Dictionary for AusTraits data compilation - a curated plant trait database for the Australian flora

This document describes the structure of the AusTraits compilation, corresponding to Version 4.1.0 of the dataset. Note that the information provided below is based on the information provided within the file system.file("data", "schema.yml", package = "austraits.build").

For details on access, structure and usage please visit https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3568417

Elements of AusTraits

The compiled AusTraits database has the following main components:

austraits
├── traits
├── locations
├── contexts
├── methods
├── excluded_data
├── taxonomic_updates
├── taxa
├── contributors
├── sources
├── definitions
├── schema
├── metadata
└── build_info

These elements include all the data and contextual information submitted with each contributed datasets. Each component is defined as follows:

traits

Description: A table containing measurements of traits.

Content:

key	value
dataset_id	Primary identifier for each study contributed to AusTraits; most often these are scientific papers, books, or online resources. By default this should be the name of the first author and year of publication, e.g. Falster_2005.
taxon_name	Scientific name of the taxon on which traits were sampled, without authorship. When possible, this is the currently accepted (botanical) or valid (zoological) scientific name, but might also be a higher taxonomic level.
observation_id	A unique integral identifier for the observation, where an observation is all measurements made on an individual at a single point in time. It is important for joining traits coming from the same observation_id. Within each dataset, observation_id’s are unique combinations of taxon_name, population_id, individual_id, and temporal_id.
trait_name	Name of the trait sampled. Allowable values specified in the table definitions.
value	The measured value of a trait, location property or context property.
unit	Units of the sampled trait value after aligning with AusTraits standards.
entity_type	A categorical variable specifying the entity corresponding to the trait values recorded.
value_type	A categorical variable describing the statistical nature of the trait value recorded.
basis_of_value	A categorical variable describing how the trait value was obtained.
replicates	Number of replicate measurements that comprise a recorded trait measurement. A numeric value (or range) is ideal and appropriate if the value type is a mean, median, min or max. For these value types, if replication is unknown the entry should be unknown. If the value type is raw_value the replicate value should be 1. If the trait is categorical or the value indicates a measurement for an entire species (or other taxon) replicate value should be .na.
basis_of_record	A categorical variable specifying from which kind of specimen traits were recorded.
life_stage	A field to indicate the life stage or age class of the entity measured. Standard values are adult, sapling, seedling and juvenile.
population_id	A unique integer identifier for a population, where a population is defined as individuals growing in the same location (location_id /location_name) and plot (plot_id, a context category) and being subjected to the same treatment (treatment_id, a context category).
individual_id	A unique integer identifier for an individual, with individuals numbered sequentially within each dataset by taxon by population grouping. Most often each row of data represents an individual, but in some datasets trait data collected on a single individual is presented across multiple rows of data, such as if the same trait is measured using different methods or the same individual is measured repeatedly across time.
temporal_id	A unique integer identifier assigned where repeat observations are made on the same individual (or population, or taxon) across time. The identifier links to specific information in the context table.
source_id	For datasets that are compilations, an identifier for the original data source.
location_id	A unique integer identifier for a location, with locations numbered sequentially within a dataset. The identifier links to specific information in the location table.
entity_context_id	A unique integer identifier indicating specific contextual properties of an individual, possibly including the individual’s sex or caste (for social insects).
plot_id	A unique integer identifier for a plot, where a plot is a distinct collection of organisms within a single geographic location, such as plants growing on different aspects or blocks in an experiment. The identifier links to specific information in the context table.
treatment_id	A unique integer identifier for a treatment, where a treatment is any experimental manipulation to an organism’s growing/living conditions. The identifier links to specific information in the context table.
collection_date	Date sample was taken, in the format yyyy-mm-dd, yyyy-mm or yyyy, depending on the resoluton specified. Alternatively an overall range for the study can be indicating, with the starting and ending sample date sepatated by a /, as in 2010-10/2011-03
measurement_remarks	Brief comments or notes accompanying the trait measurement.
method_id	A unique integer identifier indicating a trait is measured multiple times on the same entity, with different methods used for each entry. This field is only used if a single trait is measured using multiple methods within the same dataset. The identifier links to specific information in the context table.
original_name	Name given to taxon in the original data supplied by the authors.

locations

Description: A table containing observations of location/site characteristics associated with information in traits. Cross referencing between the two dataframes is possible using combinations of the variables dataset_id, location_name.

Content:

key	value
dataset_id	Primary identifier for each study contributed to AusTraits; most often these are scientific papers, books, or online resources. By default this should be the name of the first author and year of publication, e.g. Falster_2005.
location_id	A unique integer identifier for a location, with locations numbered sequentially within a dataset. The identifier links to specific information in the location table.
location_name	location name
location_property	The location characteristic being recorded. The name should include units of measurement, e.g. MAT (C). Ideally we have at least the following variables for each location, longitude (deg), latitude (deg), description.
value	The measured value of a location property.

contexts

Description: A table containing observations of contextual characteristics associated with information in traits. Cross referencing between the two dataframes is possible using combinations of the variables dataset_id, link_id, and link_vals.

Content:

key	value
dataset_id	Primary identifier for each study contributed to AusTraits; most often these are scientific papers, books, or online resources. By default this should be the name of the first author and year of publication, e.g. Falster_2005.
context_property	The contextual characteristic being recorded. If applicable, name should include units of measurement, e.g. CO2 concentration (ppm).
category	The category of context property, with options being plot, treatment, individual_context, temporal and method.
value	The measured value of a context property.
description	Description of a specific context property value.
link_id	Variable indicating which identifier column in the traits table contains the specified link_vals.
link_vals	Unique integer identifiers that link between identifier columns in the traits table and the contextual properties/values in the contexts table.

methods

Description: A table containing details on methods with which data were collected, including time frame and source. Cross referencing with the traits table is possible using combinations of the variables dataset_id, trait_name.

Content:

key	value
dataset_id	Primary identifier for each study contributed to AusTraits; most often these are scientific papers, books, or online resources. By default this should be the name of the first author and year of publication, e.g. Falster_2005.
trait_name	Name of the trait sampled. Allowable values specified in the table definitions.
methods	A textual description of the methods used to collect the trait data. Whenever available, methods are taken near-verbatim from the referenced source. Methods can include descriptions such as ‘measured on botanical collections’, ‘data from the literature’, or a detailed description of the field or lab methods used to collect the data.
description	A 1-2 sentence description of the purpose of the study.
sampling_strategy	A written description of how study locations were selected and how study individuals were selected. When available, this information is lifted verbatim from a published manuscript. For preserved specimens, this field ideally indicates which records were ‘sampled’ to measure a specific trait.
source_primary_key	Citation key for the primary source in sources. The key is typically formatted as Surname_year.
source_primary_citation	Citation for the primary source. This detail is generated from the primary source in the metadata.
source_secondary_key	Citation key for the secondary source in sources. The key is typically formatted as Surname_year.
source_secondary_citation	Citations for the secondary source. This detail is generated from the secondary source in the metadata.
source_original_dataset_key	Citation key for the original dataset_id in sources; for compilations. The key is typically formatted as Surname_year.
source_original_dataset_citation	Citations for the original dataset_id in sources; for compilationse. This detail is generated from the original source in the metadata.
data_collectors	The person (people) leading data collection for this study.
assistants	Names of additional people who played a more minor role in data collection for the study.
austraits_curators	Names of AusTraits team member(s) who contacted the data collectors and added the study to the AusTraits repository.

excluded_data

Description: A table of data that did not pass quality tests and so were excluded from the master dataset. The structure is identical to that presented in the traits table, only with an extra column called error indicating why the record was excluded. Common reasons are missing_unit_conversions, missing_value, and unsupported_trait_value.

Content:

key	value
error	Indicating why the record was excluded. Common reasons are missing_unit_conversions, missing_value, and unsupported_trait_value.
dataset_id	Primary identifier for each study contributed to AusTraits; most often these are scientific papers, books, or online resources. By default this should be the name of the first author and year of publication, e.g. Falster_2005.
taxon_name	Scientific name of the taxon on which traits were sampled, without authorship. When possible, this is the currently accepted (botanical) or valid (zoological) scientific name, but might also be a higher taxonomic level.
observation_id	A unique integral identifier for the observation, where an observation is all measurements made on an individual at a single point in time. It is important for joining traits coming from the same observation_id. Within each dataset, observation_id’s are unique combinations of taxon_name, population_id, individual_id, and temporal_id.
trait_name	Name of the trait sampled. Allowable values specified in the table definitions.
value	The measured value of a trait.
unit	Units of the sampled trait value after aligning with AusTraits standards.
entity_type	A categorical variable specifying the entity corresponding to the trait values recorded.
value_type	A categorical variable describing the statistical nature of the trait value recorded.
basis_of_value	A categorical variable describing how the trait value was obtained.
replicates	Number of replicate measurements that comprise a recorded trait measurement. A numeric value (or range) is ideal and appropriate if the value type is a mean, median, min or max. For these value types, if replication is unknown the entry should be unknown. If the value type is raw_value the replicate value should be 1. If the trait is categorical or the value indicates a measurement for an entire species (or other taxon) replicate value should be .na.
basis_of_record	A categorical variable specifying from which kind of specimen traits were recorded.
life_stage	A field to indicate the life stage or age class of the entity measured. Standard values are adult, sapling, seedling and juvenile.
population_id	A unique integer identifier for a population, where a population is defined as individuals growing in the same location (location_id /location_name) and plot (plot_id, a context category) and being subjected to the same treatment (treatment_id, a context category).
individual_id	A unique integer identifier for an individual, with individuals numbered sequentially within each dataset by taxon by population grouping. Most often each row of data represents an individual, but in some datasets trait data collected on a single individual is presented across multiple rows of data, such as if the same trait is measured using different methods or the same individual is measured repeatedly across time.
temporal_id	A unique integer identifier assigned where repeat observations are made on the same individual (or population, or taxon) across time. The identifier links to specific information in the context table.
source_id	For datasets that are compilations, an identifier for the original data source.
location_id	A unique integer identifier for a location, with locations numbered sequentially within a dataset. The identifier links to specific information in the location table.
entity_context_id	A unique integer identifier indicating specific contextual properties of an individual, possibly including the individual’s sex or caste (for social insects).
plot_id	A unique integer identifier for a plot, where a plot is a distinct collection of organisms within a single geographic location, such as plants growing on different aspects or blocks in an experiment. The identifier links to specific information in the context table.
treatment_id	A unique integer identifier for a treatment, where a treatment is any experimental manipulation to an organism’s growing/living conditions. The identifier links to specific information in the context table.
collection_date	Date sample was taken, in the format yyyy-mm-dd, yyyy-mm or yyyy, depending on the resoluton specified. Alternatively an overall range for the study can be indicating, with the starting and ending sample date sepatated by a /, as in 2010-10/2011-03
measurement_remarks	Brief comments or notes accompanying the trait measurement.
method_id	A unique integer identifier indicating a trait is measured multiple times on the same entity, with different methods used for each entry. This field is only used if a single trait is measured using multiple methods within the same dataset. The identifier links to specific information in the context table.
original_name	Name given to taxon in the original data supplied by the authors.

