TY - JOUR
T1 - TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access
AU - The Nutrient Network
AU - Kattge, Jens
AU - Bönisch, Gerhard
AU - Díaz, Sandra
AU - Lavorel, Sandra
AU - Prentice, Iain Colin
AU - Leadley, Paul
AU - Tautenhahn, Susanne
AU - Werner, Gijsbert D.A.
AU - Aakala, Tuomas
AU - Abedi, Mehdi
AU - Acosta, Alicia T.R.
AU - Adamidis, George C.
AU - Adamson, Kairi
AU - Aiba, Masahiro
AU - Albert, Cécile H.
AU - Alcántara, Julio M.
AU - Alcázar C, Carolina
AU - Aleixo, Izabela
AU - Ali, Hamada
AU - Amiaud, Bernard
AU - Ammer, Christian
AU - Amoroso, Mariano M.
AU - Anand, Madhur
AU - Anderson, Carolyn
AU - Anten, Niels
AU - Antos, Joseph
AU - Apgaua, Deborah Mattos Guimarães
AU - Ashman, Tia Lynn
AU - Asmara, Degi Harja
AU - Asner, Gregory P.
AU - Aspinwall, Michael
AU - Atkin, Owen
AU - Aubin, Isabelle
AU - Baastrup-Spohr, Lars
AU - Bahalkeh, Khadijeh
AU - Bahn, Michael
AU - Baker, Timothy
AU - Baker, William J.
AU - Bakker, Jan P.
AU - Baldocchi, Dennis
AU - Baltzer, Jennifer
AU - Banerjee, Arindam
AU - Baranger, Anne
AU - Barlow, Jos
AU - Barneche, Diego R.
AU - Baruch, Zdravko
AU - Bastianelli, Denis
AU - Battles, John
AU - Kollmann, Johannes
AU - Rammig, Anja
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Authors. Global Change Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
PY - 2020/1/1
Y1 - 2020/1/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - TRY plant trait database
KW - data coverage
KW - data integration
KW - data representativeness
KW - functional diversity
KW - plant traits
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85075196338&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/gcb.14904
DO - 10.1111/gcb.14904
M3 - Article
C2 - 31891233
AN - SCOPUS:85075196338
SN - 1354-1013
VL - 26
SP - 119
EP - 188
JO - Global Change Biology
JF - Global Change Biology
IS - 1
ER -