Dataset on Zenodo, version 1.0, CC BY 4.0.

About

NeoPlants-EU records established vascular plant neophytes, taxa introduced to Europe after ca. 1492 that hold established populations in a country, at the level of a taxon in a country. Each of the 5,744 records carries the earliest documented occurrence of that taxon in that country, together with its life cycle, growth form, dispersal mode and native source region on a standardised vocabulary, and whether a list for the country counts it invasive. It covers 1,941 taxa (1,909 species in 146 families) across 54 countries and territories, with first-record years running from 1492 to 2020.

A record enters when a vegetation plot from the European Vegetation Archive in that country records the taxon as a neophyte. Where the country’s own alien-flora catalogue grades the invasion stage, a record that every grade calls casual is left out. The first record is the earliest year across the Global Alien Species First Record Database, a GBIF occurrence download, the European Vegetation Archive and national alien plant lists, and each record names the source of its year.

I built the trait columns to carry their own provenance. 5,736 of the 5,740 recorded life cycles, all 5,732 growth forms and 5,474 of the 5,587 dispersal modes cite a page stating that value; the rest come from LEDA or compiled checklists, which have no per-taxon page to cite. Names are matched against four taxonomic checklists held at fixed versions, whose versions and checksums ship with the data, so the taxonomy can be reproduced.

Gilles Colling

PhD student at University of Vienna. Physicist turned ecologist. R packages, spatial statistics, and computational ecology.