taxonomic_updates

Description: A table of all taxonomic changes implemented in the construction of AusTraits. Changes are determined by comparing the originally submitted taxon name against the taxonomic names listed in the taxonomic reference files, best placed in a subfolder in the config folder . Cross referencing with the traits table is possible using combinations of the variables dataset_id and taxon_name.

Content:

key	value
dataset_id	Primary identifier for each study contributed to AusTraits; most often these are scientific papers, books, or online resources. By default this should be the name of the first author and year of publication, e.g. Falster_2005.
original_name	Name given to taxon in the original data supplied by the authors.
cleaned_name	The taxon name without authorship after implementing automated syntax standardisation and spelling changes as well as manually encoded syntax alignments for this taxon in the metadata file for the corresponding dataset_id. This name has not yet been matched to the currently accepted (botanical) or valid (zoological) taxon name in cases where there are taxonomic synonyms, isonyms, orthographic variants, etc.
taxonomic_resolution	The rank of the most specific taxon name (or scientific name) to which a submitted orignal name resolves.
cleaned_scientific_name_id	An identifier for the cleaned name before it is updated to the currently accepted name usage. This may be a global unique identifier or an identifier specific to the data set. Must be resolvable within this dataset.
cleaned_name_taxonomic_status	The status of the use of the cleaned_name as a label for a taxon. Requires taxonomic opinion to define the scope of a taxon. Rules of priority then are used to define the taxonomic status of the nomenclature contained in that scope, combined with the experts opinion. It must be linked to a specific taxonomic reference that defines the concept.
cleaned_name_alternative_taxonomic_status	The taxonomic status of alternative taxonomic records with cleaned_name as the accepted (botanical) or valid (zoological) taxon name.
taxon_id	An identifier for the set of taxon information (data associated with the taxon class). May be a global unique identifier or an identifier specific to the data set. Must be resolvable within this dataset.
taxon_name	Scientific name of the taxon on which traits were sampled, without authorship. When possible, this is the currently accepted (botanical) or valid (zoological) scientific name, but might also be a higher taxonomic level.

taxa

Description: A table containing details on taxa associated with information in traits. Whenever possible, this information is sourced from curated taxon lists that include identifiers for each taxon. The information compiled in this table is released under a CC-BY3 license. Cross referencing between the two dataframes is possible using combinations of the variable taxon_name.

Content:

key	value
taxon_name	Scientific name of the taxon on which traits were sampled, without authorship. When possible, this is the currently accepted (botanical) or valid (zoological) scientific name, but might also be a higher taxonomic level.
taxonomic_reference	Name of the taxonomy (tree) that contains this concept. ie. APC, AusMoss etc.
taxon_rank	The taxonomic rank of the most specific name in the scientific name.
trinomial	The infraspecific taxon name match for an original name. This column is assigned na for taxon name that are at a broader taxonomic_resolution.
binomial	The species-level taxon name match for an original name. This column is assigned na for taxon name that are at a broader taxonomic_resolution.
genus	Genus of the taxon without authorship.
family	Family of the taxon.
taxon_distribution	Known distribution of the taxon, by Australian state.
establishment_means	Statement about whether an organism or organisms have been introduced to a given place and time through the direct or indirect activity of modern humans.
taxonomic_status	The status of the use of the scientificName as a label for the taxon in regard to the ‘accepted (or valid) taxonomy’. The assigned taxonomic status must be linked to a specific taxonomic reference that defines the concept.
scientific_name	The full scientific name, with authorship and date information if known.
scientific_name_authorship	The authorship information for the scientific name formatted according to the conventions of the applicable.
taxon_id	An identifier for the set of taxon information (data associated with the taxon class). May be a global unique identifier or an identifier specific to the data set. Must be resolvable within this dataset.
scientific_name_id	An identifier for the set of taxon information (data associated with the taxon class). May be a global unique identifier or an identifier specific to the data set. Must be resolvable within this dataset.

contributors

Description: A table of people contributing to each study.

Content:

key	value
dataset_id	Primary identifier for each study contributed to AusTraits; most often these are scientific papers, books, or online resources. By default this should be the name of the first author and year of publication, e.g. Falster_2005.
last_name	Last name of the data collector.
given_name	Given names of the data collector.
ORCID	ORCID of the data collector.
affiliation	Last known institution or affiliation.
additional_role	Additional roles of data collector, mostly contact person.

sources

Description: Bibtex entries for all primary and secondary sources in the compilation.

definitions

Description: A copy of the definitions for all tables and terms. Information included here was used to process data and generate any documentation for the study.

schema

Description: A copy of the schema for all tables and terms. Information included here was used to process data and generate any documentation for the study.

metadata

Description: Metadata associated with the dataset, including title, creators, license, subject, funding sources.

build_info

Description: A description of the computing environment used to create this version of the dataset, including version number, git commit and R session_info.

Methological details

Dataset IDs

The core organising unit behind AusTraits is the dataset_id. Records are organisation as coming from a particular study, defined by the dataset_id. Our preferred format for dataset_id is surname of the first author of any corresponding publication, followed by the year, as surname_year. E.g. Falster_2005. Wherever there are multiple studies with the same id, we add a suffix _2, _3 etc. E.g.Falster_2005, Falster_2005_2.

Other IDs

As well as a dataset_id, each trait measurement has 10 additional identifiers, observation_id, population_id, individual_id, temporal_id, source_id, location_id, entity_context_id, plot_id, treatment_id, and method_id.

All except source_id are simply integral identifiers that link groups of measurements and are automatically generated through the AusTraits workflow (individual_id can be assigned in the metadata file or automatically generated.)

To expand on the definitions provided above,

• observation_id links measurements made on the same entity (individual, population, or species) at a single point in time.

• population_id indicates entites that share a common location_id, plot_id, and treatment_id. It is used to align measurements and observation_id’s for individuals versus populations (i.e. distinct entity_types) that share a common population_id. It is numbered sequentially within a dataset.

• individual_id indicates a unique organisms. It is numbered sequentially within a dataset by population. Multiple observations on the same organism across time (with distinct observation_id values), share a common individual_id.

• temporal_id indicates a distinct point in time and is used only if there are repeat measurements on a population or individual across time. The identifier links to context properties (& their associated information) in the contexts table for context properties of type temporal.

• source_id is applied if not all data within a single dataset (dataset_id) is from the same source, such as when a dataset represents a compilation for a meta-analysis.

• location_id links to a distinct location_name and associated location_properties in the location table.

• entity_context_id links to information in the contexts table for context properties (& associated values/descriptions) with category entity_context. Entity_contexts include organism sex, organism caste and any other features of an entity that needs to be documented.

• plot_id links to information in the contexts table for context properties (& associated values/descriptions) with category plot. Plot contexts include both blocks/plots within an experimental design as well as any stratified variation within a location that needs to be documented (e.g. slope position).

• treatment_idlinks to information in the contexts table for context properties (& associated values/descriptions) with category treatment. Treatment contexts are experimental manipulations applied to groups of individuals.

• method_idlinks to information in the contexts table for context properties (& associated values/descriptions) with category method. A method context indicates that the same trait was measured on or across individuals using different methods.

Values, Value types, basis of value

Each record in the table of trait data has an associated value, value_type, and basis_of_value.

Value type: A trait’s value_type is either numeric or categorical. - For traits with numerical values, the recorded value has been converted into standardised units and the AusTraits workflow has confirmed the value can be converted into a number and lies within the allowable range. - For categorical variables, records have been aligned through substitutions to values listed as allowable values (terms) in a trait’s definition. * we use _ for multi-word terms, e.g. semi_deciduous
* we use a space for situations where two values co-occur for the same entity. For instance, a flora might indicate that a plant species can be either annual or biennial, in which case the trait is scored as annual biennial.

Each trait measurement has an associated value_type, which is a categorical variable describing the statistical nature of the trait value recorded. Possible values are:

key	value
raw	Value recorded for an entity.
minimum	Value is the minimum of values recorded for an entity.
mean	Value is the median of values recorded for an entity.
median	Value is the median of values recorded for an entity.
maximum	Value is the maximum of values recorded for an entity.
mode	Value is the mode of values recorded for an entity. This is the appropriate value type for a categorical trait value.
range	Value is a range of values recorded for an entity.
bin	Value for an entity falls within specified limits.
unknown	Not currently known.

Each trait measurement also has an associated basis_of_value, which is a categorical variable describing how the trait value was obtained. Possible values are:

key	value
measurement	Value is the result of a measurement(s) made on a specimen(s).
expert_score	Value has been estimated by an expert based on their knowledge of the entity.
model_derived	Value is derived from a statistical model, for example via gap-filling.
unknown	Not currently known.

