name usage = taxon circumscription, given by citing the source lists, will remain the highest priority. The first application of EuroSL will be the compilation of Ecological Indicator Values for Europe (EIVE version 1.0).