GrassPlot – a database of multi-scale plant diversity in Palaearctic grasslands

GrassPlot is a collaborative vegetation-plot database organised by the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) and listed in the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD ID EU-00-003).GrassPlot collects plot records (relevés) from grasslands and other open habitats of the Palaearctic biogeographic realm.It focuses on precisely delimited plots of eight standard grain sizes (0.0001; 0.001; ... 1,000 m²) and on nested-plot series with at least four different grain sizes.The usage of GrassPlot is regulated through Bylaws that intend to balance the interests of data contributors and data users.The current version (v.1.00) contains data for approximately 170,000 plots of different sizes and 2,800 nested-plot series.The key components are richness data and metadata.However, most included datasets also encompass compositional data.About 14,000 plots have near-complete records of terricolous bryophytes and lichens in addition to vascular plants.