AusTraits does not include intra-individual observations made at a single point in time. When multiple measurements per individual are submitted to AusTraits, we take the mean of the values and record the value_type as mean and indicate under replicates the number of measurements made.

Taxonomy

Version 4.1.0 of AusTraits contains records for 34017 different taxa. We have aligned taxa with known taxonomic units in the Australian Plant Census (APC) and/or the Australian Plant Names Index (APNI). Of the 34017 taxa included, 33978 are aligned with known taxa.

The traits table reports both the original and the updated taxon name alongside each trait record.

The table taxa lists all taxa in the database, including additional information about the taxa.

The table taxonomic_updates provides details on all taxonomic names changes implemented in aligning with APC and APNI.

Sources

For each dataset in the compilation there is the option to list primary and secondary citations as well as, for compilations, original citations. The primary citation The original study in which data were collected. while the secondary citation is A subsequent study where data were compiled or re-analysed.. These references are included in two places:

1. Within the table methods, where we provide a formatted version of each.
2. In the element sources, where we provided bibtex versions of all sources which can be imported into your reference library. The keys for these references are listed within the methods.

definitions

Following is a list of traits included in this version.

leaf_compoundness

• label: Leaf compoundness
• description: A binary trait that indicates whether a leaf lamina is simple or divided into discontinuous leaflets (compound).
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • simple: A leaf with a single undivided blade. [PO:0020042]
  • compound: A leaf that is divided into multiple leaflets. [PO:0020043]

leaf_length

• label: Leaf length
• description: Length of a leaf (including the petiole) or a leaf analogue, from the leaf apex to the leaf axil (base).
• type: numeric
• units: mm
• allowable range: 0.1 - 1e+05 mm

seed_height

• label: Seed height
• description: Shortest axis of a seed; orthogonal to its length and width. (Notes, Observations of this trait in AusTraits are almost certainly an undocumented mix of dimensions of true seeds and diaspores. When all or part of the fruit is not easily separated from the true seed, many researchers will have recorded and submitted a diaspore height, but labeled the data ’seed height. The intent of this measurement is that it excludes appendages, although it is likely some submitted measurements include small appendages that are not easily separated from the seed.
• type: numeric
• units: mm
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1000 mm

seed_length

• label: Seed length
• description: Longest linear seed dimension. (Notes, Observations of this trait in AusTraits are almost certainly an undocumented mix of dimensions of true seeds and diaspores. When all or part of the fruit is not easily separated from the true seed, many researchers will have recorded and submitted a diaspore length, but labeled the data ‘seed length’. The intent of this measurement is that it excludes appendages, although it is likely some submitted measurements include small appendages that are not easily separated from the seed.)
• type: numeric
• units: mm
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1000 mm

seed_width

• label: Seed width
• description: Longest width dimension of a seed; orthogonal to the length. (Notes, Observations of this trait in AusTraits are almost certainly an undocumented mix of dimensions of true seeds and diaspores. When all or part of the fruit is not easily separated from the true seed, many researchers will have recorded and submitted a diaspore width, but labeled the data ‘seed width’. The intent of this measurement is that it excludes appendages, although it is likely some submitted measurements include small appendages that are not easily separated from the seed.
• type: numeric
• units: mm
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1000 mm

plant_growth_form

• label: Plant growth form
• description: The form of a plant, capturing a general sense of plant height and shape, which parts of a plant are woody versus herbaceous, the number of stems arising at ground level, and the distribution of leaves relative to the main stem.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • herb: A seed-bearing plant which does not have a woody above-ground stem; when available this term has been divided into more detailed terms. (synonym, forb)
  • subshrub: A plant that is only woody at the base, with the remainder of the stems regenerating yearly. This term is not meant to encompass short-lived plants that are only borderline woody. (synonym, suffrutescent)
  • shrub: A woody plant that is distinguished by NOT being a tree, due to one of more of the following characteristics, 1) they are less than 8 metres in height; 2) if a plant community includes trees, the shrubs are shorter than the surrounding trees and not part of the canopy; 3) in comparison to trees, the leaves are more distributed along the entire trunk; 4) the plant has multiple relatively narrow stems arising at or near ground level. The definition of shrub is complex, as there are many single-stemmed shrubs within Australia and many taxa that are described in the taxonomic literature as a shrub or small tree.
  • mallee: Refers to Eucalyptus species which are small trees that form a large lignotuber. They have multiple stems arising at or near ground level and regenerate from the lignotuber following fire.
  • tree: A tall, woody, perennial plant, usually with a single main trunk, and its leaves predominately elevated above the ground surface.
  • graminoid: Herbaceous plant with a grass-like morphology that is within the order Poales. Taxa both with and without a tussock form are mapped to this term. This term is most frequently applied to three large monocot families, Poaceae, Cyperaceae, and Juncaceae, but the term could apply to other taxa within Poales with a grass-like morphology, including narrow, linear leaves and non-showy flowers, including Restionaceae, Centrolepidaceae, Anarthriaceae, and Ecdeiocoleaceae. Taxa outside Poales with a grass-like morphology should be designated as herbs and also have the term tufted mapped to the trait stem_growth_habit.
  • tussock: A subcategory of graminoid, which is a plant where many shoots from the basal meristem form prominent tufts.
  • graminoid_not_tussock: A subcategory of graminoid, indicating a plant which explicitly lacks a tussock morphology, with the leaves not growing in tufts.
  • hummock: Plant that grows as a dense mound up to 1 metre in height. The term generally applies only to species within the genera Triodia that form such mounds and these are considered a distinctive and uniquely Australian growth form.
  • basal_large: A plant whose leaves form a distinctly large basal tuft or rosette, including large acaulescent monocots and cycads.
  • geophyte: Subcategory of herb, specifically referring to plants that survive the winter/dry season as an organ (rhizome, bulb, corm, or tuber) buried in dry soil, with all leaves dying back each year.
  • palmoid: Plant that bears a rosette-like canopy of typically large, often compound leaves atop a usually thick (pachycaulous), columnar, unbranched or little-branched stem. Palms, tree ferns, trunked cycads, trunked grass-trees, and Pandanus are mapped to this term. (synonym, rosette-tree, palm, grass-tree)
  • climber: Plant that climbs up another plant’s stem or branches, rather than being able to support itself. Term used only if datasets do not specify if a climbing plant is herbaceous (a vine) or woody (a liana).
  • climber_herbaceous: Herbaceous plant that climbs up another plant’s stem or branches, rather than being able to support itself. This is usually synonymous with vine. Types of climbers (scrambling, twining) are captured under the trait plant_climbing_mechanism. (synonym, vine)
  • climber_woody: Woody or thick-stemmed (>2 cm) plant that climbs up another plant’s stem or branches, rather than being able to support itself. This is usually synonymous with liana. Woody climbers generally use hooks, tendrils, and/or adventitious roots to climb; the climbing mechanisms used by a taxon are captured under the trait plant_climbing_mechanism. (synonym, liana)
  • fern: A taxonomic grouping; ferns are vascular plants that reproduce via spores.
  • lycophyte: A taxonomic grouping that includes quillworts, clubmosses, and selaginella.

leaf_phenology

• label: Leaf phenology type
• description: Trait indicating whether a plant retains a leaf canopy throughout the year and what environmental cues are associated with canopy shedding.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • deciduous: Plant loses its entire leaf canopy for part of the year, in response to either drought or cold.
  • evergreen: Plant retains a leaf canopy throughout the year.
  • cold_deciduous: Plant loses its entire leaf canopy for part of the year, in response to cold.
  • drought_deciduous: Plant loses its entire leaf canopy for part of the year, in response to drought.
  • facultative_drought_deciduous: Plant sometimes loses its leaf canopy for part of the year, in response to drought.
  • semi_deciduous: Plant thins, but does not entirely lose, its leaf canopy in response to an environmental cue, usually drought.
  • brevi_deciduous: Plant briefly loses its entire leaf canopy, but flushes a new leaf canopy almost simultaneously to leaf loss.

plant_height

• label: Plant height
• description: The maximum vertical height of the vegetative shoot system for a taxon in a given location.
• type: numeric
• units: m
• allowable range: 0.001 - 130 m

leaf_width

• label: Leaf width
• description: The maximum width axis of a leaf or a leaf analogue (a leaflet, cladode, or phyllode), measured perpendicular to the leaf length.
• type: numeric
• units: mm
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1e+05 mm

flowering_time

• label: Range of flowering period
• description: Months during which taxon has open (anthetic) flowers; keyed as a sequences of 12 Ns (not flowering) and Ys (flowering) starting with January
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • **:

life_history

• label: Life history
• description: Categorical description of the duration of a plant’s lifespan, from germination to death.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • ephemeral: A very short-lived plant, generally with a lifespan of only a few months and the exact length of lifespan quite variable and determined by environmental conditions.
  • annual: A plant that lives for up to one year after germinating, completing its life cycle in a single growing season.
  • biennial: A plant that lives for up to two years after germinating, requiring two growing seasons to complete its life cycle and dying following the second growing season.
  • perennial: A plant that lives for three or more growing seasons, with an exact lifespan that is indeterminate.
  • short_lived_perennial: A perennial whose lifespan is less than approximately five years, with the exact lifespan generally dependent on environmental conditions.

