Description
This dataset compiles the main data available on the vegetation of Seychelles sampled through vegetation plots at the stand scale (see Senterre et al. 2021). More data exists than what is currently available, and those will eventually be added later. At this stage, the dataset contains the survey of 73 sites, on the islands of Mahé and Silhouette, in mesic, ravine, or swampy forest stands, some pristine and others semi-natural at a late secondary stage. The individual surveys compiled are: • BS01 to BS12 (Senterre et al., 2009) • BS-LC-1 to -7 (Senterre and Chong-Seng, 2016) • HE-01 to -12 (El Zein, 2011) • MZMM-01 to -26 (Cesar and Zehnder, 2020) • SIP-01 to -15 (Baguette et al., 2022)
All sampling events follow the same methodology, described in Senterre et al. (2008) and Baguette et al. (2022). Vegetation plots (sampling events) are placed in carefully selected sites, based on their general homogeneity (i.e. avoiding within plot environmental discontinuities or gradients, such as local degradation, mixing of stream and well drained etc.). The selected stands are described using an Android survey designed with Open Foris Collect (Senterre et al., 2021). The installation file for the survey is available here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353345419_BIO_KBA_3_4_Open_Foris_Collect_Survey_File_with_species_list_for_Seychelles. Once described, each stand is sampled using a nested plot approach, combining three different plots (sampling events) within the stand: one for the trees, one for the shrub layer, and one for the herbaceous understorey plus recruitment. For 7 sites near Mare aux Cochons on Mahé (out of the total of 73 sites, on Mahé and Silhouette), the tree layer is sampled in more details, using two subsets of trees. This method is described in Senterre and Chong-Seng (2016).
Baguette, F., Harryba, S., Baboorun, T., Adam, P.-A., Senterre, B., 2022. Characterization and evolution of the lowland tropical rain forest of the smallest oceanic Gondwana fragments, with implications for restoration and invasion ecology. For. Ecol. Manag. 504, 119837. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119837 Cesar, S., Zehnder, M., 2020. Relating the Rehabilitation of Water Catchment Forest in the Morne Seychellois National Park with the Perspectives and Expectations of Local Communities in a Small Island Nation (Master Thesis). Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland. El Zein, H., 2011. Caractérisation des types de forêts montagnardes sur l’île de Mahé (Seychelles) (Master Thesis). Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles. Senterre, B., Chong-Seng, L., 2016. Biodiversity assessment and rehabilitation potential of forests in the Mare aux Cochons catchment (Mahé, Seychelles). (Consultancy Report), Ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change in Seychelles (EBA project). Government of Seychelles, United Nations Development Programme, Victoria, Seychelles. Senterre, B., Gerlach, J., Mougal, J., Matatiken, D.E., 2009. Old growth mature forest types and their floristic composition along the altitudinal gradient on Silhouette Island (Seychelles) - the telescoping effect on a continental mid-oceanic island. Phytocoenologia 39, 157–174. https://doi.org/10.1127/0340-269X/2009/0039-0157 Senterre, B., Lowry II, P.P., Bidault, E., Stévart, T., 2021. Ecosystemology: a new approach toward a taxonomy of ecosystems. Ecol. Complex. 47, 100945. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecocom.2021.100945
Data Records
The data in this sampling event resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 519 records.
1 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Senterre B, Adam P, Baboorun T, Baguette F, Chong-Seng L, El Zein H, Gerlach J, Harryba S, Matatiken D E, Mougal J, Zehnder M (2022): Quantitative and Semi-quantitative survey of the vegetation of Seychelles through stand scale plots. v1.3. Seychelles National Herbarium. Dataset/Samplingevent. https://cloud.gbif.org/africa/resource?r=seyvegplot&v=1.3
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is Seychelles National Herbarium. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 4fc42f17-eaeb-4296-949d-34b8414eb1c1. Seychelles National Herbarium publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Participant Node Managers Committee.
