LOTVS: A global collection of permanent vegetation plots

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.

The authors acknowledge institutional support as follows. Nicola J. Day: Te Apārangi Royal Society of New Zealand (Rutherford Postdoctoral Fellowship). Jiří Danihelka: Czech Science Foundation (project no. 19-28491X) and Czech Academy of Sciences (project no. RVO 67985939). Francesco de Bello: Spanish Plan Nacional de I+D+i (project PGC2018-099027-B-I00). Eric Garnier: La Fage INRA experimental station. Tomáš Herben: GAČR grant 20-02901S. Anke Jentsch: German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (grant 031B0516C - SUSALPS) and Oberfrankenstiftung (grant OFS FP00237). Norbert Juergens: German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (grant 01LG1201N - SASSCAL ABC). Frédérique Louault and Katja Klumpp: AnaEE-France (ANR-11-INBS-0001). Robin J. Pakeman: Strategic Research Programme of the Scottish Government's Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division. Meelis Pärtel: Estonian Research Council (PRG609) and European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence EcolChange). Josep Peñuelas: Spanish Government (grant PID2019-110521GB-I00), Fundación Ramon Areces (grant ELEMENTAL-CLIMATE), Catalan Government (grant SGR 2017-1005), and European Research Council (Synergy grant ERC-SyG-2013-610028, IMBALANCE-P). Ute Schmiedel: German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Promotion numbers 01LC0024, 01LC0024A, 01LC0624A2, 01LG1201A, 01LG1201N). Hana Skálová: GAČR grant 20-02901S. Karsten Wesche: International Institute Zittau, Technische Universität Dresden. Susan K. Wiser: New Zealand Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment’s Strategic Science Investment Fund. Ben A. Woodcock: NERC and BBSRC (NE/N018125/1 LTS-M ASSIST - Achieving Sustainable Agricultural Systems). Enrique Valencia: Program for attracting and retaining talent of Comunidad de Madrid (no. 2017-T2/AMB-5406) and Community of Madrid and Rey Juan Carlos University (Young Researchers R&D Project. Ref. M2165 – INTRANESTI). Truman P. Young: National Science Foundation (LTREB DEB 19-31224).

Peer reviewed