A complete inventory of all native Mediterranean tree species of North Africa, Western Asia and Southern Europe

This dataset is an inventory of all native trees of the Mediterranean region in North Africa, Western Asia and Southern Europe. It contains data on occurrence, habit, endemism, risk of extinction and use for 739 taxa (species and subspecies) of Mediterranean trees and shrubs, spanning 39 botanical territories in Africa, Asia and Europe. This dataset also contains a bibliometric compilation of genetic knowledge available for these Mediterranean tree species as well as information on DNA content and ploidy. By Mediterranean, we mean a climate experiencing a dry summer season with an overall annual precipitation no less than 400 mm. In addition to all ecoregions of the Mediterranean biome in the Mediterranean basin except the Macaronesian islands, we included the following three ecoregions in our inventory: the Dinaric Mountains mixed forests of the Balkans, the Zagros Mountains forest steppe of Iran and Iraq and the Crimean Submediterranean forest complex. The geographic coverage of the inventory is figured in file Geographic coverage map. By tree, we mean a woody plant with a well-defined trunk that can reach a 3-meter high adult size. We also considered woody species that are generally shrub-like but can, under some natural conditions, exhibit the tree-like habit defined above. By Mediterranean tree, we mean a species or a subspecies that has at least part of its natural distribution area in a habitat where Mediterranean bioclimatic conditions prevail in North Africa, Western Asia and Europe. Tree species whose main distribution is either in the temperate, oceanic, arid or desert climates but have some populations in a Mediterranean climate were considered. The dataset contains 16 files. - The first series of two files are the data and associated metadata of the taxa we considered as Mediterranean trees: Data_trees and its associated documentation file Metadata_trees. There are 643 taxa (497 species and 147 subspecies) listed in the data file. Data_trees contains occurrence, habit, endemism and threat data. Data_trees_v2 is a slightly revised file for Palestine. - The second series of two files are the data and associated metadata of taxa we did not retain as Mediterranean trees and the reason why we did so: Data_excluded and its associated documentation file Metadata_excluded. There are 96 (mostly species level) taxa in the data file, that are either shrubs (although they are characterized as trees in international reference databases) or trees not growing under a Mediterranean climate in the botanical territories surveyed. Data_excluded_v2 is a revised file which contains one additional excluded species. - The third series of two files are the data and associated metadata of the species-level taxa we retained as Mediterranean trees that we queried for genetic information related to adaptation and demographic processes as well as DNA content in the international literature: Data_genetics and its associated documentation file Metadata_genetics. There are 496 species in the data file. - The fourth series of two files are the data and associated metadata of the Mediterranean tree species and subspecies which occur jointly in North Africa, Western Asia and Europe: Data_shared and its associated documentation file Metadata_shared. There are 105 taxa in the data file. - The last files are (1) summary information on richness and geographic features at botanic country level (Data_summary and Metadata_summary), (2) coefficients of correlation between occurrence data and area size and heterogeneity (Data_correl and Metadata_correl), (3) a list of bibliographic and database references used for creating the data files: References and (4) a map of the geographic coverage of the inventory: Geographic coverage map.