seed_shape

• label: Three-dimensional shape of the seed
• description: Three-dimensional shape of the seed. (Notes, The trait values indicate the approximate shape of the seed, acknowledging few seeds are exactly ellipsoid, globoid, etc. The list of terms has been chosen to represent different length:width:height ratios and different levels of symmetry. Terms that suggest very specific shapes have generally been grouped into a broader category for increased interoperability across datasets.)
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • comma-shaped: A seed displaying a single arc of curvature, such that it bilaterally symmetrical. (synonyms, comma-shaped, falcate, sickle-shaped scimitar-shaped)
  • conical: Cone-shaped, with a broad flat base and narrow apex; turbinate refers to the inverse shape. (synonyms, obconical, cone-shaped, turbinate, top-shaped)
  • cylindrical: A cylinder, a shape with a flat top and bottom that are circular or elliptical in outline and are linked by a curved surface. (synonyms, terete)
  • discoid: A subset of cylinder, a shape with a flat, circular or elliptical top and bottom, linked by a curved surface, where the length of the curved surface is much shorter than the cross-section of the flat surfaces. (synonyms, flat)
  • ellipsoid: A 3-dimensional shape that is elliptic in long section and circular in cross section; length:width ratio between 2:1 and 3:2. (synonyms, obloid, oblong)
  • ellipsoid_flattened: A 3-dimensional shape that is elliptic in long section and and laterally compressed/flattened such that it is non-circular in cross section; length:width ratio between 2:1 and 3:2.
  • fusiform: Spindle-shaped; A 3-dimension shape that is narrowly ellipsoid, circular in cross-section and tapering sharply toward both ends. (synonyms, spindle-shaped)
  • globoid: A 3-dimensional shape that is circular in both long section and cross section. (synonyms, globose, globular, spherical)
  • globoid_flattened: A 3-dimensional shape that is circular in both long section and somewhat flattened such that it is non-circular in cross section.
  • hemispheric: Half a sphere or globe, with a flat base, domed top, and circular in cross-section.
  • hemispheric_flattened: A 3-dimensional shape that is a laterally compressed/flattened half-sphere or globe; shape has a flat base, a domed top, and is elliptical in cross-section.
  • lenticular: Shaped like a biconvex lens and circular in cross section; shaped like a lentil.
  • orbicular: A poorly defined term that remains in AusTraits only as a placeholder; it appears to be used as both globoid (spherical) and lenticular by different authors.
  • ovoid: A 3-dimensional shape that is egg-shaped in long section and circular in cross section. Term as used in AusTraits includes variants on egg-shaped including pyriform (pear-shaped) and obovoid (inversely egg-shaped) (synonyms, pyriform, obovoid)
  • ovoid_elongated: A 3-dimensional shape that is egg-shaped in long section and circular in cross section, where the length dimension is much longer than the width/height dimensions. Term as used in AusTraits includes specific shapes club-shaped (clavate/obclavate) and tear-shaped (lachrimiform). (synonyms, lachrimiform; tear-shaped; lachrymiform; clavate; obclavate; club-shaped)
  • ovoid_flattened: A 3-dimensional shape that is egg-shaped in long section and laterally compressed/flattened such that is non-circular in cross section.
  • polyhedral: A 3-dimensional shape with distinct, fairly flat faces and edges; includes prisms and tetrahedral shaped seeds. (synonyms, rhomboid, prismatic, pyramidal, rectangular, square)
  • polyhedral_elongated: A 3-dimensional shape with distinct, fairly flat faces and edges, where the length dimension is much longer than the width/height dimensions; includes elongate prisms and elongate tetrahedral shaped seeds.
  • polyhedral_inflated: A 3-dimensional shape with distinct faces and edges, but the faces tend to bulge outwards.
  • reniform: Having a cross-section that is roughly circular with a notch; strictly a kidney-shape, but the definition applied here includes heart-shaped seeds and other seeds with a distinct notch. (synonyms, cordiform, kidney-shaped, heart-shaped)
  • samara: A seed with wings.
  • sectoroid: Shaped like an orange segment or wedge of a sphere. (synonyms, wedge-shaped)
  • sinusoidal: A seed with two arcs of curvature or a single arc, such that it lacks an axis of symmetry. (synonym, sigmoidal)

plant_photosynthetic_organ

• label: Plant photosynthetic organ
• description: Trait indicating a plant’s primary photosynthetic organ or tissue.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • leaf: A true leaf, including both laminar and needle-shaped leaves.
  • cladode: A photosynthetic shoot, regardless of form, that functions as a leaf. For example, cacti pads and Casuarina articles. (synonyms, article, phylloclade, cladophyll)
  • phyllode: A flattened bladelike petiole.
  • non-photosynthetic_plant: A plant that lacks any photosynthetic organs.

dispersal_appendage

• label: Appendage of propagule which facilitates dispersal
• description: External appendages of the dispersule presumed to facilitate dispersal away from the parent plant.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • aril: Fleshy outgrowth of a seed, that often attracts animals like birds or ants.
  • bristles: Bristle-like projections. Trait value includes awns, which are slender, bristle-like projections in some grasses.
  • bracts_and_glumes: When the bracts below the inflorescence are persistent and functional as dispersal appendages. This includes persistent glumes, the modified membranous bracts in the family Poaceae that surround the spikelet of a grass.
  • elaiosome: Fleshy (often fatty) appendage on seeds that attracts ants.
  • fleshy_reward: Broad term that includes a suite of appendages that provides a fleshy reward to attract dispersers; highest level of resolution available for some studies.
  • floating_seed: Seed that is dispersed by floating on water
  • flotation_scales: Scales enhancing flotation, thereby assisting with dispersal.
  • floral_parts: When some plant floral parts (the petals, sepals, or style) are persistent and aid in seed and fruit dispersal. This is a broad term not explicitly suggesting a dispersal mechanism.
  • hairs: Modified hairs that aid in seed dispersal.
  • hooks: A rear-facing point, as in a fish hook that aids in seed and fruit dispersal.
  • inflated_parts: When some part of the seed, fruit, or associated tissues is inflated, aiding in seed or fruit dispersal.
  • none: When a fruit and associated tissues lack any dispersal appendages. Includes exarillate and taxa with explicitly deciduous pappus.
  • pappus: The calyx in Asteraceae that has been modified into bristles, hairs, scales or awns that are attached to the apex of the fruit. Taxa assigned this trait value have a persistent pappus that aids in dispersal, often, but not exclusively through wind dispersal. The pappus can also assist with flotation.
  • plumose: Fruit, seed, style, or other floral component that is plumose and assists with dispersal.
  • receptacle: Fleshy receptacle that aids in dispersal.
  • sarcotesta: Fleshy seed coat that aids in dispersal.
  • spines: Spines that aid in dispersal.
  • tumbleweed: Plant growth form, whereby the aboveground plant component detaches from the roots and is readily rolled by wind across the ground, aiding in dispersal.
  • wings: Referring to wing-like seed extensions that aid in wind dispersal.
  • wing_or_plume: Broad term that includes a suite of appendages that aid in wind dispsersal; highest level of resolution available for some studies.

plant_growth_substrate

• label: plant growth habitat
• description: Trait broadly indicating the habitat in which a plant grows, the substrate on which a plant grows, or its growth medium.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • epiphyte: A plant that grows upon another plant.
  • lithophyte: A plant that grows upon a rock.
  • terrestrial: A plant that grows on land, and generally referencing a plant that grows in soil.
  • semiaquatic: A plant that grows partially submerged in water or spends part of its life growing in water.
  • aquatic: A plant that grows in water.
  • marine: A plant that grows in the sea.
  • hemiepiphyte: A plant that spends part of its life cycle as an epiphyte, growing upon another plant.

stem_growth_habit

• label: Stem growth habit
• description: Trait characterising a stem’s structure and 3-dimensional extent, including the position of stems, degree of branchiness, density of branches, and branch angles relative to other branches and the ground surface.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • arborescent: Tree-like growth habit.
  • erect: Stems that grow upright.
  • caespitose: Multiple short-shoots arise from the base of the plant forming a dense tuft, as in a bunch-grass (synonym, cespitose, bunch-grass, tussock)
  • cushion-forming: Multiple erect, short stems arise from the soil and are so tightly packed that they form dense, even, rounded canopy with no gaps. (synonym, cushion)
  • mat-forming: Multiple stems that are mostly horizontal and are densely packed, but open enough that there are still a few gaps between them.
  • tufted: Plant has a dense clump of leaves, either at the base of the plant or clusters of leaves growing close together higher on the plant. This term can refer to grasses, shrubs, or trees.
  • creeping: Stem that creeps along the ground, rooting at nodes. (synonym, repent)
  • decumbent: Stems whose bases lie flat on the ground, but whose tips grow upward. (synonym, ascending)
  • prostrate: Stems lie flat on the ground but do not root at nodes (synonym, procumbent, reclining, trailing)
  • rosette: Plants whose leaves radiate from a central point at or near ground level. (synonym, acaulescent, rosulate)
  • climbing: Stem that does not have a self-supporting structure and ascends by leaning on or attaching itself to surrounding vegetation or another substrate. Climbing mechanisms include tendrils, petioles, adventitious roots, scrambling, and twining and are distinguished between in the trait plant_climbing_mechanism.
  • sprawling: Stem that sprawls across other plants or objects, but lacks specialised climbing structures or mechanisms.(synonym, clambering, scandent)
  • rhizomatous: Plants with short horizontal underground stems from which shoots emerge.
  • stoloniferous: Plants with long horizontal branches either slightly belowground or aboveground, that root at their nodes or tips, producing new plants. (synonym, sarmentose)
  • spreading: Plants with a notable horizontal extent, referring either to a broad tree canopy or a shrub or herb that spreads across the ground.
  • floating: Plant where most of the leaves are floating on water.
  • submerged: Plant where most of the leaves are submerged beneath the surface of a waterbody.
  • dense: Plant with a high density of branches.
  • compact: Plant with closely packed branches.
  • bushy: Plant with much-branched branches. (synonym, shrubby)
  • open: Plant with an open architecture of branches.
  • spindly: Plants with weak, skinny branches.

