The data

For this study, data were collected from different types of sources.
First of all, to compile a baseline inventory of the lichens of the Dolomites, we gathered occurrence and co-occurrence data from all available literature from the 19th century to nowadays, such as checklists, site-specific vegetation surveys and monitoring, taxonomic revisions, and distributional studies. Among them, the most exhaustive historical source is the catalog of Dalla Torre and Sarnthein (1902), from which were extracted data for more than 10,299 records referred to 885 taxa. Moreover, to expand the inventory, unpublished data from the authors of the Dolichens project, collected on previous samplings, and gray literature (such as thesis) were gathered.
Next, we focused on another essential type of data: herbarium specimens. Data were gleaned from historical herbaria, some reviewed by the authors of the Dolichens project, such as the collections of Alberto Parolini (1788-1867; Nascimbene, 2007), Francesconi Ambrosi (1821-1897; Nascimbene, 2001), or Giacomo Bresadola (1847-1929; Nascimbene, 2000). In addition, online herbaria available on GBIF (GBIF.org, 2023) were consulted, and included. Furthermore, all herbarium data of ITALIC 7.0 (Nimis and Martellos, 2023) referring to the study area are automatically integrated into the database, at each update.
Lastly, new sampling campaigns were carried out and are still ongoing, mainly in the Paneveggio-Pale di San Martino Natural Park, the Adamello Brenta Natural Park, and the Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park. They are focused on protected areas and allow the investigation of both historical sites (e.g. Arnold's localities) and new localities that have been poorly explored.
A project on the iNaturalist platform was also set up, where pictures of lichens taken by the authors of the Dolichens project will be collected. In this way we aim to enhance records for those common and easily identifiable species that are often uncollected and therefore often remain underrepresented.

Therefore, all the data collected can be resumed into four main categories:

  • Floristic survey: occurrence data from checklists, floras, taxonomic revisions.
  • Vegetation plot: co-occurrence data from vegetation surveys and monitoring.
  • Observation: field observations, photographic materials.
  • Herbarium specimen: authors' herbaria, revised herbaria, GBIF and ITALIC 7.0 herbaria.

For each record, the following information was retrieved, when possible: name of the taxon in the original source, locality, collection date or year, substrate, habitat, altitude, collector, identifier etc.
Most of the occurrences (especially those older than the 21st century) lacked original coordinates, so they were georeferenced a posteriori, using sampling maps included in the source or the textual location descriptions. The georeferencing process followed the best practices by Chapman and Wieczorek (2020). Georeferenced data is of huge importance for this study and future applications. Through that, the occurrences can be displayed on the map on the taxon pages, and it was possible to infer additional geographic data to the localities, such as elevation, administrative classification, the drainage basin, the SOIUSA classification, and the belonging to a Protect Area.

The original taxon names are periodically updated following the nomenclature of ITALIC 7.0. For some old records this was not possible, and the related data will not be included in taxonomic statistics.
Through the taxon name, other data are also retrieved directly from ITALIC 7.0, such as:

All the information collected was included in a database, available online through the queries provided. The output data are downloadable in different formats (.csv, .xlsx, .ods) with the main fields in Darwin Core format.

The Dolichens database provides the most exhaustive inventory of the lichen records referred to the Dolomites, but it is not a critical checklist. Some records are doubtful and under revision, in view of the publication of the checklist of lichens of the Dolomites. In addition, the presence of duplicate data must be considered. In fact, it is common to find the duplicate exsiccata specimens in various herbaria, and often a herbarium sample is associated with literature or unpublished sampling data.

Below is the list of available fields, a brief description, and, when available, a link to the Darwin Core Identifier.

