Geodiversity data for Europe.

Area of Science:

• Earth Sciences
• Ecology
• Environmental Science

Background:

• Geodiversity, a key component of nature's diversity, is poorly understood regarding its large-scale spatial distribution and relationship with biodiversity.
• Existing geodiversity assessments often lack comprehensive data across extensive geographical areas.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present novel European geodiversity data at 1km and 10km resolutions.
• To quantitatively assess terrestrial geodiversity (georichness) using a grid-based approach.
• To evaluate the data's utility by correlating it with national geodiversity data and species richness.

Main Methods:

• Developed European geodiversity data incorporating geological, pedological, geomorphological, and hydrological diversity.
• Assessed geodiversity quantitatively as georichness using a grid-based methodology.
• Correlated European georichness with Finnish national geodiversity data and vascular plant species richness in Finland and Switzerland.

Main Results:

• European georichness showed positive correlations with national geodiversity data in Finland at both 1km (r=0.37) and 10km (r=0.59) resolutions.
• Significant positive correlations were found between georichness and vascular plant species richness in Finland (r=0.34) and Switzerland (r=0.26).
• The data provide insights into abiotic diversity and establish a scalable geodiversity assessment method.

Conclusions:

• The presented European geodiversity data are robust and suitable for large-scale geodiversity-biodiversity research.
• The data have broad applicability beyond ecological studies, offering insights into abiotic diversity across various scales and regions.
• This work establishes a quantitative, worldwide applicable method for large-scale geodiversity assessment.