Contribution to the phytosociological study of the municipalities of Alenquer, Arruda dos Vinhos and Sobral de Monte Agraço, Portugal

Study Extent

The geographic scope of this study focuses on the central area of mainland Portugal, in the municipalities of Alenquer, Arruda dos Vinhos and Sobral de Monte Agraço.

Sampling

Practical sampling was carried out in accordance with Vasconcelos (1949), where a small area was initially analyzed and gradually increased until verification of the constancy of the inventoried species (sample sufficiency). The collected plants were labeled and numbered, and the determination of abundance, cover and sociability was recorded. In the field, they were placed in plastic bags and after being transported to the ISA Botany Office, they were transferred to absorbent paper for convenient drying. Later, they were transferred to newsprint and identified, being available to the herbarium. The Flora of Portugal (P. Coutinho, 1939), the Nova Flora of Portugal (Franco, 1971) and the Flora Europaea (Tutin et al, 1972) were used to identify the specimens.

Quality Control

All initial data was inserted in a specific relational database built specifically for the project, which implemented several quality control methods. In the preparation of the dataset for GBIF publication, data consistency was verified using cluster algorithms using OpenRefine.

Method steps

1. The data was transferred to digital format and the original errors (ex. omission of location) were corrected.
2. Events: In the events table, the locations were georeferenced through GeoLocate (WGS84). After obtaining all the coordinates, the remaining fields of the location were extracted using the Location Extractor application. The entire event table was placed in DwC format. The “habitat” column was created based on the different situations where the inventories were carried out: wooded areas – forest, scrub – scrub (remained the same) and stream banks – riparian zone. Considering the methodology used (sample sufficiency), the minimum sampled area was placed in the “sampleSize” field in partnership with the “sampleSizeUnit”. The solar exposure of the sampling site was placed in the “locationRemarks”. Each letter represents a cardinal direction, with exception of "T.Q." which means exposition in all quadrants.
3. Occurrences: In the case of the occurrences table, after digitizing the data, the csv was run through the Species Extractor application, to update the scientific names and fill in the remaining fields. Errors in the infraspecificEpithet field were fixed, as some fields were filled with the author's name. In case of variants (taxonRank = VARIETY), the scientificNameAuthorship field was wrong, and has been fixed. The matchType field was revised and the taxonRemarks column was added where typos or scientific name updates were indicated. All mandatory columns were added, and the respective data filled. Original information such as Abundance/Covered was placed in the “organismQuantity” column referring to the “organismQuantityType” column that is part of the Blaun-Blanquet scale. In the case of sociability, also collected in this study, it was placed in the “dynamicProperties” because there was no adequate DwC field.

This dataset includes 779 records referring to specimens of 63 different families, 159 genera and 205 species/subspecies, in 39 event sites.

1. Plantae
   rank: kingdom
2. Tracheophyta
   rank: phylum
3. Pinopsida
   rank: class
4. Magnoliopsida
   rank: class
5. Liliopsida
   rank: class
6. Polypodiopsida
   rank: class

The sample events are in mainland Portugal, in the municipalities of Alenquer, Arruda dos Vinhos and Sobral de Monte Agraço.