TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

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

Las TIC como herramientas en la formación inicial y continuada del profesor de lenguas extranjeras adicionales : la experiencia del Observatorio de lnterlengua

Antes del surgimiento de Internet, el desarrollo de proyectos de investigación dependía de la búsqueda de referencias en bibliotecas físicas, tarea que tardaba mucho, a veces sin éxito. Actualmente, las bases de datos ofrecen la posibilidad de acceder al contenidos publicados mundialmente. Anclados en ese nuevo contexto, se presenta un proyecto desarrollado en la Uniuersidade Estadual de Londrina, un 'Programa de Formación Complementaria en la Enseñanza de Graduación' titulado: 'Observatorio de Interligua". El programa está dirigido hacia la formación inicial y continuada del profesor de lenguas extranjeras adicionales, y también, tiene por reto compilar referencias de trabajos resultantes de investigaciones dedicadas a la interlengua de brasileños aprendices de español que se realizan bajo el soporte teórico-metodológico de la Lingüística Contrastiva y sus interfaces.ES

TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access

10.1111/gcb.14904GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY261119-18