This article describes FloraVeg.EU, a new online database with open‐access information on European vegetation units (phytosociological syntaxa), vegetated habitats, and plant taxa. It consists of three modules. (1) The Vegetation module includes 149 phytosociological classes, 378 orders and 1305 alliances of an updated version of the EuroVegChecklist modified based on the decisions of the European Vegetation Classification Committee. Vegetation units dominated by vascular plants are characterized by country‐based distribution maps and data on the dominant life forms, phenology, soil properties, relationships to vegetation regions, elevational vegetation belts and azonal habitats, successional status, and degree of naturalness. A list of diagnostic taxa is also provided for each class. (2) The Habitats module includes vascular‐plant‐dominated terrestrial, freshwater, and marine habitat types from the first to the third or fourth highest hierarchical levels of the EUNIS classification. Of these, 249 vegetated habitats are characterized by a brief description, a point‐based distribution map, diagnostic, constant, and dominant taxa, and a list of the corresponding alliances. (3) The Species module provides information on 37 characteristics of European vascular plant species and some infrageneric or infraspecific taxa, including functional traits (habitus and growth type, leaf, flower, fruit and seed traits, and trophic mode), taxon origin (native vs alien), and ecological information (environmental relationships, Ellenberg‐type indicator values, disturbance indicator values, and relationships to vegetation units and habitat types). Values for at least three variables are available for 36,404 species. Individual taxa, vegetation units, and habitats in these three modules are illustrated by more than 34,000 photographs. The Download section of FloraVeg.EU provides open‐access data sets in a spreadsheet format that can be used for analyses. FloraVeg.EU is a new resource with easily accessible data that can be used for research in vegetation science, ecology, and biogeography, as well as for education and conservation applications.

Aim: The first comprehensive checklist of European phytosociological alliances, orders and classes (EuroVegChecklist) was published by Mucina et al. (2016, Applied Vegetation Science, 19 (Suppl. 1), 3–264). However, this checklist did not contain detailed information on the distribution of individual vegetation types. Here we provide the first maps of all alliances in Europe.Location: Europe, Greenland, Canary Islands, Madeira, Azores, Cyprus and the Caucasus countries.Methods: We collected data on the occurrence of phytosociological alliances in European countries and regions from literature and vegetation‐plot databases. We interpreted and complemented these data using the expert knowledge of an international team of vegetation scientists and matched all the previously reported alliance names and concepts with those of the EuroVegChecklist. We then mapped the occurrence of the EuroVegChecklist alliances in 82 territorial units corresponding to countries, large islands, archipelagos and peninsulas. We subdivided the mainland parts of large or biogeographically heterogeneous countries based on the European biogeographical regions. Specialized alliances of coastal habitats were mapped only for the coastal section of each territorial unit.Results: Distribution maps were prepared for 1,105 alliances of vascular‐plant dominated vegetation reported in the EuroVegChecklist. For each territorial unit, three levels of occurrence probability were plotted on the maps: (a) verified occurrence; (b) uncertain occurrence; and (c) absence. The maps of individual alliances were complemented by summary maps of the number of alliances and the alliance–area relationship. Distribution data are also provided in a spreadsheet.Conclusions: The new map series represents the first attempt to characterize the distribution of all vegetation types at the alliance level across Europe. There are still many knowledge gaps, partly due to a lack of data for some regions and partly due to uncertainties in the definition of some alliances. The maps presented here provide a basis for future research aimed at filling these gaps.

Question: Is it feasible to establish a classification of large biotic units of the world related to climatic types? Study area: The world. Methods: A total of 616 localities have been selected, their climatic parameters calculated and subjected to a PCA. The climatic characterization of biomes and subbiomes has been completed after data analysis. Results: A hierarchical classification is proposed for the biotic units within four main domains: Cryocratic, Mesocratic, Xerocratic and Thermocratic, divided into 7 ecozones, 9 biomes and 20 subbiomes linked to climatically defined territories. Most of the units are intercontinental. The mountains represent an abbreviated version of the latitudinal zonation and the altitudinal belts are related to the corresponding units of the lowlands. For the bioclimatic units, a parallel classification is proposed to fit with that of the biotic units: 4 Macrobioclimates and 10 bioclimates. Furthermore, 7 ombrotypes and 7 thermotypes are recognized to frame the climatic variation within each climatic territory due to terrain ruggedness, particularly in relation to large or medium sized mountains. Conclusions: The southern hemisphere is substantially more oceanic than the northern hemisphere. This is due to the distribution of the land masses and the modifying effect they have on the flow of air and marine currents. As a result, there is one biome and one subbiome exclusively found in the northern hemisphere (6. Biome of the steppe, and 5.b Continental scrub and woodlands subbiome) and two others which are almost confined to it (2. Biome of the boreal forest, and 3. Biome of the temperate deciduous forests). The 7. Biome of the deserts and 5. Biome of the temperate aridiestival evergreen forests and shrublands occur on the western side of the continents and expand in their interior favoured by rain shadow and continentality effects. Taxonomic reference: The Plant List (2013). Abbreviations: ITCZ = Inter Tropical Convergence Zone; NH = Northern Hemisphere; PCA = Principal Component Analysis; SH = Southern Hemisphere.