Historical distribution maps of vascular plants in Northern Europe
https://doi.org/10.58141/y1x5-cx68
This dataset contains 1909 georeferenced and digitized distribution maps of vascular plants originally published in the 'Atlas of the distribution of vascular plants in northwestern Europe' (Hultén 1971). The digitized maps are provided as spatial polygon features (GeoJSON).
The original distribution maps are based on an extensive data collection including obtaining spatial information from regional floras and herbarium records, as well as expert opinions. Data was collected by Eric Hultén from around 1935 to 1970 and contain all known records of the species. The collection dates of the herbarium specimens and the dates of the published records will have ranged from the 18th century to 1970. A detailed description of how the original atlas was compiled as well as the method used to georeference and digitize the distribution maps can be found in Arnell et al. (2025a). R scripts and functions to perform the different pats of the digitalization process can be found in the R package 'HultenRangeMaps' (https://github.com/ArnellM/HultenRangeMaps.git). To aid spatial analyses, the package also provides a function to match the digitized distribution maps to the Swedish 10×10 km National grid (or any other grid stored as a polygon spatial feature).
Citation:
When using the digitized distribution maps , please cite both this dataset (Arnell et al. 2025b) and the accompanying data paper (Arnell et al. 2025a).
Resolution and extent:
The original maps have an effective resolution of 16×16 km and cover Scandinavia and Finland as well as parts of the Baltic countries, Germany and Russia.
Data format:
1909 digitized distribution maps, GeoJSON files
Data files:
1909 digitized distribution maps
NOTE: The file names of the distribution map files are a combination of the the current accepted scientific name of the species and the original atlas map number (e.g. Lycopodium alpinum_0001.geojson). The current scientific names of the species in the dataset are retrieved from the Swedish Taxonomic Database, Dyntaxa (SLU Artdatabanken 2022). In Dyntaxa, hybrid species are denoted by the symbol ×. To facilitate file handling the symbol × has been replaced by the letter x in the database file names. Included in the database is an R script that allows users to change the letter x in the file names back to the symbol ×.
Documentation files:
README.txt
HultenMetadata.csv - table containing details on the updated scientific nomenclature and manual edits of the digitized distribution maps
fixFileNames.R - change the letter x in file names back to the symbol ×
References:
Arnell, M., Auffret, A. G., & Hylander, K. (2025a) Historical distribution maps of vascular plants in Northern Europe. [Data paper].
Arnell, M., Auffret, A. G., & Hylander, K. (2025b). Historical distribution maps of vascular plants in Northern Europe (Version 1) [Data set]. Stockholm University. DOI: Available after publication.
Hultén, E. 1971. Atlas of the distribution of vascular plants in northwestern Europe. Second edition. Generalstabens Litografiska Anstalts Förlag, Stockholm.
SLU Artdatabanken. 2022. Dyntaxa - svensk taxonomisk databas [Dataset]. https://artfakta.se/metadata/dyntaxa. Accessed 2022-09-09.
Download 1912 files with open access (1.4 GiB)
Files with open access (1912)
Files with open access (1912)
Citation and access
Citation and access
Access level:
Creator/Principal investigator(s):
Research principal:
Data contains personal data:
No
Citation:
Language:
Method and outcome
Method and outcome
Time period(s) investigated:
Data format/data structure:
Species and taxons:
Data collection - Other
Data collection - Other
Mode of collection:
Other
Description of the mode of collection:
Scanning, georefercencing and digitising printed maps.
Source of the data:
- Other
Spatial resolution:
16 kilometres scale
Administrative information
Administrative information
Responsible department/unit:
Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences
Funding
Funding
Funding agency:
Award number:
2023-02457_Formas
Award title:
Strengthening society’s ability to mitigate biodiversity loss from extreme weather events
Funding information:
The combination of both gradual climate change and the increase in frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events (EWEs) means that practitioners and policymakers need scientific evidence to help them to act efficiently in order to protect biodiversity that is already at risk from other environmental pressures. The project was designed with stakeholders at multiple levels to inform their decision-making in both the long and short term. We will assist in the production of the 2025 red list by first analysing plant species’ long-term range changes and attribute declines to EWEs and other environmental threats, which will help guide future conservation policy. We will also work within ongoing monitoring programs to provide government agencies with information about how both single EWEs and their cumulative effects impact valuable grassland ecosystems that form the basis of national and international conservation goals. Finally, we will work with practitioners involved in conservation of threatened species and ecosystems in the here and now to assist their decision-making in prioritising conservation actions in the face of both increasing EWEs and decreased funding. Being designed in collaboration with non-research actors, and integrating state-of-the-art research within existing structures of monitoring and risk assessment, we are convinced that this project has the potential to strengthen society’s ability to mitigate biodiversity loss from EWEs both now and in the future.
Topic and keywords
Topic and keywords
Swedish Standard Classification of Research Subjects 2025:
INSPIRE topic categories:
Relations
Relations
Is documented by:
Is required by:
Related research data:
Metadata
Metadata
Version 1
