PalmTraits 1.0, a species-level functional trait database of palms worldwide

Plant traits are critical to plant form and function —including growth, survival and reproduction— and therefore shape fundamental aspects of population and ecosystem dynamics as well as ecosystem services. Here, we present a global species-level compilation of key functional traits for palms (Areca...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific data 2019-09, Vol.6 (1), p.178-13, Article 178
Main Authors: Kissling, W. Daniel, Balslev, Henrik, Baker, William J., Dransfield, John, Göldel, Bastian, Lim, Jun Ying, Onstein, Renske E., Svenning, Jens-Christian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/158/2450
631/158/851
631/181/2481
704/158/2450
704/158/670
Arecaceae - genetics
Biogeography
Biological Evolution
Coniferous forests
Conservation
Data collection
Data Descriptor
Deciduous forests
Ecosystem
Ecosystem dynamics
Ecosystems
Fruits
Humanities and Social Sciences
Macroevolution
multidisciplinary
Paleoecology
Plant communities
Rainforests
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Species
Tropical forests
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Summary:Plant traits are critical to plant form and function —including growth, survival and reproduction— and therefore shape fundamental aspects of population and ecosystem dynamics as well as ecosystem services. Here, we present a global species-level compilation of key functional traits for palms (Arecaceae), a plant family with keystone importance in tropical and subtropical ecosystems. We derived measurements of essential functional traits for all (>2500) palm species from key sources such as monographs, books, other scientific publications, as well as herbarium collections. This includes traits related to growth form, stems, armature, leaves and fruits. Although many species are still lacking trait information, the standardized and global coverage of the data set will be important for supporting future studies in tropical ecology, rainforest evolution, paleoecology, biogeography, macroecology, macroevolution, global change biology and conservation. Potential uses are comparative eco-evolutionary studies, ecological research on community dynamics, plant-animal interactions and ecosystem functioning, studies on plant-based ecosystem services, as well as conservation science concerned with the loss and restoration of functional diversity in a changing world. Measurement(s) fruit length • stem length • plant height • petiole length • fruit color • leaf length • plant trait • fruit morphology trait Technology Type(s) digital curation Factor Type(s) species Sample Characteristic - Organism Arecaceae Sample Characteristic - Environment tropical lowland evergreen broadleaf rain forest • tropical moist broadleaf forest biome • tropical deciduous broadleaf forest • tropical woodland biome • subtropical woodland biome Sample Characteristic - Location global Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.9766919
ISSN:2052-4463
2052-4463
DOI:10.1038/s41597-019-0189-0