Biodiversity Data Journal Biodiversity Data Journal Biodiversity Data Journal BDJ 1314-2836 1314-2828 Pensoft Publishers Biodiversity Data Journal 10.3897/BDJ.2.e1108 1739 Data paper Plantae Angiospermae Ecology Biogeography Biodiversity: Species, Ecosystems & Conservation Cenozoic Germany The distribution of the vascular plants on the North Frisian Island, Amrum Groom Quentin John Dr qgroom@botanicalkeys.co.uk † Agentschap Plantentuin Meise, Meise, Belgium

Corresponding author: Quentin John Groom (qgroom@botanicalkeys.co.uk).

Academic editor: Daniele Cicuzza.

 2014 10 06 2014 2 e1108 30 04 2014 02 06 2014 Quentin John Groom This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC-BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Amrum is a small barrier island on the north-west coast of Germany. The distribution of vascular plants was examined by surveying their 1km2 grid square occupancy across the whole island. These data were used in a study on the recent vegetation change in the island. These data include 3786 observations of 450 taxa collected in two surveys in 2007 and 2008.

 Amrum vascular plants plant survey Introduction

Amrum is a small barrier island off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It covers an area of about 20 km2, though considerable areas of saltmarsh vegetation are exposed at low tide. Amrum has been the subject of many botanical surveys and this survey continues that tradition (Christiansen 1961, Türk 1994, Petersen 2000, von Seemen 1899, Schiøtz 1860).

Amrum is approximately 10 km long and 3 km wide at its widest point (Fig. 1). Its main habitats run in north-south bands along the island. In the west are open sand flats with a sparse fore-dune vegetation, moving eastward there is a complete dune succession ending in conifer plantations. Beyond the plantations is arable farmland and grazing. Along the eastern shore are mainly saltmarshes and mudflats. Other important habitats include freshwater ponds, marshes and ditches, heathland, urban areas and the seawall.

These data were used in a study of change in the islands flora (Groom 2010). They are published in the hope that they will help future studies.

 Sampling methods Study extent

The survey covered all vegetated areas of the island were access was permitted. In fact, this covers most of the island, however, some nesting bird colonies and private gardens are completely inaccessible.

 Sampling description

The biodiversity of each 1 km2 varies considerable so there was no set time limit for surveying a particular square. Grid squares were surveyed as intensively as considered necessary to find all but the rarest species. Aerial photographs, maps, previous surveys and local experts were all used to direct surveying to all potentially important habitats. The grid is based upon the spatial reference system EPSG:31467 - DHDN / Gauss-Kruger zone 3 (Fig. 1).

 Quality control

Some Salix specimens where identified by R.D. Meikle.

 Geographic coverage Description

Amrum is one of the North Frisian Islands, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Its western coast faces the North Sea and the eastern coast faces the Wadden Sea (Fig. 1).

 Coordinates

54° 36' 22.9602" and 54° 42' 44.1936" Latitude; 8° 17' 26.5308" and 8° 24' 12.6138" Longitude.

 Taxonomic coverage Description

The study covers all vascular plants growing in the wild. Obviously cultivated plants were excluded, though trees planted for forestry were included as these form so much of the island's habitats. Some examples of natural habitats on Amrum are illustrated (Fig. 2).

 Temporal coverage

Data range: 2008 7 05 – 2008 7 20; 2007 8 17 – 2007 8 31.

