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

Climate control of terrestrial carbon exchange across biomes and continents

Peer reviewe

Climate Control of Terrestrial Carbon Exchange across Biomes and Continents

Understanding the relationships between climate and carbon exchange by terrestrial ecosystems is critical to predicate future levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide because of the potential accelerating effects of positive climate-carbon cycle feedbacks1, 2. However, knowledge of even the broad relationships between climate and terrestrial CO2 exchange with the atmosphere on yearly to decadal scales remains highly uncertain. Here we present data describing net ecosystem exchange of carbon (NEE) and climate factors as measured using the eddy covariance method at 132 unique sites including various ecosystems over 6 continents with a total of 583 site-years. With respect to controlling factors we find two distinct groupings of sites: (1) a temperature-limited group where NEE has an exponential relationship with mean annual temperature; and (2) a dryness-limited group where NEE has an inverse exponential relationship with the dryness index7. A strong latitudinal dependence emerges, with 92% of the temperature-limited sites located above 42oN, and 77% of the dryness-limited sites located below 42oN. The sensitivity of NEE to mean annual temperature breaks down at a threshold value of ~16oC, above which no further increase of CO2 uptake with temperature was observed and dryness influence overrules temperature influence. Our findings suggest that (1) net ecosystem carbon exchange is highly limited by mean annual temperature at mid- and high-latitudes, and (2) net ecosystem carbon exchange is highly limited by dryness at low latitudes.JRC.H.2-Air and Climat

TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access

10.1111/gcb.14904GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY261119-18