woodiness_detailed

• label: Detailed woodiness categories
• description: A variable to indicate the extent, distribution, and type of secondary xylem (true wood) and wood-like lignification (woodiness in monocots and ferns) in stems, roots, and reproductive shoots.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • herbaceous: Plant with non-lignified stems.
  • woody: Plant whose stems produce secondary xylem (true wood).
  • woody_base: Plant where secondary xylem (true wood) is present only at the base of stems. (synonym, suffrutescent)
  • woody_root: Plant that has a woody rootstock, but non-woody above-ground stems.
  • semi_woody: Plant that forms stems considered only “partially woody”, generally having lower lignin and cellulose contents and possibly not forming secondary xylem. These are generally short-lived, fast-growing stems. (synonym, green-stem shrub, soft shrub, soft wood)
  • woody_like_stem: Taxa, including monocots and ferns, that produce thick, stiff, robust lignified stems, but do not produce secondary xylem.
  • woody_like_inflorescence: Taxa, including monocots and ferns, that produce thick, stiff, robust lignified inflorescence shoots, but are otherwise non-woody.

sex_type

• label: Plant sex type
• description: Plant sex type
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • androdioecious: Taxa in which hermaphroditic and staminate (male) plants coexist within a population
  • andromonoecious: Taxa with hermaphrodite flowers and staminate flowers (producing just male gametes) on the same plant but no pistillate (female) flowers.
  • dioecious: Taxa that produce male and female flowers on separate plants
  • gynodioecious: Taxa in which hermaphroditic and pistillate (female) plants coexist within a population
  • gynomonoecious: Taxa with hermaphrodite flowers and pistillate flowers (producing just female gametes) on the same plant but no staminate (male) flowers.
  • hermaphrodite: Taxa with flowers that produce both male and female gametes; bisexual
  • monoecious: Taxa that have both male and female flowers on the same plant, but an individual flower produces only male or female gametes.
  • polygamous: Taxa with both unisexual and bisexual flowers on the same plant
  • polygamodioecious: Taxa where some flowers on a plant are hermaphrodite and other are pistillate (female) or staminate (male)
  • polygamonoecious: Taxa where some plants in a population have hermaphrodite and pistillate (female) flowers and others have hermaphrodite and staminate (male) flowers
  • trioecious: Taxa where plants in a population have either hermaphroditic (bisexual) flowers, pistillate (female) flowers, or staminate (male) flowers
  • unknown: inadequate information to assign a sex type

parasitic

• label: Plant’s parasitic status
• description: Trait indicating whether a plant forms haustoria and obtains part or all of its energy-rich carbon compounds (photosynthetic sugars), mineral nutrition and/or water directly from another plant (its host) in an interaction that does not benefit the host plant.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • hemiparasitic: Plant that is photosynthetic, but augments its energy, mineral nutrition, and /or water supply through parasitism. This trait value does not distinguish between obligate hemiparasites, plants which require a host for at least part of their life cycle, and facultative hemiparasites, plants which can grow and reproduce without a host.
  • hemiparasitic_obligate: Plant that is photosynthetic, but requires a host for at least part of its life cycle.
  • hemiparasitic_facultative: Plant that is photosynthetic and can grow and reproduce without a host, but augments its energy, mineral nutrition, and /or water supply through parasitism.
  • holoparasitic: Plant that obtains all (or nearly all) of its energy through parasitism.
  • parasitic: Plant that obtains some energy, mineral nutrition and/or water through parasitism. This term is used if a dataset does not specify if a plant is a hemiparasite or a holoparasite.
  • not_parasitic: In the context of this trait, a plant that does not acquire energy, mineral nutrition, and/or water via haustoria connected to another plant. It can include species that form a symbiosis, including a parasitic interaction, with a fungal partner.
  • root_parasitic: Parasitic plant whose haustoria penetrate the root of a host plant.
  • stem_parasitic: Parasitic plant whose haustoria penetrate the stem of a host plant.

leaf_area

• label: Leaf area
• description: The 2-dimensional projected (scanned) area of the surface of a leaf or a leaf analogue (leaflet, cladode, phyllode).
• type: numeric
• units: mm2
• allowable range: 0.1 - 1e+07 mm2

leaf_delta13C

• label: Leaf carbon (C) isotope signature (delta 13C)
• description: Leaf carbon stable isotope signature
• type: numeric
• units: {delta}[ppth]
• allowable range: -50 - 0 {delta}[ppth]

leaf_mass_per_area

• label: Leaf mass per area
• description: The ratio of leaf dry mass to leaf area, measured on an entire leaf including the petiole; LMA. (The inverse of specific leaf area, SLA.)
• type: numeric
• units: g/m2
• allowable range: 1 - 3000 g/m2

leaf_N_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf nitrogen (N) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf nitrogen (N) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.5 - 100 mg/g

leaf_photochemical_reflectance_index

• label: Photochemical Reflectance Index
• description: Photochemical reflectance index measures plant responses to stress, by indicating changes in carotenoid pigments in live foliage.
• type: numeric
• units: umol/umol
• allowable range: -1 - 1 umol/umol

leaf_water_band_index

• label: Water band index
• description: Water band index, the ratio of the reflectance at 970 nm / 900 nm, recorded from the spectro-radiometer.
• type: numeric
• units: {dimensionless}
• allowable range: 1 - 1.1 {dimensionless}

modified_NDVI

• label: modified normalized difference vegetation index (modified NDVI)
• description: Modified normalized difference vegetation index (modified NDVI), based on Landsat data
• type: numeric
• units: {dimensionless}
• allowable range: 0.1 - 1 {dimensionless}

wood_density

• label: Stem dry mass per unit fresh stem volume
• description: Stem dry mass per unit stem fresh volume (stem specific density or SSD or wood density)
• type: numeric
• units: mg/mm3
• allowable range: 0.05 - 1.4 mg/mm3

seed_surface_texture

• label: Seed surface texture
• description: Surface texture of a seed, including descriptions of configuration (overall surface patterns of the epidermal cells) and epidermal excrescence (surface patterns caused by structural outgrowths of the epidermis). This trait does not include appendages; see dispersal_appendages for descriptions of seed appendages.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • bumpy: Seed surface covered with minute, rounded protuberances. (synonyms, verrucate, papillate, tuberculate, undulate)
  • netted: Seed surface covered with raised, reticulate, interconnected ridges. (synonyms, reticulate)
  • papery: Seed surface with a thin and papery texture. (synonyms, chartaceous)
  • pitted: Seed surface pitted. (synonyms, foveolate, foveate, dimpled, punctate)
  • ribbed: Seed surface with longitudinal raised ribs or ridges. (synonyms, costate, carinate, lineate, fluted, striate, strigate, lineolate, scalariform)
  • rough: Seed surface rough with no organization of markings, resembling sandpaper. (synonyms, scabrous)
  • scaly: Seed surface rough with loose scales differing in direction or not parallel in direction. (synonyms, scurfy, squarrose)
  • smooth: Seed surface smooth, lacking texture. (synonyms, glabrous)
  • wrinkled: Seed surface with a wrinkled, rugose texture. (synonyms, rugose, rugulose, bullate)

seed_dry_mass

• label: Seed dry mass
• description: Dry mass of a mature seed, including both oven dried and air-dried samples. (Notes, Standard methods people will have used for dried seeds include, ‘fresh’ (at dispersal, mature); ‘air dried’ (at local ambient conditions); ‘seed bank air dried’ (to 15% relative humidity); ‘oven dried’ (>100 deg C for a set number of hours; e.g. seed bank standard is 103 deg C for 17 hours)
• type: numeric
• units: mg
• allowable range: 1e-05 - 1e+06 mg

seed_germination_treatment

• label: Germination treatment
• description: Treatment required for seed to display high germination rates. The data included in AusTraits are mostly from seed banks that have recorded the protocols they use to encourage seeds to germinate. The treatments may therefore be only loosely connected to the cues required for a species’ to break dormancy.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • after_ripening: Seed germinates more readily after a period of warm, dry storage.
  • chemical_treatment: Seed germinates more readily after a chemical treatment.
  • cold: Seed germinates more readily after cold treatment.
  • dark: Seed germinates more readily after being stored in the dark.
  • heat: Seed germinates more readily after being heated.
  • heat_lethal: Seed is heat sensitive. (A fire response, more than a treatment to break dormancy.)
  • heat+smoke: Seed germinates more readily after a treatment that merges heat and smoke.
  • imbibe_hot: Seed germinates more readily after being soaked in hot water; water temperature usually between 70 deg C to just below boiling.
  • leaching: Seed germinates more readily after leaching out certain chemicals.
  • light: Seed germinates more readily after light exposure.
  • mycorrhizae: Seed germinates more readily if infected by a mycorrhizal symbiont.
  • none: No treatment required for seed to display high germination rates.
  • rain: Seed germinates more readily after rain.
  • scarify: Seed coat is removed, nicked, or otherwise punctured to increase germination.
  • smoke: Seed germinates more readily after being subjected to a smoke treatment; includes smoked water.
  • stratification: Seed germinates more readily after being stored in moist conditions; not specified if the treatment was cold stratification or warm stratification
  • stratification_cold: Seed germinates more readily after a period of cold, wet storage.
  • stratification_warm: Seed germinates more readily after a period of warm, wet storage.

