Sinfonevada: Dataset of Floristic diversity in Sierra Nevada forests (SE Spain)

Abstract The Sinfonevada database is a forest inventory that contains information on the forest ecosystem in the Sierra Nevada mountains (SE Spain). The Sinfonevada dataset contains more than 7,500 occurrence records belonging to 270 taxa (24 of these threatened) from floristic inventories of the Sinfonevada Forest inventory. Expert field workers collected the information. The whole dataset underwent a quality control by botanists with broad expertise in Sierra Nevada flora. This floristic inventory was created to gather useful information for the proper management of Pinus plantations in Sierra Nevada. This is the only dataset that shows a comprehensive view of the forest flora in Sierra Nevada. This is the reason why it is being used to assess the biodiversity in the very dense pine plantations on this massif. With this dataset, managers have improved their ability to decide where to apply forest treatments in order to avoid biodiversity loss. The dataset forms part of the Sierra Nevada Global Change Observatory (OBSNEV), a long-term research project designed to compile socio-ecological information on the major ecosystem types in order to identify the impacts of global change in this area.

in the very dense pine plantations on this massif. With this dataset, managers have improved their ability to decide where to apply forest treatments in order to avoid biodiversity loss. Th e dataset forms part of the Sierra Nevada Global Change Observatory (OBSNEV), a long-term research project designed to compile socio-ecological information on the major ecosystem types in order to identify the impacts of global change in this area.

Project title
Sierra Nevada Global Change Observatory (OBSNEV)

Funding
All the information contained in Sinfonevada was gathered by TRAGSA (Transformación Agraria S.A.), a public company funded by the Spanish Ministry of the Environment. Th e Sierra Nevada Global Change Observatory is funded by the Andalusian Regional Government (via Environmental Protection Agency) and by the Spanish Government (via "Fundación Biodiversidad", which is a Public Foundation).

Study area descriptions/descriptor
Sierra Nevada (Andalusia, SE Spain), is a mountainous region with an altitudinal range between 860 m and 3482 m a.s.l. covering more than 2000 km 2 ( Figure 1). Th e climate is Mediterranean, characterized by cold winters and hot summers, with pronounced summer drought (July-August). Th e annual average temperature decreases in altitude from 12-16°C below 1500 m to 0°C above 3000 m a.s.l., and the annual average precipitation is about 600 mm. Additionally, the complex orography of the mountains causes strong climatic contrasts between the sunny, dry south-facing slopes and the shaded, wetter north-facing slopes. Annual precipitation ranges from less than 250 mm in the lowest parts of the mountain range to more than 700 mm in the summit areas. Winter precipitation is mainly in the form of snow above 2000 m of altitude. Th e Sierra Nevada mountain range hosts a high number of endemic plant species (c. 80; Lorite et al. 2007) for a total of 2,100 species of vascular plants (25% and 20% of Spanish and European fl ora, respectively), being considered one of the most important biodiversity hotspots in the Mediterranean region (Blanca et al. 1998).
Th is mountain range has several legal protections: Biosphere Reserve MAB Committee UNESCO; Special Protection Area and Site of Community Importance (Natura 2000 network); and National Park. Th e area includes 61 municipalities with more than 90,000 inhabitants. Th e main economic activities are agriculture, tourism, cattle raising, beekeeping, mining, and skiing (Bonet el al. 2010).

Design description
Sierra Nevada Global Change Observatory (OBSNEV) ) is a longterm research project which is being undertaken at Sierra Nevada Biosphere Reserve (SE Spain). It is intended to compile the information necessary for identifying as early as possible the impacts of global change, in order to design management mechanisms to minimize these impacts and adapt the system to new scenarios (Aspizua et al. 2010, Bonet el al. 2010. Th e general objectives are to: • Evaluate the functioning of ecosystems in the Sierra Nevada Nature Reserve, their natural processes and dynamics over a medium-term timescale. • Identify population dynamics, phenological changes, and conservation issues regarding key species that could be considered indicators of ecological processes. • Identify the impact of global change on monitored species, ecosystems, and natural resources, providing an overview of trends of change that could help foster ecosystem resilience. • Design mechanisms to assess the eff ectiveness and effi ciency of management activities performed in the Sierra Nevada in order to implement an adaptive management framework. • Help to disseminate information of general interest concerning the values and importance of Sierra Nevada. Th e Sierra Nevada Global Change Observatory has four cornerstones ( Figure 2): 1) a monitoring program with 40 methodologies that collect information on ecosystem functioning; 2) an information system to store and manage all the information gathered; 3) a plan to promote adaptive management of natural resources using the knowledge amassed through the monitoring programme; and 4) an outreach program to disseminate all the available information to potential users. Th e information compiled needs to be transformed into useful knowledge for the managers to carry out an active and adaptive management of natural resources. To achieve this, it is essential that all data be integrated and analysed in an information system. Finally, the general public should be informed of both the results obtained and methodologies used, through eff ective outreach activities.
The Sierra Nevada Global Change Observatory is linked to other national  and international monitoring networks: GLOCHAM-ORE (Global Change in Mountain Regions) (Björnsen 2005), GLOCHAMOST (Global Change in Mountain Sites) (Schaaf 2009), LTER-Spain (Long-Term Ecological Research).
Sierra Nevada Global Change Observatory is collecting socio-ecological information on the major ecosystem types found in Sierra Nevada. Th is information is being integrated in an Information System (http://obsnev.es/linaria.html -Pérez-Pérez et al. 2012. (Free access upon registration). Th e dataset described here is a good example of this idea. We have created a relational database to store the fl oristic inventories prepared in [2004][2005]. Th anks to this work, all this valuable and unique information will be available to scientists and environmental managers worldwide.

