Records of vascular plants from DarkDivNet sampling in Kamianska Sich National Nature Park (site D194)

Study Extent

The dataset includes occurrences of vascular plants from two permanent core plots and 32 co-occurrence plots sampled in the Kherson Region (Southern Ukraine). During the sampling, we surveyed various natural and seminatural grasslands (bunchgrass steppes, meadow steppes, desert steppes, limestone outcrops, and mesic grasslands) and steppic shrubs. To avoid data duplication, we do not include in this dataset two accompanying plots (US50x and UAS51x) from the DarkDivNet data, as they can be found in the dataset “Records of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens collected during the 15th EDGG Field Workshop Grasslands and coastal habitats of Southern Ukraine”.

Sampling

Following the DarkDivNet methodology (Lewis et al. 2016), we established two permanent plots and 34 accompanying plots (only occurrences of 32 of them are presented in the current dataset, as mentioned in Study Exent). Two permanent core plots represented natural (unmanaged bunchgrass steppe) and seminatural (intensively used pasture, previously ploughed) grassland habitats. The permanent plots had a nested structure of two scales: a core plot (100 m2) within a surrounding plot (2500 m2), which is indicated as a parent event in the dataset structure. In addition to permanent plots, we sampled 34 co-occurrence plots (100 m2 each) placed randomly in an area with a radius of 10 km around the center of the study area (defined as the midpoint of two permanent sites). The subplots covered various types of relatively intact natural and semi-natural vegetation. Within each plot, we recorded all vascular plant species (shoot presence).

Quality Control

The nomenclature corresponds to the Nomenclatural Checklist of vascular plants of Ukraine (Mosyakin & Fedoronchuk 1999), with minor corrections regarding problematic taxa. Some of the records were collected as herbarium specimens and determined after the fieldwork. We additionally checked and verified the data after digitalization, using OpenRefine for the quality control and GBIF Backbone Taxonomy for the taxonomic check.

Method steps

1. Site selection, field research.
2. Identification of herbarium specimens.
3. Digitalizing the field data forms.
4. Data checking and cleaning.
5. Transformation of the dataset according to the Darwin Core standards.
6. Taxonomic check, final quality control.

Plantae, Vascular plants, Magnoliophyta

1. Plantae
   rank: kingdom
2. Tracheophyta
   rank: phylum

Kamianska Sich National Nature Park, Beryslav District, Kherson Region, Ukraine