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Data
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Biodiversity and Species Traits
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Biodiversity and Species Traits

A special issue of Data (ISSN 2306-5729).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2017) | Viewed by 20353

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Martin M. Gossner

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Forest Entomology, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Interests: multitrophic interactions; biodiversity–ecosystem function relationships; forest entomology; consequences of human impact and climate change for insect communities and related processes
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Modification of natural ecosystems has caused a loss of biodiversity worldwide. Moreover, in many ecosystems the structure of organismic communities has changed dramatically due to human impact. It is suggested that ongoing land-use change and intensification, as well as climate change, will further modify species communities. Therefore, it is important to store biodiversity data effectively and reproducibly in public data bases with detailed metadata and background information on each particular study. These data will provide an important basis for analysing changes in species occurrences, population densities and compositional changes, as well as range shifts of species. This includes data on species occurrences (morphologic- or genetic-based) as well as data on species traits including morphological, physiological, phenological, or behavioural characteristics of species.

We would like to invite you to submit articles regarding your recent compilation of biodiversity datasets including any organismic group. Potential datasets include:

  • Monitoring data of species occurrences
  • Data on species abundances across space and time
  • Data on species or functional diversity in space and time
  • Individual or species-based trait data including own measurements and text-book compilations
  • Individual- or species based genetic data
  • Behavioral studies of species
  • Standardizations in biodiversity assessments

Dr. Martin M. Gossner
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Data is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Species occurrence
  • Species traits
  • Species diversity
  • Functional diversity
  • Population fluctuations
  • Spatial variation
  • Temporal variation
  • behaviour
  • standardization
  • biodiversity monitoring
  • measurements
  • experiments

Published Papers (3 papers)

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2555 KiB  
Review
Standardization and Quality Control in Data Collection and Assessment of Threatened Plant Species
by Lloyd W. Morrison and Craig C. Young
Data 2016, 1(3), 20; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/data1030020 - 14 Dec 2016
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Abstract
Informative data collection is important in the identification and conservation of rare plant species. Data sets generated by many small-scale studies may be integrated into large, distributed databases, and statistical tools are being developed to extract meaningful information from such databases. A diversity [...] Read more.
Informative data collection is important in the identification and conservation of rare plant species. Data sets generated by many small-scale studies may be integrated into large, distributed databases, and statistical tools are being developed to extract meaningful information from such databases. A diversity of field methodologies may be employed across smaller studies, however, resulting in a lack of standardization and quality control, which makes integration more difficult. Here, we present a case study of the population-level monitoring of two threatened plant species with contrasting life history traits that require different field sampling methodologies: the limestone glade bladderpod, Physaria filiformis, and the western prairie fringed orchid, Plantanthera praeclara. Although different data collection methodologies are necessary for these species based on population sizes and plant morphology, the resulting data allow for similar inferences. Different sample designs may frequently be necessary for rare plant sampling, yet still provide comparable data. Various sources of uncertainty may be associated with data collection (e.g., random sampling error, methodological imprecision, observer error), and should always be quantified if possible and included in data sets, and described in metadata. Ancillary data (e.g., abundance of other plants, physical environment, weather/climate) may be valuable and the most relevant variables may be determined by natural history or empirical studies. Once data are collected, standard operating procedures should be established to prevent errors in data entry. Best practices for data archiving should be followed, and data should be made available for other scientists to use. Efforts to standardize data collection and control data quality, particularly in small-scale field studies, are imperative to future cross-study comparisons, meta-analyses, and systematic reviews. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodiversity and Species Traits)
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1366 KiB  
Data Descriptor
Database of Himalayan Plants Based on Published Floras during a Century
by Suresh Kumar Rana and Gopal Singh Rawat
Data 2017, 2(4), 36; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/data2040036 - 30 Oct 2017
Cited by 46 | Viewed by 10121
Abstract
The Himalaya is the largest mountain range in the world, spanning approximately ten degrees of latitude and elevation between 100 m asl to the highest mountain peak on earth. The region varies in plant species richness, being highest in the biodiversity hotspot of [...] Read more.
The Himalaya is the largest mountain range in the world, spanning approximately ten degrees of latitude and elevation between 100 m asl to the highest mountain peak on earth. The region varies in plant species richness, being highest in the biodiversity hotspot of Eastern Himalaya and declining to the North-Western parts of the Himalaya. We examined all published floras (31 floras in 42 volumes spanning the years 1903–2014) from the Indian Himalayan region, Nepal, and Bhutan to compile a comprehensive checklist of all gymnosperms and angiosperms. A total of 10,503 species representing 240 families and 2322 genera are reported. We evaluated all the botanical names reported in the floras for their updated taxonomy and excluded >3000 synonyms. Additionally, we identified 1134 species reported in these floras that presently remain taxonomically unresolved and 160 species with missing information in the global plant database (The Plant List, 2013). This is the most comprehensive estimate of plant species diversity in the Himalaya. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodiversity and Species Traits)
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622 KiB  
Data Descriptor
Ecological and Functional Traits in 99 Bird Species over a Large-Scale Gradient in Germany
by Swen C. Renner and Willem van Hoesel
Data 2017, 2(2), 12; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/data2020012 - 31 Mar 2017
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5636
Abstract
A gap still exists in published data on variation of morphological and ecological traits for common bird species over a large area. To diminish this knowledge gap, we report here average values of 99 bird species from three sites in Germany from the [...] Read more.
A gap still exists in published data on variation of morphological and ecological traits for common bird species over a large area. To diminish this knowledge gap, we report here average values of 99 bird species from three sites in Germany from the Biodiversity Exploratories on 24 ecological and functional traits. We present our own data on morphological and ecological traits of 28 common bird species and provide additional measurements for further species from published studies. This is a unique data set from live birds, which has not been published and is available neither from museum nor from any other collection in the presented coverage. Dataset: available as the supplementary file. Dataset license: CC-BY Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodiversity and Species Traits)
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