General taxonomic coverage description
Most of the species recorded in the inventories belong to class Magnoliopsida (6,042 records; 76.28 %) and Liliopsida (1,171 records; 14.78 %). Th e top 10 of the orders ( Figure 3) include Poales (1153 records; 14.56 %) for the class Liliopsida, Lamiales (1062 records; 13.41 %) for Magnoliopsida and Pinales (569 records; 7.18 %). In these collection, 57 families are represented, with Poaceae, Fabaceae, and Lamiaceae being the families with major number of records (Table 1) ( Figure 3). Th e collection includes 270 taxa belonging to 159 genera, Pinus and Th ymus being the most represented ones in the database. Th ere are 24 threatened taxa (

Method step description
Th is inventory was undertaken in 2004 and the database generated contains information relative to forest attributes and occurrence data (see below). Th is information, originally stored in a Microsoft Access database, has been integrated into the project's information system. Study extent description: Th e fl oristic inventories were conducted at the main forest units of the Sierra Nevada (Andalusia, SE Spain). Forest cover in Sierra Nevada is dominated by pine plantations ( Pinus halepensis Mill., Pinus pinaster Ait., Pinus nigra Arnold subsp. salzmannii (Dunal) Franco, and Pinus sylvestris L.) covering approximately 40,000 ha. Most of them were planted in the period 1960-1980. Th e main native forests of Sierra Nevada are dominated by the evergreen holm oak Quercus ilex subsp. ballota (Desf.) Samp. occupying low and medium mountain areas (8,800 ha.) and Pyrenean oak Quercus pyrenaica Willd ranging from 1,100 to 2,000 m a.s.l., covering about 2,000 ha. Autochthonous pine P. sylvestris var. nevadensis forests can also be found in small patches at high altitudes with a characteristically low tree cover.
Sampling description: SINFONEVADA Forest Inventory was established over an extensive network of 600 long-term permanent plots distributed within the main forest units of the Sierra Nevada: pine plantations, evergreen Q. ilex forests, and deciduous broadleaf forests. Th e network of plots is a random sample stratified by land cover and altitude, covering a gradient of 974-2439 m a.s.l. (Figure 5).
Each inventory plot has three sampling units: i) a forest inventory plot (20 × 20 m); ii) a 5-m radius subplot for the estimation of the regeneration; iii) and a 10-m radius subplot for species composition and abundance.
Each live tree with a diameter at breast height (dbh) > 7.5 cm was tallied by species and dbh in the forest inventory plot. Th is information was used to calculate forest attributes (tree basal area, tree volume, canopy cover). Th e regeneration was measured in the 5-m radius subplot (78.5 m 2 in area) as seedling abundance of the main tree species.
Th e species composition and diversity was recorded within a 10-m radius subplot (314 m 2 in area) using the Braun-Blanquet cover-abundance scale (Braun-Blanquet 1964).

Quality control description
Prior to the storing of this information in the database, all the data were assessed by a quality-control process. Each sampling plot was checked to ensure that the geographical coordinates were correct. We used the databases of International Plant Names Index (IPNI 2013) and Catalogue of Life/Species 2000 (Roskov et al. 2013) to verify the taxonomical classifi cation. Th e specimens were taxonomically identifi ed using Flora Iberica (Castroviejo et al. 1986(Castroviejo et al. -2005 for the published families while the rest of taxa were identifi ed according to Valdés et al. (1987) and Tutin et al. (1964Tutin et al. ( -1980.

Datasets
Th e original database of SINFONEVADA contains two types of information: forest attributes (and related information), and occurrence data. Th ere are several national forest inventories (Spanish National Forest Inventory, Alberdi et al. 2010) that have partially monitored some forests of Sierra Nevada. However, due to grain size, none have been as exhaustive as the SINFONEVADA inventory.
Th e original SINFONEVADA database was incorporated into the Information System of Sierra Nevada Global Change Observatory (Figure 4). Taxonomic and spatial validations were made on this database. Also, we carried out quality control procedures for forest attributes (detection of atypical values). A custom-made SQL view of the original SINFONEVADA was performed to gather occurrence data. Th e view shows occurrence data collected in the fl oristic inventories associated with the forest inventory. We included only records that had been accepted for publication. Th e occurrence data were accommodated to the Darwin Core Archive to integrate in GBIF. We used Darwin Core Archive Validator tool (http://tools.gbif.org/dwca-validator/) to check whether the dataset meets Darwin Core specifi cations. Th e Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT v2.0.5) of the Spanish node of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) (http://www.gbif.es:8080/ipt) was used both to upload the Darwin Core Archive and to fi ll out the metadata. Information about forest attributes included in the original SINFONEVADA database is available upon request.
Th e SINFONEVADA dataset represents an exhaustive fl oristic inventory of diversity of Sierra Nevada forest. It includes occurrences of 270 taxa, of which 24 are considered threatened and 9 endemic ( Table 2). Information of SINFONEVADA has been used for the Natural Resources Ordinance Plan of the Sierra Nevada Natural Area (CMA 2011). Also its information provides valuable support to natural-resource managers in their decision making. It is being considered for management actions within strategies of diversifi cation and naturalization of forests in the Sierra Nevada natural area.

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive Sinfonevada: Dataset of fl oristic diversity in Sierra Nevada forest (SE Spain) Character encoding: UTF-8. Format name: Darwin Core Archive format.