Communicating about European forests has to embrace the large diversity of forest types across the continent. A new forest type classification proved to be very valuable in this context.
Forest type and site factors strongly determine the species richness of forest vegetation. Stand structure and forest management also influence the occurrence of epiphytic lichens and to a lesser extent the plants in the herb layer.
High loads of sulphur and nitrogen deposition are man-made impacts related to low diversity of herbs and epiphytic lichens on nearly 100 plots across Europe. However, this may at least be partly due to naturally low species numbers in beech and plantation forests located in areas with high deposition.
Within the BioSoil demonstration project, large scale representative forest biodiversity information is presently collected on over 4 000 Level I plots.