seed_surface_hairs

• label: Seed surface hairs
• description: Surface hairiness of a seed, including vestiture (trichome cover) and bristles.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • hairs: Seed surface with trichomes or bristles.
  • hairs_branched: Seed surface with branched trichomes or bristles.(synonyms, stellate, plumose)
  • hairs_simple: Seed surface with simple trichomes or bristles. (tomentose, velutinous, velvety, sericeous)

leaf_dry_matter_content

• label: Leaf dry mass per unit leaf fresh mass (Leaf dry matter content, LDMC)
• description: Leaf dry mass per unit leaf fresh mass. (See also leaf_water_content_per_mass, the ratio of water content to leaf dry mass, recorded by some studies.)
• type: numeric
• units: g/g
• allowable range: 0.001 - 2 g/g

dispersal_syndrome

• label: Dispersal syndrome
• description: Plant dispersal syndromes are generally assigned to species based on suites of diaspore characteristics associated with specific mechanisms of dispersal. Trait values are mostly given as the formal dispersal syndromes ending in ‘chory’, a suffix meaning ‘a specified method of plant dispersal’
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • anemochory: Diaspore is dispersed by wind. (synonym, wind)
  • anthrochory: Diaspore is dispersed by humans, either intentionally or unintentionally.
  • atelochory: Diaspore dispersal is prevented. (synonym, antitelochory)
  • autochory: Diaspore is dispersed by methods originating from the parent plant or diaspore.
  • ballistic: Seeds are launched away from the plant by explosion as soon as the seed capsule opens.
  • barochory: Diaspores are dispersed without assistance. (synonym, gravity, mobile, unassisted)
  • chamaechory: Diaspore is dispersed by being rolled along ground surface by wind.
  • endozoochory: Diaspore is ingested by animals, either intentionally or accidentally, then transported before being deposited. (synonym, ingestion)
  • epizoochory: Diaspore is dispersed by accidentally attaching itself to the outside of an animal vector. (synonym, ectozoochory, exozoochory)
  • hydrochory: Diaspore is dispersed on the surface of water. (synonym, water)
  • myrmecochory: Diaspores have elaiosomes (specialised nutritious appendages) that make them attractive for capture, transport and use by ants or related insects.
  • undefined: Dispersal mechanism unknown. (synonym, unknown)
  • zoochory: Diaspore is dispersed by animals, by an undescribed mechanism.

leaf_thickness

• label: Leaf thickness
• description: The thickness of the leaf lamina, generally measured away from the midrib.
• type: numeric
• units: mm
• allowable range: 0.01 - 51 mm

sapwood_specific_conductivity_theoretical

• label: Theoretical sapwood specific conductivity (Ks)
• description: Theoretical Ks or Kp; Describes the theoretical flow rate of water (kg/s) along a stem for a given drop in pressure (1/MPa). Calculated as theoretical Kh, calculated based on Hagen-Poiseuille’s law, divided by the microscopically determined cross-sectional area without bark and pit.
• type: numeric
• units: kg/m/MPa/s
• allowable range: 0.05 - 5000 kg/m/MPa/s

stem_vessel_density

• label: Count of vessels per area in stems
• description: Count of vessels per area in stems
• type: numeric
• units: {count}/mm2
• allowable range: 0.4 - 2000 {count}/mm2

stem_vessel_diameter

• label: Diameter of xylem vessels in stems
• description: Diameter of xylem vessels in stems
• type: numeric
• units: um
• allowable range: 1 - 1000 um

stem_vessel_lumen_fraction

• label: Fraction of xylem vessels comprised of lumen
• description: Fraction of xylem vessels comprised of lumen
• type: numeric
• units: um2/um2
• allowable range: 0.001 - 1 um2/um2

leaf_water_use_efficiency_intrinsic

• label: Leaf photosynthesis rate per unit stomatal conductance (photosynthetic water use efficiency, PWUE, or intrinsic WUE)
• description: PWUE calculated as Aarea/gs; Ratio of photosynthesis (CO2 assimilation rate) to stomatal conductance (gs). This is intrinsic water use efficiency.
• type: numeric
• units: umol{CO2}/mmol{H2O}
• allowable range: 0.001 - 2 umol{CO2}/mmol{H2O}

stem_vessel_diameter_hydraulic

• label: Hydraulic mean diameter of xylem vessels
• description: Hydraulic diameter (hydraulically weighted diameter) is based on the equivalent circle diameter D and has been introduced to reflect the actual conductance of conduits. Based on the Hagen–Poiseuille law, a few large conduits may transport an equal amount of water as many small ones.
• type: numeric
• units: um
• allowable range: 1 - 500 um

stem_vessel_multiple_fraction

• label: Index for the tendency of vessels to occur in clusters (smaller value) versus occur as solitary vessels (1)
• description: Vmf; A vessel grouping index, the number of groups of vessels (vessels in direct contact with one another) divided by the total number of vessels (Scholz et al. 2013). A Vmf value approximating 1 denotes a tendency towards solitary vessels.
• type: numeric
• units: {count}/{count}
• allowable range: 0.001 - 1 {count}/{count}

stem_xylem_vulnerability_index

• label: Ratio of vessel diameter to vessel density
• description: The ratio of vessel diameter to vessel density, as an index of sap conductance and susceptibility to vessel cavitation
• type: numeric
• units: {dimensionless}
• allowable range: 0.05 - 1000 {dimensionless}

leaf_hairs_adult_leaves

• label: Presence of hairs on mature (fully expanded) leaves
• description: Variable describing whether or not mature (fully expanded) adult phase leaves on adult plants have hairs (trichomes).
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • glabrous: Mature (fully expanded) leaves on adult plants do not have hairs (trichomes).
  • hairy: Mature (fully expanded) leaves on adult plants have hairs (trichomes).

leaf_shape

• label: Leaf shape
• description: Shapes of a leaf or leaflet.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • linear: A 2-dimensional shape that is very long and narrow, has parallel sides and a length:width ratio between 12:1 and 6:1
  • narrowly_oblong: A 2-dimensional shape that is long and narrow, has parallel sides and a length:width ratio between 6:1 and 3:1 (synonym: lorate)
  • oblong: A 2-dimensional shape that is somewhat elongated with parallel sides and a length:width ratio between 2:1 and 3:2
  • linear_elliptical: A 2-dimensional shape that is a very narrow oval, with curved margins, lacking a distinct point, and a length:width ratio between 12:1 and 6:1
  • narrowly_elliptical: A 2-dimensional shape that is a narrow oval, with curved margins, lacking a distinct point, and a length:width ratio between 6:1 and 3:1
  • elliptical: A 2-dimensional shape that is an oval, with curved margins, lacking a distinct point, and a length:width ratio between 2:1 and 3:2 (synonyms, oval)
  • widely_elliptical: A 2-dimensional shape that is a broad oval, with curved margins, lacking a distinct point, and a length:width ratio of approximately 6:5
  • orbicular: A 2-dimensional shape that is approximately circular. (synonym: circular)
  • oblate: A 2-dimensional shape that is a broad oval, with curved margins, lacking a distinct point, and a length:width ratio of approximately 5:6, where the petiole attaches along the broader side.
  • lanceolate: A 2-dimensional shape that is narrowly egg-shaped or teardrop-shaped, with a length:width ratio between 6:1 and 3:1. The petiole attaches near the wide, curved portion of the leaf lamina.
  • narrowly_ovate: A 2-dimensional shape that is narrowly egg-shaped, with a length:width ratio between 3:1 and 2:1. The petiole attaches near the wide, curved portion of the leaf lamina. (synonym, lance_ovate, widely_lanceolate)
  • ovate: A 2-dimensional shape that is egg-shaped, with a length:width ratio between 2:1 and 3:2. The petiole attaches near the wide, curved portion of the leaf lamina.
  • widely_ovate: A 2-dimensional shape that is broadly egg-shaped with a length:width ratio of approximately 6:5. The petiole attaches near the wide, curved portion of the leaf lamina.
  • narrowly_oblanceolate: A 2-dimensional shape that is very narrowly teardrop-shaped, with a length:width ratio between 12:1 and 6:1. The leaf lamina has curved outer margins and narrows nearly to a point where it attaches to the petiole. (synonym, linear_oblanceolate)
  • oblanceolate: A 2-dimensional shape that is narrowly teardrop-shaped, with a length:width ratio between 6:1 and 3:1. The leaf lamina has curved outer margins and narrows nearly to a point where it attaches to the petiole.
  • narrowly_obovate: A 2-dimensional shape that is narrowly egg-shaped or teardrop-shaped with a length:width ratio between 3:1 and 2:1. The leaf lamina has curved outer margins and narrows nearly to a point where it attaches to the petiole. (synonym, oblance-obovate)
  • obovate: A 2-dimensional shape that is egg-shaped with a length:width ratio between 2:1 and 3:2. The leaf lamina has curved outer margins and narrows nearly to a point where it attaches to the petiole.
  • widely_obovate: A 2-dimensional shape that is broadly egg-shaped with a length:width ratio of approximately 6:5. The leaf lamina has curved outer margins and narrows nearly to a point where it attaches to the petiole.
  • narrowly_triangular: A 2-dimensional shape that is narrowly triangular to wedge-shaped, with a length:width ratio 6:1 to 3:1 and the petiole attaching near the widest portion of the leaf (synonym: triangular; wedge-shaped).
  • triangular: A 2-dimensional shape that is triangular to wedge-shaped, with a length:width ratio 2:1 to 3:2 and the petiole attaching near the widest portion of the leaf (synonym: wedge-shaped).
  • deltate: A 2-dimensional shape that is triangular to wedge-shaped, with a length:width ratio of 1:1 and the petiole attaching along one of the broad sides.
  • obtriangular: A 2-dimensional shape that is triangular to fan-shaped or wedge-shaped, with a length:width ratio 2:1 to 3:2 and the petiole attaching near the narrowest portion of the leaf (synonym: flabelliform, fan-shaped, wedge-shaped).
  • narrowly_rhomboidal: A 2-dimensional shape that is like a narrow diamond, with approximately straight edges, widest near the middle, and a length:width ratio 6:1 to 3:1. The petiole attaches near one of the points.
  • rhomboidal: A 2-dimensional shape that is approximately diamond or parallelogram-shaped, with approximately straight edges, widest near the middle, and a length:width ratio 2:1 to 3:2. The petiole attaches near one of the points. (synonym: rhombic, diamond)
  • trullate: A 2-dimensional shape that is approximately parallelogram-shaped, widest near where the petiole attaches (base), and with a length:width ratio 2:1 to 3:2.
  • narrowly_obtrullate: A 2-dimensional shape that is narrowly parallelogram-shaped, widest near the tip, and with a length:width ratio 3:1 to 6:1.
  • obtrullate: A 2-dimensional shape that is approximately parallelogram-shaped, widest near the tip, and with a length:width ratio 2:1 to 3:2.
  • widely_obtrullate: A 2-dimensional shape that is broadly parallelogram-shaped, widest near the tip, and with a length:width ratio of approximately 6:5.
  • acicular: A 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional shape with a needlelike tip, often round in cross-section, with margins straight and parallel, and a length:width ratio greater than 12:1. (synonym, needle-shaped)
  • terete: A 3-dimensional shape that is a long, narrow cylinder approximately circular in cross-section. Terete leaves often taper toward the tip.
  • cordate: A 2-dimensional heart shape, approximately ovate with a cordate base, with the petiole attaching at the notch between the lobes. (synonym, cordiform)
  • obcordate: A 2-dimensional heart shape, approximately ovate with a cordate apex, and the petiole attaching along the broad, curve side.
  • falcate: A 2-dimensional sickle-shape, approximately lanceolate to linear and curved on one side. (synonym: scimitar-shaped, sickle-shaped, falciform)
  • reniform: A 2-dimensional shape that is roughly kidney-shaped, wider than long with a rounded apex and two rounded, basal lobes that are smoothly concave at their intersection.(synonym, kidney-shaped)
  • spathulate: A 2-dimensional shape that can be approximately oblong, obovate, or oblanceolate in outline with a long attenuate base, like a spoon. (synonym, spoon-shaped)
  • subulate: A 2-dimensional shape that is awl-shaped, approximately narrowly oblong to narrowly triangular with a broad base. (synonym, awl-shaped).
  • peltate: A 2-dimensional orbicular shape, distinguished by the petiole attaching near the center of the leaf lamina.
  • filiform: A 2-dimensional shape that is long, thin, and typically flexuous, threadlike, filamentous