Keywords
Samplingevent
Contacts
- Metadata Provider ●
- Author ●
- Originator ●
- Point Of Contact
- Project Manager
- Bel Etang
- +2482746862
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5581-3744
- Author ●
- Originator
- Science Coordinator
- Pointe Larue
- ●
- Originator
- Ranger
- Pointe Larue
- Author ●
- Originator
- Island Conservation Manager
- Pointe Larue
- Author ●
- Originator
- Chair
- Author
- Master student
- 50, avenue F. Rooselvelt
- Author ●
- Originator
- Chair
- Author ●
- Originator
- Ranger
- Pointe Larue
- Author ●
- Originator
- Mont Fleuri
- Author ●
- Originator
- Author ●
- Originator
- Master Student
- Author
- Master Student
- 50, avenue F. Roosevelt
Geographic Coverage
Seychelles; currently only on Mahé and Silhouette, but hopefully extending to outer Inner and Outer Islands.
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [-11.351, 45.308], North East [0.176, 61.875] |
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Taxonomic Coverage
All vascular plants.
| Phylum | Tracheophyta |
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Project Data
At this stage, this resource compiles 5 different projects led in Seychelles since 2008 (Senterre et al., 2009; Senterre and Chong-Seng, 2016; Elzein, 2011; Cesar and Zehnder, 2020; Baguette et al., 2022) with the purpose to describe the main forest types of the Inner Islands according to elevation and topographic wetness, as well as naturalness (human influence).
| Title | Various projects on the vegetation of Seychelles |
|---|---|
| Identifier | BID-AF2020-094-NAC |
| Funding | The 5 projects compiled to create this resource were based on the following funding: • Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), bourse de voyage cours séjours • Government of Seychelles, Project Coordination Unit, UNDP funding • Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) • Environment Trust Fund of Seychelles (ETF) The compilation and publication on GBIF was made possible thanks to a GBIF funding for a 2 years project led by Plant Conservation Action group (PCA) and the Seychelles National Herbarium (SEY): "Mainstreaming recent species and ecosystem distribution data into Seychelles Key Biodiversity Areas assessments" (BID-AF2020-094-NAC). The aim of this project includes the set up of a KBA National Coordination Group (NCG) and at the same time a GBIF National Node for Seychelles. |
| Study Area Description | The idea is to cover the complete vegetation of Seychelles, but focus has been so far only on the Inner Islands and on forest ecosystems. Only the vascular flora is surveyed. |
| Design Description | Types of vegetation and types of ecosystems are largely defined and described through floristic data on their species composition. This is generally studied using vegetation plots and transects. Here, the approach for the field sampling is one related to phytosociology (quantitative plant community survey), therefore based on stratified sampling within stands of vegetation that are hypothesized to represent different types of vegetation, e.g. according to altitudinal belts. Nevertheless, the analysis and interpretation differ from the phytosociological tradition by not seing plant communities as discreet entities, but rather as entanglements of ecological groups (see details in Senterre et al. 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecocom.2021.100945). |
The personnel involved in the project:
Sampling Methods
The sampling method is described in https://doi.org/10.1127/0340-269X/2009/0039-0157 and https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119837. Each plot consisted of three nested subplots representing three different forest strata: (1) subplot “T” for the tree community, on a 50 ×10 m area (all trees with diameter at breast height, DBH ≥5 cm); (2) subplot “S” for the understorey shrubs and tree saplings community, on a 50 ×4 m area (DBH <5 cm and total plant height greater than 1 m); and (3) subplot “H” for the herbaceous understorey and regeneration of the upper forest strata, on a 50 ×4 m area (vascular terrestrial herbaceous plants, tree trunk epiphytes and tree/shrub seedlings smaller than 1 m). Considering the extremely reduced flora of Seychelles, especially for lowlands, each plot although relatively small was large enough to provide a representative sampling of the local tree community. Starting from version 1.3, we have added three additional inventory types, all based on a "plot-less" approach; -"KBA-PLII-Vascular plants-Pop": Within stand inventory of all vascular plant species; 'PLII' stands for "Plot-Less Intensive Inventory" -"KBA-PLRI-Vascular plants-Pop": Within stand inventory of vascular plant species known at the time as species of special conservation concern; "PLRI" stands for Plot-Less Rapid Inventory" -"INV-PLRI-Vascular plants-Pop": Within stand inventory of vascular plant species known to be invasive, or potentially considered as such, or showing an dominant behaviour. The methodology is basically not more than that, but if necessary more information can be found here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259032361_Seychelles_Key_Biodiversity_Areas_-_Output_4_Site_selection_and_methodology_for_inventories
