Database of European vascular plants red lists as a contribution to more coherent plant conservation & Technical validation of the database

Our database is a comprehensive overview of red listed vascular plant taxa from almost all European countries (39 out of 44) and two countries outside of Europe but in the Mediterranean. Data for each country is presented in rows with a unique database ID and amounts to 51,109 records containing 21,481 revised original taxonomic names. Using confidence levels, we assigned accepted taxonomic names with scientific authorships and families to 20,312 of the original taxonomic names across 47,701 records: 43,204 with HIGH and 4497 with MEDIUM precision. However, 3411 records with > 1000 original taxonomic names were not assigned with accepted taxonomic names: 3033 with NONE precision; and 378 records where precision was ‘not applicable’ as taxonomic names of red lists were not matched with Taxonomic name databases (TNBs). Overall, there are 17,873 unique accepted taxonomic names from 184 families, 1650 genera and 15,593 species.

The database is accompanied by a technical validation of database accuracy. To prove the accuracy of assigning MEDIUM and HIGH confidence levels to taxa, we extracted, respectively, eight and two records of said confidence levels for each country. The records were extracted manually and as randomly as possible. We verified their taxonomic identities following two methods: (i) by sending the records to respective COST Action country representatives, so that experts could check the accuracy by referring to original references such as taxon publication or an established country flora, (ii) by checking ourselves against red lists or countries checklists of vascular plants, where scientific authorships are listed. The validation process was done for 40 countries and 41 red lists. One country was excluded from the validation process, Moldova, as we have not received a response or not found a suitable resource to conduct validation against (e.g., plant checklist, as the country red list did not contain scientific authorships).

Please check the attached ReadMe files for details on each column of the database, suggested usage and details on the technical validation.