storage_organ

• label: Storage organ, either for post-fire regeneration or general energy storage. Trait values include both generic terms and quite specific ones. See Pausus, Lamont et al. 2018, doi.org/10.1111/nph.14982 for trait values used and detailed desciptions of recolonization ability and level of fire protection provided by each regeneration strategy. See also the trait bud_bank_location.
• description: Storage organ
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • bulb: Below ground storage organ derived from stem (and sometimes leaf) tissue.
  • fleshy_underground_organ: Plants that use fleshy, generally underground organs (swellings) to regenerate; examples include corms, tubers, bulbs, and caudex
  • lignotuber: Swollen woody structures are located at the transition between the stem base and root crown of woody shrubs, mallees and small trees, and are formed from stem tissues. Buds are located over the entire structure. No colonisation ability.
  • rhizome: Plant has an underground stem; this stem may be woody or non-woody. Rhizomes are both a mechanism for vegetative spread and a strategy to survive fire.
  • storage_organ: Storage organ present, but the type is unknown
  • woody_rootstock_or_lignotuber: Plant that regenerates by resprouting from either a woody rootstock or lignotuber.
  • no_storage_organ: No storage organ present

plant_climbing_mechanism

• label: Mechanism vines use to climb
• description: Mechanisms plants use to climb, including both specialised leaf and stem adaptations and stem growth habits.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • adventitious_roots: Roots arising from stem nodes which cling to a host plant.
  • hooks: Curved stem outgrowths which allow climbers to cling to a host plant.
  • spines: Straight stem outgrowths (including true spines as well as thorns and prickles) which allow climbers to cling to a host plant.
  • tendrils: Modified leaves, petioles, or specialised axillary shoots that coil tightly, forming a specialised structure for climbing.
  • scrambling: Stem growth habit, where the plant stems are too weak to support themselves, and instead lean on and are supported by host vegetation. There are no specialised structures employed.
  • twining: Stem growth habit, where the plant stems twist or coil around a host plant to provide support.

bud_bank_location

• label: Location of resprouting buds following a fire.
• description: Location of resprouting buds following a fire. The trait vegetative_regeneration_or_reproduction_strategy captures the explicit tissue types that provides a more detailed list of species’ ability to regenerate vegetatively and their bud locations. See Pausus, Lamont et al. 2018, doi.org/10.1111/nph.14982 for trait values used and detailed desciptions of recolonization ability and level of fire protection provided by each regeneration strategy. See also the trait storage_organ.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • apical_buds: Plant resprouts from above-ground apical meristems. Also termed a caudex. Term refers to palm-like plants with aerial buds that resprout, including grass trees, palms, tree ferns, and pandanus.
  • basal_buds: Plant resprouts from its base, with basal stem versus underground buds not distinguished between. Most buds designated as basal_buds likely to be resprouts from a lignotuber, but this trait value is used if the dataset reported basal buds rather than basal stem buds or lignotuber.
  • basal_stem_buds: Plants resprout from the base of the stem following a fire. Australian plants with basal stem buds usually have a lignotuber; see the trait storage_organ.
  • bud-bearing_root: Root buds produce vertical suckers (from root crown) or adventitious roots following a fire.
  • epicormic_buds: Plants resprout from the stem or trunk following a fire.
  • rhizome: Plants reprout from a rhizome.
  • stem_buds: Plant resprouts from stem buds (separate to epicormic buds)
  • stem_tuber: Plant resprouts from buds on a stem tuber
  • stolon: Plants resprouts from buds on horizontal branches (stems) growing from the base of the plant.
  • underground_buds: Plants that resprout from underground organ, but the type of organ isn’t specified.
  • none: Plant lacks regenerative buds.

fire_response

• label: Resprouts or is killed by fire
• description: Distinguishes between mature plants that are killed versus resprout. Species where at least 70% of plants resprout following a fire that causes 100% leaf scorch are designated resprouters, while those where fewer than 30% of plants resprout are designated as fire killed. Species with an intermediate response have a mixed fire response, and are coded as fire_killed resprouts. (Gill & Bradstock 1992, Clarke 2015). This trait is narrowly applicable only to taxa that experience fire; see the trait fire_exposure_level for trait values related to species whose fire strategy is to avoid fire.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • fire_killed: Fewer than 30% of plants resprout following a hot fire.
  • resprouts: More than 70% of plants resprout following a hot fire.
  • partial_resprouting: Between 30-70% of plants resprout following a hot fire.
  • no_significant_fire_response: Plants are rarely killed by a moderate-intensity fire, but also do not resprout.
  • unknown: Fire status assessed, but unknown.

post_fire_recruitment

• label: Fire-cued seeding
• description: Distinguishes between plants that do and do not have fire-cued seeding.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • post_fire_recruitment: Plants that germinate robustly following fire.
  • post_fire_recruitment_moderate: Plants with a moderate number of seedlings present post-fire.
  • no_post_fire_recruitment: Plants that do not show increased seeding following fire.

leaf_specific_conductance

• label: Leaf hydraulic conductivity
• description: Measure of how efficiently water is transported through the leaf, determined as the ratio of water flow rate through the leaf to the difference in water potential across the leaf, standardised to leaf area.
• type: numeric
• units: mmol/m2/MPa/s
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 mmol/m2/MPa/s

leaf_dark_respiration_per_area

• label: Leaf respiration rate per unit leaf area, in the dark
• description: Leaf respiration rate per unit leaf area, in the dark
• type: numeric
• units: umol{CO2}/m2/s
• allowable range: 0.001 - 15 umol{CO2}/m2/s

leaf_dark_respiration_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf respiration rate per unit leaf dry mass, in the dark
• description: Leaf respiration rate per unit leaf dry mass, in the dark
• type: numeric
• units: umol{CO2}/g/s
• allowable range: 0.001 - 1 umol{CO2}/g/s

leaf_intercellular_CO2_concentration_at_Asat

• label: internal CO2 concentration during Asat measurement
• description: CO2 concentration in interstitial spaces during Asat measurement
• type: numeric
• units: umol{CO2}/mol
• allowable range: 10 - 1300 umol{CO2}/mol

leaf_N_per_area

• label: Leaf nitrogen (N) content per unit leaf area
• description: Leaf nitrogen (N) content per unit leaf area
• type: numeric
• units: g/m2
• allowable range: 0.15 - 50 g/m2

leaf_NP_ratio

• label: Ratio of N to P per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Ratio of N to P per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: g/g
• allowable range: 1 - 100 g/g

leaf_P_per_area

• label: Leaf phosphorus (P) content per unit leaf area
• description: Leaf phosphorus (P) content per unit leaf area
• type: numeric
• units: g/m2
• allowable range: 0.005 - 1.2 g/m2

leaf_P_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf phosphorus (P) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf phosphorus (P) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.03 - 12 mg/g

leaf_photosynthetic_nitrogen_use_efficiency_saturated

• label: Leaf photosynthesis rate per unit leaf nitrogen (N) content (photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency, PNUE) at saturating light conditions but ambient CO2 conditions
• description: Ratio of photosynthesis (CO2 assimilation rate) to leaf nitrogen content at saturating light conditions but ambient CO2 conditions
• type: numeric
• units: umol{CO2}/mol{N}/s
• allowable range: 1 - 1000 umol{CO2}/mol{N}/s

leaf_photosynthetic_phosphorus_use_efficiency_saturated

• label: Leaf photosynthesis rate per unit leaf phosphorus (P) content (photosynthetic phosphorus use efficiency, PPUE) at saturating light conditions but ambient CO2 conditions
• description: Ratio of photosynthesis (CO2 assimilation rate) to leaf phosphorus content at saturating light conditions but ambient CO2 conditions
• type: numeric
• units: umol{CO2}/mol{P}/s
• allowable range: 10 - 1e+05 umol{CO2}/mol{P}/s

leaf_photosynthetic_rate_per_area_maximum

• label: Leaf photosynthesis rate per unit leaf area at saturating light and CO2 conditions
• description: Rate at which a plant consumes carbon dioxide through photosynthesis at saturating light and CO2 conditions, per unit leaf area
• type: numeric
• units: umol{CO2}/m2/s
• allowable range: 0.25 - 85 umol{CO2}/m2/s