Field name Name displayed on website Description Darwin Core Identifier
scientificName Accepted name The full scientific name, with authorship, following ITALIC 7.0 (Nimis and Martellos, 2023) scientificName
verbatimIdentification Original name The taxonomic identification as it appeared in the source verbatimIdentification
locality Locality The textual description of the place. locality
substratum Substrate The substrate on which the lichen was reported
specific_substratum Specific substrate Details (phorophyte, type of rock or soil) on which the lichen was reported
recordedBy Legit Names of collectors or observers recordedBy
identifiedBy Determinavit Names of people who assigned the taxon to the occurrence or the specimen identifiedBy
year Collection year The four-digit year in which the event occurred, according to the Common Era Calendar year
eventDate Collection date The date-time or interval during which an event occurred eventDate
data_type Type of data Type of data (herbarium specimen, vegetation-plot data, observation)
organismQuantity Abundance A number or enumeration value for the quantity of organisms (abundance in the vegetation plot or number of specimens for herbaria samples) organismQuantity
organismQuantityType Abundance method The type of quantification system used for the quantity of lichens (es. the number of individuals, Braun-Branquet Scale, frequency %, etc.) organismQuantityType
stateProvince Region The Italian administrative Region in which the observation is located. Field inferred from coordinates. stateProvince
county Province The Italian administrative Province in which the observation is located. Field inferred from coordinates. county
municipality Municipality The Italian administrative Municipality in which the observation is located. Field inferred from coordinates. municipality
decimalLatitude Latitude N The geographic latitude (in decimal degrees, using the WGS 84, EPSG:4326) decimalLatitude
decimalLongitude Longitude E The geographic longitude (in decimal degrees, using the WGS 84, EPSG:4326) decimalLongitude
coordinateUncertaintyInMeters Coordinate Uncertainty (m) The horizontal distance (in meters) from the given latitude and longitude, describing the smallest circle containing the whole of the location. See the point-radius method for georeferencing. coordinateUncertaintyInMeters
minimumElevationInMeters Min Elevation (m) The lower limit of the range of elevation (altitude, usually above sea level), in meters. minimumElevationInMeters
maximumElevationInMeters Max Elevation (m) The upper limit of the range of elevation (altitude, usually above sea level), in meters. maximumElevationInMeters
Dem elevation (m) Dem Elevation (m) Elevation calculated from latitude and longitude from digital elevation model (DEM) with 10 m-cell size grid (cit).
Source Source Reference in extended format for occurrence/specimen. For unpublished data, field equal to short_source. bibliographicCitation
short_source Source (abbreviated) A string that uniquely identifies the reference. In the case of novel data, the word "unpublished" is specified
Source type Source type Type of source: herbarium, literature, unpublished (or gray literature), GBIF herbaria, iNaturalist
Source year Source year Year of publication for bibliography. Period of data collection for unpublished data.
associatedReferences other references Other sources related to the data. associatedReferences
Plot id Plot id Number that uniquely identifies the vegetation plot. Useful for reconstructing lichen community data.
Habitat Habitat A category or description of the habitat in which the lichen was found. habitat
Protect area Protect area Protected area where the lichen was found. Field inferred from coordinates.
Main drainage basin Main drainage basin Main drainage basin where the lichen was found. Field inferred from coordinates.
Secondary drainage basin Secondary drainage basin Secondary drainage basin where the lichen was found. Field inferred from coordinates.
Soiusa major sector Soiusa major sector Soiusa major sector where the lichen was found. Field inferred from coordinates.
Soiusa section Soiusa section Soiusa section where the lichen was found. Field inferred from coordinates.
Soiusa subsection Soiusa subsection Soiusa subsection where the lichen was found. Field inferred from coordinates.
Soiusa supergroup Soiusa supergroup Soiusa supergroup where the lichen was found. Field inferred from coordinates.
Soiusa group Soiusa group Soiusa group where the lichen was found. Field inferred from coordinates.
Natura 2000 code Natura 2000 code Identification code of the Natura 2000 site where the lichen was found. Field inferred from coordinates.
Natura 2000 site Natura 2000 site Name of the Natura 2000 site where the lichen was found. Field inferred from coordinates.
SIC/ZSC SIC/ZSC Specification of if the Natura 2000 site is a SIC or a ZSC. Field inferred from coordinates.
ZPS ZPS Specification of if the Natura 2000 site is a ZPS. Field inferred from coordinates.
specimenID The original ID of the specimen in the herbarium collection.
occurrenceRemarks Various notes regarding the occurrence or the herbarium specimen. occurrenceRemarks
new_identification Reidentification of herbarium specimen after revision.