Field Workshops: Overview

Field Workshop 2018 in Austria: lichen identification in the field, sampling vegetation on rocks, fieldwork on steep slopes; photos from EDGG Archive

Since 2009, the EDGG Field Workshops (formerly known as EDGG Research Expeditions) are a major element of the annual activities of EDGG. They aim at the collection of standardised, multi-scale and multi-taxon diversity and composition data (see Dengler et al. 2016) from understudied Palaearctic grassland types. The data collected during the Field Workshops are used for joint publications by the participants and they are fed into the EDGG vegetation-plot database, called GrassPlot (Dengler et al. 2018). While originally only vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens and soil data have been collected, we meanwhile aim to include other taxonomic groups that could reasonably be sampled during a once-off visit, including grasshoppers, leaf hoppers, spiders, and butterflies (Dengler et al. 2016; Polchaninova et al. 2018). So far 16 such events took place in different parts of Europe and Asia (Please find detailed information on Past Field Workshops page). Though the main focus is on plants, scientists interested in other taxonomic groups are welcome to join to conduct surveys on plots.

Field Workshop 2024 will take place in Italy and France (Susa, Aosta, and Durance Valleys). More detailed information is available here.

Photos from EDGG Archive

EDGG developed its own survey method composed of 100 m² biodiversity plots with a nested design as well as standard plots of 10 m². Detailed information can be found in files under the heading: EDGG sampling methodology at the end of this page.

We are seeking potential venues and organizers for the EDGG Field Workshops

If you have an idea of a Field Workshop topic and venue for the forthcoming years and could imagine organizing or co-organizing it, please contact our responsible chairs to discuss options and details: Denys Vynokurov (denys.vynokurov@gmail.com, Bilbao, Spain) and Jürgen Dengler (dr.juergen.dengler@gmail.com, Wädenswil, Switzerland).

While in the past the majority of Field Workshops were devoted to dry grasslands (Festuco-Brometea, Koelerio-Corynephoretea, Sedo-Scleranthetea), we would appreciate to cover also other types of grasslands and non-forest habitats in the future, such as mesic and wet grasslands, coastal habitats, alpine habitats, heathlands/garrigues or mires/wetlands.

Field Workshop 2018 in Austria: work in the morning, plant pressing in the evening, lunchtime in grasslands; photos from EDGG Archive

EDGG Sampling Methodology

EDGG implements a comprehensive standard survey method for plants. Please use links below to read about sampling methodology.

References

Dengler, J. 2018. The beauty of xerothermic vegetation complexes in Ausserberg (Rhone valley, Switzerland). Palaearctic Grasslands 38: 34–38.

Dengler, J., Boch, S., Filibeck, G., Chiarucci, A., Dembicz, I., Guarino,R., Henneberg, B., Janišová, M., Marcenò, C., (…) & Biurrun, I. 2016. Assessing plant diversity and composition in grasslands across spatial scales: the standardised EDGG sampling methodology. Bulletin of the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group 32: 13−30.

Dengler, J., Wagner, V., Dembicz, I., García-Mijangos, I., Naqinezhad, A., Boch, S., Chiarucci, A., Conradi, T., Filibeck, G., (…) & Biurrun, I. 2018. GrassPlot – a database of multi-scale plant diversity in Palaearctic grasslands. Phytocoenologia 48: 331–347.

Polchaninova, N., García-Mijangos, I., Berastegi, A., Dengler, J. & Biurrun, I. 2018. New data on the spider fauna (Araneae) of Navarre, Spain: results from the 7th EDGG Field Workshop. Arachnologische Mitteilungen 56: 17-23.