The global spectrum of plant form and function: enhanced species-level trait dataset
Sandra Dı́az, Jens Kattge, Johannes H. C. Cornelissen, Ian J. Wright, Sandra Lavorel, Stéphane Dray, Björn Reu, Michael Kleyer, Christian Wirth, I. Colin Prentice, Éric Garnier, Gerhard Bönisch, Mark Westoby, Hendrik Poorter, Peter B. Reich, Angela T. Moles, John Dickie, Amy E. Zanne, Jérôme Chave, S. Joseph Wright, Serge Sheremetiev, Hervé Jactel, Christopher Baraloto, Bruno Enrico Leone Cerabolini, Simon Pierce, Bill Shipley, Fernando Casanoves, Julia Joswig, Angela Günther, Valeria Falczuk, Nadja Rüger, Miguel D. Mahecha, Lucas D. Gorné, Bernard Amiaud, Owen K. Atkin, Michael Bahn, Dennis Baldocchi, Michael Beckmann, Benjamin Blonder, William J. Bond, Ben Bond‐Lamberty, Kerry A. Brown, Sabina Burrascano, Chaeho Byun, Giandiego Campetella, Jeannine Cavender‐Bares, F. Stuart Chapin, Brendan Choat, David A. Coomes, William K. Cornwell, Joseph M. Craine, Dylan Craven, Matteo Dainese, Alessandro Araùjo, Franciska T. de Vries, Tomas F. Domingues, Brian J. Enquist, Jaime Fagúndez, Jingyun Fang, Fernando Fernández‐Méndez, María Teresa Fernández Piedade, HENRY FORD, Estelle Forey, Grégoire T. Freschet, Sophie Gachet, Rachael V. Gallagher, Walton Green, Greg R. Guerin, Álvaro G. Gutiérrez, Sandy P. Harrison, Wesley Hattingh, Tianhua He, Thomas Hickler, Steven I. Higgins, Pedro Higuchi, J. Ilic, Robert B. Jackson, Adel Jalili, Steven Jansen, Fumito Koike, Christian König, Nathan J. B. Kraft, K. Krämer, Holger Kreft, Ingolf Kühn, Hiroko Kurokawa, Eric G. Lamb, Daniel C. Laughlin, Michelle R. Leishman, Simon L. Lewis, Frédérique Louault, Ana C. M. Malhado, Peter Manning, Patrick Meir, Maurizio Mencuccini, Julie Messier, Regis B. Miller, Vanessa Minden, Jane Molofsky, Rebecca Montgomery
Abstract
Here we provide the 'Global Spectrum of Plant Form and Function Dataset', containing species mean values for six vascular plant traits. Together, these traits -plant height, stem specific density, leaf area, leaf mass per area, leaf nitrogen content per dry mass, and diaspore (seed or spore) mass - define the primary axes of variation in plant form and function. The dataset is based on ca. 1 million trait records received via the TRY database (representing ca. 2,500 original publications) and additional unpublished data. It provides 92,159 species mean values for the six traits, covering 46,047 species. The data are complemented by higher-level taxonomic classification and six categorical traits (woodiness, growth form, succulence, adaptation to terrestrial or aquatic habitats, nutrition type and leaf type). Data quality management is based on a probabilistic approach combined with comprehensive validation against expert knowledge and external information. Intense data acquisition and thorough quality control produced the largest and, to our knowledge, most accurate compilation of empirically observed vascular plant species mean traits to date.