 Usage rights Use license

Creative Commons CCZero

 Data resources Data package title

Vascular plant survey of Amrum 2007-2008

 Resource link

http://www.gbif.org/dataset/e6fb3d46-977a-4deb-99be-e8493024feb2

Number of data sets

1

 Data set 1. Data set name

Survey of the whole island

 Data format

Darwin Core archive

 Number of columns

43

 Character set

UTF-8

 Data format version

1

 Description
Column label Column description
genus The genera of the taxon.
specificEpithet The specific epithet of the taxon.
taxonRank The taxonomic rank of the name.
infraspecificEpithet The infraspecific name of the taxon, if identified to this rank.
scientificName full scientific names, written out as a string with authority.
kingdom The taxonomic kingdom to which the organism belongs.
family The taxonomic family to which the organism belongs.
vernacularName The English common name of the taxon.
nomenclaturalCode International Code of Nomenclature for the name.
identifiedBy The identifier of the specimen.
recordedBy The person who found the specimen.
language The language used in the observation details.
rights The rights given to the use of these data.
rightsHolder The person to whom these right belong.
datasetID A unique identifier to this dataset.
datasetName The name of this dataset.
basisOfRecord How the observation was made.
occurrenceStatus An indication of the about the presence or absence of a taxon at a location.
individualCount The number of individuals observed. If left blank the taxon was observed, but not counted.
eventDate The date on which the observation occurred.
month The month in which the observation occurred.
year The year in which the observation occurred.
occurrenceRemarks Additional notes on the observation.
establishmentMeans How the taxon became established at the location. Frequently used where the taxon was planted.
occurrenceID A unique identifier to the observation.
locality A textual description of the precise locality.
higherGeography A textual description of the region in which the observation occurred.
islandGroup The name of the island group in which the observation occurred.
island The name of the island in which the observation occurred.
country The name of the country in which the observation occurred.
countryCode The ISO 3166-1-alpha-2 country code.
stateProvince The first-level administrative subdivision of the country in which the observation occurred.
continent The continent in which the observation occurred.
verbatimCoordinates The geographic coordinates of the observation written out.
verbatimSRS The spatial reference system of the verbatim coordinates.
footprintWKT A Well-Known Text (WKT) representation of the shape that defines the location.
footprintSRS The spatial reference system of the footprint WKT coordinates.
habitat A textual description of the habitat in which the taxon was observed.
coordinateUncertaintyInMeters The limit of the distance (in meters) from the given coordinates describing a circle within which the locality must lie.
decimalLongitude The longitude of the location the observation was made, in decimal degrees.
decimalLatitude The latitude of the location the observation was made, in decimal degrees.
geodeticDatum The geodetic datum to which the latitude and longitude refer.
pointRadiusSpatialFit The ratio of the area of the point-radius to the actual area of the spatial representation of the location
References Christiansen Willi 1961 Flora der Nordfriesischen Inseln. Cram, de Gruyter & Co. Hamburg 127 German Groom Quentin J. 2010 A comparison of species lists of vascular plants points to recent habitat change on the North Frisian Island, Amrum Schriften des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins für Schleswig-Holstein 72 29 35 English http://www.schriften.uni-kiel.de/Band%2072/Groom.pdf Petersen Jörg 2000 Die dünentalvegetation der wattenmeer- inseln in der südlichen Nordsee Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft Husum 205 German 9783880429352 Schiøtz Ludvig Theodor 1860 Beretning om en botanisk Reise, foretaget i Sommeren 1858 i Landskabebet mellem Sleswig, Rendsborg og Ekernførde samt paa Vesterhavsøerne Amrom, Før og Sild Videnskab. Meddel. - 117 168 Danish Türk W. 1994 Flora und Vegetation der Insel Amrum – Bestand, Wandel, Gefährdung Schriften des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins für Schleswig-Holstein 64 17 89 German http://www.schriften.uni-kiel.de/Band%2064/Tuerk_64_17-89.pdf von Seemen O. 1899 Einige Mitteilungen über die in dem Herbar K. F. W. Jessen enthaltenen Pflanzen von der Nordfriesischen Insel Amrum Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 27 62 6 7 German http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/210409

A map of Amrum showing the main landscape features and the 1km2 grid used for the survey. The grid is based upon the spatial reference system EPSG:31467 - DHDN / Gauss-Kruger zone 3.

Examples of some of the habitats and plants found on Amrum.

Mobile foredunes containing Ammophila arenaria, Rumex crispus, Sonchus arvensis and Elytrigia juncea.

A mature wet dune slack, habitat to Erica tetralix and Eriophorum angustifolium.

Calluna vulgaris heath on stabilized dunes, taken from the lighthouse called the Quermarkenfeuer (54°40'9.25"N, 8°18'30.84"E).

Salix cinerea carr at the western end of the Nehrungssee (54°37'22.77"N, 8°22'0.42"E).

Bolboschoenus maritimus

Limonium vulgare

The distribution of the vascular plants on the North Frisian Island, Amrum

Data type: occurrences

Brief description: A Darwin Core Archive of vascular plant occurrences from the island of Amrum, Germany recorded in 2007 and 2008

File: oo_6541.zip

Quentin J. Groom