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NACONEX project - textbooks!

In 2000 and 2001 we carried out a project together with partners from NEPCON (Denmark), AVENIR (France) and Burnham Beeches, City of London (UK) called NACONEX. The project was supported by a grant from the EU- Leonardo da Vinci Fund and the primary aim was to exchange experience between nature conservationists in different European countries. An important result of the project was the production of a number of text books covering topical European nature conservation issues. You can download the different articles from these text books here.

Butterfly information from Finland

An impressive database with information on a range of organisms can be found at Markku Savelas website. It began as a website on butterflies, but has grown successively. It is still however information about butterflies which is the most extensive.

Checklists of species

For different sorts of species there are now very good checklists from the Swedish Species Information Centre Project Dyntaxa.
Various lists and other botanical information can be found at http://www.botany.net/IDB/.
For botanical information about Sweden then Swedish Botanical Society website is recommended (Swedish only).
Lots of interesting information about mosses can be found Friends of Mosses website. (Swedish only)

Conifers

A really good source of information on the conifers of the world can be found at Gymnosperm database. A website that you will not be disappointed with!

Distribution maps – just about everything

Artportalen (The Species Portal) is beginning to collect in more and more data and for many species it is now possible to get a pretty good idea of their distribution range in Sweden. The new version is now (May 2013) running.

Geographical information

The County Administrative Boards have made a large amount of material available (surveys, plans, protected areas etc.) in relation to biodiversity and habitats in the landscape via their website GIS-data from the County Administrative Boards. Available to download.

Woodland Key Habitats – where are they?

Information is available on the Swedish Forestry Board’s website if you want to see where the woodland key habitats are located. Here you can also find information on nature reserves and biotope protection areas in woodlands.

The slopes of Lake Vättern

The eastern side of Lake Vättern is characterised by steep cliffs caused by faults. The geology, topography and climate have contributed to creating an area with very high biodiversity. The Gränna Woodland Group is a volunteer group working to conserve the conservation values in this area (Swedish only).

Accommodation in a botanical paradise?

Col du Lautaret is a name in the French Alps which makes botanists who have been there sink back into wonderful memories. The beautiful flora has few equals in this part of the Alps. The Parc National des Ecrins with peaks of up to 4000 m is not far from the meadows. A short distance to the east lie the steppe meadows around Briançon. There is calculated to be more than 2400 species of plants found just in the county of Hautes-Alpes. For those of you wishing to botanise in this lovely part of the French Alps and perhaps meet other botanists, we can recommend the inn La Brêche for accommodation and as a starting point for excursions. It is somewhere between a youth hostel and a hotel, where you get wonderful food and good company. This "Gîte de Montagne" as this type of accommodation is called in French, lies in the picturesque little village of Villar d'Arène. It is run as a small charity. A few facts:

Capacity, facilities: Space for 45 guests on two floors, divided between five rooms with two beds, three rooms with four beds, and four rooms with six beds. Some rooms have a wash hand basin and shower, others share these facilities. A sauna, two garden terrace areas, facilities for washing clothes, the opportunity to buy cheap lift passes etc. are available. La Brêche is open all year round and has at least two full time employees to look after the guests.

Location: 35 km from Briançon, 85 km from Grenoble

Address and telephone:

La Breche
Gîte de Montagne
05 480 Villar d'Arène
Tel: + 33 (0) 4 76 79 92 06
Fax: + 33 (0) 4 76 79 96 05
web: http://www.la-breche.org/
e-mail:: infos@la-breche.org

If you want to know more about the flora in the area, we recommend Chas, E. 1994: Atlas de la Flore des Hautes-Alpes, - Conservatoire Botanique National Alpin de Gap-Charance, Conservatoire de Provence et des Alpes du Sud, Parc National des Ecrins. The book can be ordered from Conservatoire Botanique, domaine de Charance, 05 000 Gap, France.