Database Report

Vegetation Database of the Volga and the Ural Rivers Basins

Tatiana Lysenko, Olga Kalmykova & Anna Mitroshenkova

GIVD Database ID: EU-RU-003	Last update: 2018-11-08
Vegetation Database of the Volga and the Ural Rivers Basins	Web address:
Database manager(s): Tatiana Lysenko (ltm2000@mail.ru); Olga Kalmykova (o.k.81@list.ru)
Owner: IEVB RAS IS UB RAS
Scope: The Database has information of halophytic (Thero-Salicornietea, Festuco-Puccinellietea), steppe (Festuco-Brometea), meadow (Pragmito-Magnocaricetea, Molinio-Arrhenetheretea) vegetation and karst relief vegetation (Festuco-Brometea, Querco-Fagetea, Galio-Urticetea, Trifolio-Geranietea sanguinei) in the Volga and the Ural River Basins within forest-steppe and steppe zones.
Abstract: In 2004, the researchers from the Department of the problems of phytodiversity of the Institute of the Ecology of the Volga River Basin of the Russian Akademy of Sciences (Togliatti), chair of botany of Samara State Academy of Social Sciences and Humanities (Samara) and the Department of the biogeography and biodiversity monitoring of the Institute of Steppe UB RAS (Orenburg) started work on creation of the Volga and the Ural Rivers Basins Vegetation Database on the basis of the software suite TURBOVEG (Hennekens, Schaminée, 2001). At present the database contains data about plant communities of forest-steppe and steppe zones within Ulyanovsk, Samara, Saratov, Orenburg, Saratov and Astrachan regions. Information is collected in two blocks with separated data on geobotanical relevés and on the syntaxa uniting these relevés. In first case, each geobotanical relevé includes the following parameters: the species composition with projective cover for each species of plants; total projective cover; plot size; ecotope and location, where the relevé was made; information on publication of the relevé (the reference, number of table, relevé number in the table); syntaxon which the relevé belongs to; its position in the SynBioSys Europe syntaxa system; geographical coordinates. In second case, each syntaxon is provided with its name, position in the SynBioSys Europe syntaxa system, number of relevés and the permanence of each species. Currently, the database has information of halophytic (Thero-Salicornietea, Festuco-Puccinellietea), steppe (Festuco-Brometea), meadow (Phragmito-Magnocaricetea, Molinio-Arrhenetheretea) vegetation and karst relief vegetation (Festuco-Brometea, Querco-Fagetea, Galio-Urticetea, Trifolio-Geranietea sanguinei) in the Volga and the Ural River Basins within forest-steppe and steppe zones, and includes results of our own research activities (since 1994) and literature sources data (since 1968). The data is collected in each of the institutions mentioned above, and then the data is exchanged and summarized.The created database is connected with European Syntaxonomical Biological System SynBioSys Europe (www.synbiosys.alterra.nl/synbiosyseu) where the data on 917 published relevés and 127 syntaxa has been currently sent to.
Availability: according to a specific agreement	Online upload: no	Online search: no
Database format(s): TURBOVEG, Excel	Export format(s): TURBOVEG, Excel
Plot type(s): normal plots	Plot-size range (m²): 0.1 to 100
Non-overlapping plots: 4500	Estimate of existing plots: 4500	Completeness: 100%	Status: ongoing capture
Total no. of plot observations: 4500	Number of sources (biblioreferences, data collectors): 4500	Valid taxa: 0
Countries (%): RU: 100
Formations:
Guilds: all vascular plants: 90%; only trees and shrubs: 10%; bryophytes (terricolous or aquatic): 10%; lichens (terricolous or aquatic): 5%; algae (terricolous or aquatic): 1%
Plot size categories (%): < 1 m2: 5%; 1-10 m2: 25%; 10-100 m2: 70%; 100-1000 m2: 0%; 1000-10000 m2: 0%; >= 10000 m2: 0%; unknowmn: 0%;
Environmental data (%): altitude: 10; slope aspect: 70; slope inclination: 70; microrelief: 90; surface cover other than plants (open soil, litter, bare rock etc.): 90; other soil attributes: 80; soil pH: 0; land use categories: 0; soil depth: 0
Performance measure(s): presence/absence only: 0%; cover: 100%; number of individuals: 0%; measurements like diameter or height of trees: 0%; biomass: 0%; other: 10%
Geographic localisation: GPS coordinates (precision 25 m or less): 95%; point coordinates less precise than GPS, up to 1 km: 5%; small grid (not coarser than 10 km): 0%; political units or only on a coarser scale ( above 10 km): 0%
Sampling periods: before 1920: 0%; 1920-1929: 0%; 1930-1939: 0%; 1940-1949: 0%; 1950-1959: 0%; 1960-1969: 1%; 1970-1979: 1%; 1980-1989: 1%; 1990-1999: 30%; 2000-2009: 62%; 2010-2019: 5%; unknown: 0%
Information as of 2026-05-19; further details and future updates available from http://www.givd.info/ID/EU-RU-003

Tatiana Lysenko* (ltm2000@mail.ru)
Department of the problems of phytodiversity, Institute of the Volga River Basin RAS, Komzin str. 10, 445003 Togliatti, RUSSIA
Olga Kalmykova (o.k.81@list.ru)
Department of the biogeography and biodiversity monitoring , Institute of Steppe UB RAS, Pionerskaya str. 11, 460000 Orenburg, RUSSIA
Anna Mitroshenkova (mds_mitri4@mail.ru)
Chair of botany , Samara State Academy of Social Sciences and Humanities, Antonova-Ovseenko str. 26, 443090 Samara, RUSSIA
* corresponding author