TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Abstract

Abstract Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits—almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.

Keywords

Affiliated Institutions

• University of Gothenburg SE
• University of Bayreuth DE
• Universidade Federal do Paraná BR
• Berlin Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research DE
• Aix-Marseille Université FR
• Wageningen University & Research NL
• University of Göttingen DE
• University of Groningen NL
• Northern Arizona University US
• Kingston University GB
• German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research DE
• University of North Florida US
• Université de Montpellier FR
• Pacific Northwest National Laboratory US
• University of Copenhagen DK
• University of Leicester GB
• University of Minnesota US
• Écologie, Systématique et Évolution FR
• Institut de Recherche pour le Développement FR
• University of Hohenheim DE
• Imperial College London GB
• Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew GB
• Université Paris-Saclay FR
• Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry DE
• Colorado State University US
• National University of the Littoral AR
• University of the Aegean GR
• Universidad Nacional de Colombia CO
• Université Savoie Mont Blanc FR
• Université Paris-Sud FR
• Aarhus University DK
• Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute CO
• Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas AR
• University of Rostock DE
• University of Oxford GB
• AgroParisTech FR
• Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory US
• Université Grenoble Alpes FR
• National University of Santiago del Estero AR
• Laboratoire d'Écologie Alpine FR
• University of Massachusetts Amherst US
• National University of Río Negro AR
• University of Pittsburgh US
• Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg DE
• The University of Adelaide AU
• ETH Zurich CH
• Université Clermont Auvergne FR
• University of Bern CH
• Natural Resources Canada CA
• Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement FR
• University of Tartu EE
• Tohoku University JP
• Université du Québec à Montréal CA
• University of Tasmania AU
• Universität Innsbruck AT
• Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales ES
• Radboud University Nijmegen NL
• University of California, Berkeley US
• University of Guelph CA
• University of Cagliari IT
• Friedrich Schiller University Jena DE
• University of Exeter GB
• National Institute of Amazonian Research BR
• Université Laval CA
• Australian National University AU
• ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology AU
• Royal Museum for Central Africa BE
• University of Victoria CA
• Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique FR
• Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul BR
• Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research DE
• New Jersey Institute of Technology US
• Minnesota Department of Natural Resources US
• Systèmes d’élevage méditerranéens et tropicaux FR
• University of Cape Town ZA
• Gouvernement de la Nouvelle-Calédonie NC
• University of Florida US
• University of Helsinki FI
• James Cook University AU
• Institut Agro Montpellier FR
• Lancaster University GB
• Archbold Biological Station US
• Goethe University Frankfurt DE
• Universidad de Jaén ES
• University of Connecticut US
• University of Tennessee at Knoxville US
• UMR Botanique et Modélisation de l’Architecture des Plantes et des végétations FR
• Canadian Forest Service CA
• Wilfrid Laurier University CA
• Tartu Observatory EE
• University of Nottingham GB
• Universidad Nacional de Córdoba AR
• Ghent University BE
• Université de Lorraine FR
• Arizona State University US
• Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal AR
• University of Tolima CO
• The Scarborough Hospital CA
• Tarbiat Modares University IR
• Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre DE
• South African Environmental Observation Network ZA
• Roma Tre University IT
• University of Leeds GB
• Suez Canal University EG

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