Distribution of VIPERS galaxies throughout the selection process. Left panel: BPT diagram for the sample of VIPERS galaxies. Star-forming (blue), Star-forming/Seyfert 2 composite (yellow), and Seyfert 2 (purple) galaxies, and LINERs (red), and star-forming/LINERs composites (brown) are separated by green lines whose equations are given in Lamareille (2010). Right panel: SFR versus M_* for VIPERS galaxies after each selection (SFR and M_* are estimated using hyperz in this plot): all galaxies (green), selection on redshift (red), on lines (orange), and star-forming sample (blue). Visible green, red, and orange points therefore represent galaxies excluded after each selection. Rectangles represent the extent in SFR and M_* after each selection.