Walker, D.A. (ed.) 2019. CAFF Proceeding Series Report September 2019. Arctic Vegetation Archive and Arctic Vegetation Classification: Proceedings and abstracts from two workshops 2017 and 2019. Akureyri, Iceland.
An Arctic Vegetation Archive (AVA) and an Arctic Vegetation Classification (AVC) are needed to support several of the biodiversity activities of the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) and circumpolar activities of the International Arctic Science Committee’s Terrestrial Working Group (IASC TWG). Activities include recording and monitoring arctic plant-community diversity and distributions, wildlife habitat studies, and modelling the changes in the structure and function of the vegetation as the arctic climate changes.
One of the primary purposes of the AVA is to gather a legacy of plot data that are in danger of being lost. Approximately 31 000 historical vegetation plots have been identified and are being gathered using a standardized format for vegetation classification and analysis. The AVA initiative is encouraging each arctic country to assemble its own archive with common protocols that will later allow the databases to be united into a single circumpolar AVA where the data can be used to create a panarctic vegetation classification and many other applications. Towards these ends, two workshops were organized in conjunction with the Arctic Science Summit Weeks in 2017 and 2019. This document includes the full proceeding outcomes, abstracts, and list of participants for both workshops.
