Description
The long-term monitoring on plant cover of Doñana shrublands is part of a harmonised protocol for the Long-term Ecological Monitoring Program of Natural Resources and Processes targeting Terrestrial Vegetation. The general aim of this protocol is to monitor and assess the dynamics of the main dominant terrestrial and aquatic vegetation types of Doñana. For shrublands, percent cover is recorded annually starting from 2008 to the present (2022) by staff of the Monitoring Team by one sampling campaign per year during the flowering season (between March and May) in 21 permanent square plots (15x15m). Cover is measured using the line intercept method in 3 transects of 15 m length oriented from East to West and located at fixed points of 2.5, 7.5 and 12.5 metres at both sides of the plot. Using the line-intercept method, the coverage of each species is measured with a measuring tape, including the class age (adult or seedling) and the canopy status (green or dead). This method enables to calculate the percent cover for each species across the transect and for the whole plot, including data on class age and percent of dry and green canopy, additionally to the percent of bare soil, plant density, species richness and vascular plant diversity for every plot.
Data Records
The data in this sampling event resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 945 records.
2 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Díaz-Delgado R, Torrijo-Salesa M, Ramírez L A, Alcaide A, Paz D A, Aragonés D, López D, Ceballos O, Román I, Rojas A, Tenorio J, Schmidt K, Bustamante J (2023). Long-term monitoring on percent cover of vascular plants in shrublands of Doñana 2008-2022. Version 1.5. Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC). Samplingevent dataset. https://doi.org/10.15470/io6caz
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: deca479d-0832-4e4b-8c94-a09f32a80adb. Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC) publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF Spain.
Keywords
Samplingevent; Species coverage; Long-term monitoring; Long-term data; Plant Cover; Terrestrial Vegetation; Mediterranean Shurbland; Doñana Shrublands; Line-intercept method; Shrubland; Percent cover vascular plants; Doñana; Doñana Biological Reserve; Samplingevent
Contacts
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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0460-4616
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Geographic Coverage
Doñana LTSER Platform. Doñana Protected Area. Doñana National Park. Doñana Biological Reserve (RBD).
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [36.983, -6.548], North East [37.031, -6.463] |
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Taxonomic Coverage
N/A
| Kingdom | Plantae |
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| Phylum | Tracheophyta |
| Class | Magnoliopsida |
| Order | Malvales, Fabales, Lamiales |
| Family | Lamiaceae, Cistaceae, Fabaceae |
Temporal Coverage
| Start Date / End Date | 2008-04-08 / 2022-07-28 |
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Project Data
The aim of this project is to provide information about the evolution of the conservation status of Doñana. To do that, it has been designed a monitoring program of the dynamic of natural processes and the distribution and abundance of species and communities. This monitoring is generating time series of data which is being used to analyse long-term trends.
| Title | Programa de Seguimiento de Procesos Naturales (ESPN) en el Espacio Natural de Doñana (END). Infraestructura Tecnológica Singular Reserva Biológica de Doñana (ICTS-RBD). |
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| Identifier | 202030E286 |
| Funding | We acknowledge financial support from National Parks Autonomous Agency (OAPN) between 2002-2007; Singular Scientific and Technical Infrastructures from the Spanish Science and Innovation Ministry (ICTS-MICINN); Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Sustainable Development from the Regional Government of Andalusia (CAGPDES-JA) since 2007; and Doñana Biological Station from the Spanish National Research Council (EBD-CSIC) since all the study period (2005). |
| Study Area Description | Doñana LTSER Platform. Doñana Protected Area. Doñana National Park. Doñana Biological Reserve (RBD). |
| Design Description | The Doñana Long-Term Monitoring Program is carried by ICTS-RBD. It was started for certain monitoring features in the 1980s. Initially it focused on birds and endangered species such as the Iberian Lynx or the Imperial Eagle. Formally, it started in 2003, when it was extended and funded to monitor biodiversity and ecological processes targeting species, habitats and populations, as well as ecosystem structure and function. As a summary, data analysis and assessment are made to enhance management decisions with baseline information to minimize the impact of global change drivers. Results are annually reported to the National Park Managers and Practitioners and to the regional authorities as scientific reports. |
The personnel involved in the project:
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Sampling Methods
The long-term monitoring of Doñana shrublands started in 2008 by setting 21 permanent plots across the Doñana Biological Reserve. Each plot is sampled during the one sampling campaign per year in the flowering season (between March and May) in 21 permanent square plots (15x15m). Cover is measured using the line intercept method in 3 transects of 15 m length oriented from East to West and located at fixed points of 2.5, 7.5 and 12.5 metres at both sides of the plot. Using the line-intercept method, the coverage of each species is measured with a measuring tape, including the class age (adult or seedling) and the canopy status (green or dead). This method enables to calculate the percent cover for each species across the transect and for the whole plot, including data on class age and percent of dry and green canopy, additionally to the percent of bare soil, plant density, species richness and vascular plant diversity for every plot.
| Study Extent | The study area is located in southwest Spain in the Guadalquivir Basin and covers Doñana Protected Area (542.51 km2). Climate is Mediterranean sub-humid with Atlantic coast influence deriving in wet mild winters and dry warm summers. The rainy season occurs between October and April, with a peak in December–January (average rainfall is about 550 mm). Four main ecosystems are monitored in the area: freshwater marshes, mobile sand dunes, Mediterranean shrublands and woodlands and Doñana shoreline of 30 km. This monitoring is carried out in 21 permanent plots on Mediterranean shrublands in the Doñana Biological Reserve and sampled once per year, between March and May. |
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| Quality Control | The protocol used has been supervised by ecological researchers and the data have been validated by the members who performed the transects. |
Method step description:
- Along each plot there was three different transects of 15 metres, on which a measuring tape was extended. The three transects are distributed at fixed distances from the Eastern side of the plot, the first one at 2.5 metres from the NE corner, the second one at 7.5 and the last one at 12.5 metres. All the individuals intercepted by measuring tape are identified and tape distance of the initial and the final contact point recorded, in order to calculate the total cover in the transect per species. Ancillary data on age class (adult or seedling: plant height under 15 cm) and the canopy status (dry or green) is also recorded for each individual. Average plant height is recorded for every transect. Percent cover of each species is calculated per transect and per plot. Data is collected in the field using a CyberTracker programmed sequence and download as Excel or CSV files.
Bibliographic Citations
- Cummings, J. & Smith, D. (2000) The line-intercept method: A tool for introductory plant ecology laboratories. Pages 234-246, in Tested studies for laboratory teaching, Volume 22 (S. J. Karcher, Editor). Proceedings of the 22nd Workshop/Conference of the Association for Biology Laboratory.
- (ICTS-RBD) Memorias anuales del Programa de Seguimiento de Procesos y Recursos Naturales en el Espacio Natural de Doñana (END). https://doi.org/10.20350/digitalCSIC/15112
Additional Metadata
| Alternative Identifiers | 10.15470/io6caz |
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| https://digital.csic.es/handle/10261/288923 | |
| deca479d-0832-4e4b-8c94-a09f32a80adb | |
| https://ipt.gbif.es/resource?r=covershrubland_icts-rbd |