| Study Extent | Seychelles |
|---|---|
| Quality Control | For any of the plots compiled here, when a species was recorded a specimen was made if none of the observers had ever collected the identified species in the study area or island group. This means that a specimen was collected at each time that it was the first encounter by the observer. Specimen were deposited at the Seychelles National Herbarium (SEY). For other observations, the observers were encouraged to take photgraphs each time they recorded species belonging to more problematic groups. |
Method step description:
- All data are being compiled in a MS Access database since 2008. To produce this GBIF dataset, we created queries in Access to export the data to a txt file using DarwinCore terms and standards.
Collection Data
| Collection Name | Seychelles National Herbarium |
|---|---|
| Collection Identifier | SEY |
| Specimen preservation methods | Dried and pressed |
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| Curatorial Units | Count 500 +/- 50 specimens |
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Bibliographic Citations
- Senterre, B., Gerlach, J., Mougal, J., Matatiken, D.E., 2009. Old growth mature forest types and their floristic composition along the altitudinal gradient on Silhouette Island (Seychelles) - the telescoping effect on a continental mid-oceanic island. Phytocoenologia 39, 157–174. https://doi.org/10.1127/0340-269X/2009/0039-0157 https://doi.org/10.1127/0340-269X/2009/0039-0157
- El Zein, H., 2011. Caractérisation des types de forêts montagnardes sur l’île de Mahé (Seychelles) (Master Thesis). Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles.
- Senterre, B., Chong-Seng, L., 2016. Biodiversity assessment and rehabilitation potential of forests in the Mare aux Cochons catchment (Mahé, Seychelles). (Consultancy Report), Ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change in Seychelles (EBA project). Government of Seychelles, United Nations Development Programme, Victoria, Seychelles. http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.11529.03681
- Cesar, S., Zehnder, M., 2020. Relating the Rehabilitation of Water Catchment Forest in the Morne Seychellois National Park with the Perspectives and Expectations of Local Communities in a Small Island Nation (Master Thesis). Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland. https://ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/usys/tdlab/docs/education/theses/Masterthesis-MichaelZehnder-SaraCerar.pdf
- Baguette, F., Harryba, S., Baboorun, T., Adam, P.-A., Senterre, B., 2022. Characterization and evolution of the lowland tropical rain forest of the smallest oceanic Gondwana fragments, with implications for restoration and invasion ecology. For. Ecol. Manag. 504, 119837. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119837 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119837
- Senterre, B., Lowry II, P.P., Bidault, E., Stévart, T., 2021. Ecosystemology: a new approach toward a taxonomy of ecosystems. Ecol. Complex. 47, 100945. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecocom.2021.100945 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecocom.2021.100945
Additional Metadata
| Purpose | Describe the vegetation of Seychelles and be able to evaluate ecosystems for a Red List of Ecosystems, to better guide conservation priorities. |
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| Maintenance Description | The data is relatively clean, so much maintenance needed. For the flora of Seychelles, the species are well known but their taxonomy remain in some cases to study further. Some synonymies, including some where we have not followed the GBIF taxonomic backbone, are non-consensual or doubtful, e.g. Timonius sechellensis, Begonia sechellensis. |
| Alternative Identifiers | 4fc42f17-eaeb-4296-949d-34b8414eb1c1 |
| https://cloud.gbif.org/africa/resource?r=seyvegplot |