Database Report

VegBank -- the vegetation plot archive of the Ecological Society of America

Robert Peet, Michael Lee & Clifford Duke

GIVD Database ID: NA-US-002	Last update: 2018-11-08
VegBank	Web address: http://vegbank.org
Database manager(s): Robert Peet (peet@unc.edu); Michael Lee (michael.lee@unc.edu)
Owner: Ecological Society of America (ESA)
Scope: Vegetation plots from anywhere in the world can be uploaded and searched, but the primary emphasis is on support of the US National Vegetation Classification.
Abstract: Rapid progress is being made in North American vegetation science through recent developments with the U.S. National Vegetation Classification (NVC). Central to these advances is sharing, archiving, and disseminating field plots, the fundamental data required for describing and understanding vegetation communities. VegBank is the vegetation plot database of the Ecological Society of America`s Panel on Vegetation Classification. VegBank is a stand-alone, Internet-accessible, vegetation plot archive designed to allow users to easily submit, search, view, annotate, cite, and download diverse types of vegetation data. The archive also contains embedded databases that contain classifications of vegetation and individual organisms, designed and implemented to track the many-to-many relationship between names and taxon or community concepts, as well as alternative party perspectives on accepted taxa.
Availability: free online	Online upload: yes	Online search: yes
Database format(s): PostgreSQL	Export format(s): MS Access, CSV file, other, XML
Plot type(s): normal plots, nested plots, time series	Plot-size range (m²): 12 to 1000
Non-overlapping plots: 22629	Estimate of existing plots: 22629	Completeness: 100%	Status: completed and continuing
Total no. of plot observations: 22629	Number of sources (biblioreferences, data collectors): 58	Valid taxa: 8312
Countries (%): US: 98; CA: 2
Formations:
Guilds: all vascular plants: 100%
Plot size categories (%): < 1 m2: 0%; 1-10 m2: 0%; 10-100 m2: 8%; 100-1000 m2: 4%; 1000-10000 m2: 3%; unknowmn: 85%;
Environmental data (%): altitude: 94; slope aspect: 84; slope inclination: 87; microrelief: 0; surface cover other than plants (open soil, litter, bare rock etc.): 24; other soil attributes: 22; soil pH: 5; land use categories: 0
Performance measure(s): presence/absence only: 0.4%; cover: 99.6%; number of individuals: 0%; measurements like diameter or height of trees: 8.5%; biomass: 0%; other: 0%
Geographic localisation: GPS coordinates (precision 25 m or less): 3%; point coordinates less precise than GPS, up to 1 km: 8%; small grid (not coarser than 10 km): 1%; political units or only on a coarser scale ( above 10 km): 99.2%
Sampling periods: before 1920: 0%; 1920-1929: 0%; 1930-1939: 0%; 1940-1949: 0%; 1950-1959: 0%; 1960-1969: 0%; 1970-1979: 4%; 1980-1989: 25%; 1990-1999: 51%; 2000-2009: 20%; 2010-2019: 0%
Information as of 2026-06-14; further details and future updates available from http://www.givd.info/ID/NA-US-002

Robert Peet* (peet@unc.edu)
Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB #3280, 27599 Chapel Hill, NC, UNITED STATES
Michael Lee (michael.lee@unc.edu)
Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB #3280, 27599 Chapel Hill, NC, UNITED STATES
Clifford Duke (csduke@esa.org)
Director, Science Office, Ecological Society of America, 1990 M Street NW, Suite 700, 20036 Washington, DC, UNITED STATES
* corresponding author