MOVECLIM-AZORES: plot based vascular plant cover along elevational gradients (2013)

In the scope of the MOVECLIM project, in 2013, we surveyed vascular plants and their ground cover in native or better-preserved vegetation patches, following an elevational transect, on four Azorean islands (São Miguel, Terceira, Pico and Flores). Using a standardised, plot-based protocol, permanent 10 m × 10 m plots were established at approximately 200 m elevation steps, each plot subdivided into four 5 m × 5 m subplots. All vascular taxa were recorded per subplot and cover was assigned using the Braun-Blanquet Ordinal Transform Value (OTV), a scale based on a geometric series, that assigns a numeric value (1-9) to each Braun-Blanquet category.

We established 58 permanent plots across the four Azorean islands, resulting in 232 event records at the subplot level (eventID) and 2,539 occurrence records (occurrenceID), spanning 58 families, 92 genera, 109 species and five subspecies of vascular plants. Amongst these taxa, 44 are Azorean endemics, 40 are native non-endemic and 30 are introduced (of which 17 are invasive). This study provides a baseline for long-term monitoring of native vegetation, assessment of invasive species and evaluation of native communities' responses to such pressures across islands with contrasting elevation ranges and disturbance histories.