leaf_photosynthetic_rate_per_area_saturated

• label: Leaf photosynthesis rate per unit leaf area at saturating light conditions
• description: Rate at which a plant consumes carbon dioxide through photosynthesis at saturating light conditions but ambient CO2 conditions, per unit leaf area
• type: numeric
• units: umol{CO2}/m2/s
• allowable range: 0.01 - 100 umol{CO2}/m2/s

leaf_photosynthetic_rate_per_dry_mass_maximum

• label: Leaf photosynthesis rate per unit leaf dry mass at saturating light and CO2 conditions
• description: Maximum rate at which a plant consumes carbon dioxide through photosynthesis at saturating light and CO2 conditions, per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: umol{CO2}/g/s
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1 umol{CO2}/g/s

leaf_photosynthetic_rate_per_dry_mass_saturated

• label: Leaf photosynthesis rate per unit leaf dry mass at saturating light conditions
• description: Maximum rate at which a plant consumes carbon dioxide through photosynthesis at saturating light conditions but ambient CO2 conditions, per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: umol{CO2}/g/s
• allowable range: 0.001 - 1 umol{CO2}/g/s

leaf_intercellular_CO2_concentration_to_atmospheric_CO2_concentration_ratio

• label: Ratio of internal to external CO2 concentrations
• description: Ratio of internal to external CO2 concentrations
• type: numeric
• units: umol{CO2_internal}/umol{CO2_ambient}
• allowable range: 0 - 1.3 umol{CO2_internal}/umol{CO2_ambient}

leaf_stomatal_conductance_per_area_at_Amax

• label: Stomatal conductance per unit leaf area under saturated light and CO2 conditions
• description: Rate of water loss through stomata, per unit leaf area under saturated light and CO2 conditions
• type: numeric
• units: mmol{H2O}/m2/s
• allowable range: 0.1 - 2000 mmol{H2O}/m2/s

leaf_stomatal_conductance_per_area_at_Asat

• label: Stomatal conductance per unit leaf area under saturated light conditions
• description: Rate of water loss through stomata, per unit leaf area under saturated light conditions
• type: numeric
• units: mmol{H2O}/m2/s
• allowable range: 0.1 - 2000 mmol{H2O}/m2/s

leaf_transpiration_at_Amax

• label: Leaf transpiration during Amax measurement
• description: Rate of water loss from leaf during Amax measurement
• type: numeric
• units: mmol{H2O}/m2/s
• allowable range: 1e-04 - 10000 mmol{H2O}/m2/s

leaf_transpiration_at_Asat

• label: Leaf transpiration during Asat measurement
• description: Rate of water loss from leaf during Asat measurement
• type: numeric
• units: mmol{H2O}/m2/s
• allowable range: 1e-04 - 10000 mmol{H2O}/m2/s

leaf_water_use_efficiency_photosynthetic

• label: Leaf photosynthesis rate per unit leaf transpiration (photosynthetic water use efficiency, PWUE, or instantaneous WUE)
• description: PWUE calculated as Aarea/E; Ratio of photosynthesis (CO2 assimilation rate) to leaf transpiration (E; water loss). This is also termed instantaneous water use efficiency.
• type: numeric
• units: umol{CO2}/mmol{H2O}
• allowable range: 0.1 - 200 umol{CO2}/mmol{H2O}

leaf_intercellular_CO2_concentration_at_Amax

• label: internal CO2 concentration during Amax measurement
• description: CO2 concentration in interstitial spaces during Amax measurement
• type: numeric
• units: umol{CO2}/mol
• allowable range: 50 - 2100 umol{CO2}/mol

leaf_dark_transpiration_per_area

• label: Leaf transpiration rate per unit leaf area, in the dark
• description: Leaf transpiration rate per unit leaf area, in the dark
• type: numeric
• units: mmol{H2O}/m2/s
• allowable range: 1e-04 - 10000 mmol{H2O}/m2/s

leaf_lamina_division

• label: Leaf divisions
• description: A trait that captures the types of lobed leaves and compound leaves, including the arrangement of the lobes or leaflets relative to the midrib or other primary veins and the number of orders of axes across which there are incisions or divisions.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • pinnately_lobed: Leaf with divisions that are symmetrical across a central axis, usually the midvein.
  • palmately_lobed: Leaf with divisions that radiate from a single point, usually the basal junction of major veins.
  • pinnatifid: Leaf with lobes that extend less than half-way to the midrib.
  • bipinnatifid: Leaf that is twice pinnatifid, with two series of lobes that extend less than half-way to the midrib.
  • pinnatipartite: Leaf with lobes that extend more than half-way to the midrib.
  • pinnatisect: Leaf with lobes that extend nearly to the midrib, but the divisions are not separated into distinct leaflets.
  • bipinnatipartite: Leaf that is twice pinnatipartite, with two series of lobes that extend more than half-way to the midrib.
  • bipinnatisect: Leaf that is twice pinnatisect, with two series of lobes that extend nearly to the midrib, but the divisions are not separated into distinct leaflets.
  • trichotomously_divided: Leaf divided repeatedly into three lobes.
  • dichotomously_divided: Leaf divided repeatedly into two lobes.
  • bipartite: Leaf divided into two lobes.
  • tripartite: Leaf divided into three lobes.
  • pinnately_divided: Leaf divided into leaflets that attach along a central axis. [PATO_0000410]
  • palmately_divided: Leaf divided into leaflets that attach to a central point. (synonym, digitate)
  • bipinnate: Leaf that is twice pinnate, having pinnate leaflets that are themselves pinnately divided.
  • tripinnate: Leaf that is three times pinnate, with pinnate leaflets that are twice more pinnately divided.
  • trifoliate: Leaf divided into three leaflets. (synonym, ternate, trifoliolate)

leaf_type

• label: Leaf form
• description: Variable distinguishing between general leaf form (shape) categories.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • broadleaf: Flat leaf lamina, including leaves that both are and are not,toothed, lobed, or compound.
  • needle: Needle or awl-shaped leaf that is generally 3-dimensional.
  • scale: Leaf reduced to a small scale.
  • leafless: An adult stage plant that lacks leaves throughout the year.

leaf_C_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf carbon (C) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf carbon (C) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 50 - 750 mg/g

leaf_CN_ratio

• label: Leaf carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio
• description: Leaf carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio
• type: numeric
• units: g/g
• allowable range: 10 - 1000 g/g

leaf_delta15N

• label: Leaf nitrogen (N) isotope signature (delta 15N)
• description: Leaf nitrogen stable isotope signature
• type: numeric
• units: {delta}[ppth]
• allowable range: -25 - 75 {delta}[ppth]

wood_C_per_dry_mass

• label: Wood carbon (C) content per unit wood dry mass
• description: Wood carbon (C) content per unit wood dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 50 - 750 mg/g

wood_delta13C

• label: Wood carbon (C) isotope signature (delta 13C)
• description: Wood carbon stable isotope signature
• type: numeric
• units: {delta}[ppth]
• allowable range: -50 - 0 {delta}[ppth]

wood_delta15N

• label: Wood nitrogen (N) isotope signature (delta 15N)
• description: Wood nitrogen stable isotope signature
• type: numeric
• units: {delta}[ppth]
• allowable range: -25 - 75 {delta}[ppth]

wood_N_per_dry_mass

• label: Wood nitrogen (N) content per unit wood dry mass
• description: Wood nitrogen (N) content per unit wood dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 mg/g

leaf_dry_mass

• label: Leaf dry mass
• description: The oven dry mass of a leaf or leaf analogue (leaflet, cladode, phyllode).
• type: numeric
• units: mg
• allowable range: 0.01 - 15000 mg

leaf_fresh_mass

• label: Leaf fresh mass
• description: The fresh mass of a leaf or leaf analogue (leaflet, cladode, phyllode).
• type: numeric
• units: mg
• allowable range: 0.1 - 30000 mg

stem_water_delta18O

• label: Oxygen stable isotope signature (d18O) of stem water
• description: Oxygen stable isotope signature of stem water
• type: numeric
• units: {delta}[ppth]
• allowable range: -10 - 50 {delta}[ppth]

leaf_base_shape

• label: Leaf base shape
• description: The shape of the basal margin of a leaf.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • attenuate: Basal leaf margin abruptly incurved (concave), the two sides intersecting at an angle of less than 45°.
  • auriculate: Basal leaf margin with two rounded lobes. The leaf margin above the lobes is concave. The petiole attaches in the incised region between the lobes.
  • cuneate: Basal leaf margin approximately straight, the two sides intersecting at an angle between 45° to 90°.
  • hastate: Basal leaf margin with two lobes oriented outward, such that they are at approximately 90° relative to the central axis and the leaf margin is fairly flat at the base.
  • sagittate: Basal leaf margin with two lobes oriented downward, away from apex. The petiole attaches in the concave region between the lobes.

leaf_water_content_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf water content per unit dry mass
• description: Ratio of the mass of water in a leaf to leaf dry mass. (See also leaf_dry_matter_content, the ratio of a leaf’s dry mass to fresh mass, that is recorded by a greater number of studies.)
• type: numeric
• units: g/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 20 g/g

seed_storage_location

• label: Location where seeds are stored at maturity
• description: Location where seeds are stored at maturity; see also ‘seed_longevity_categorical’, ‘soil_seedbank’, ‘canopy_seedbank’, and ‘serotiny’
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • canopy: Seeds stored in the canopy, usually still within a woody cone
  • soil: Seeds stored in the soil
  • none: Seeds are not stored
  • not_canopy: Seed explicitly not stored in the canopy; other storage locations unknown

dispersers

• label: Diaspore dispersal agents
• description: Dominant diaspore dispersal agents. Terms include both species and more general dispersal agent groupings, matching the different levels of resolution provided by researchers.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • indigenous_people: Indigenous people disperse the fruit through traditional practises.
  • ants: Ants are an important fruit dispersal agent.
  • bats: Bats are an important fruit dispersal agent.
  • birds: Birds are an important fruit dispersal agent.
  • cassowaries: Cassowaries, in contrast to smaller flying birds, are an important fruit dispersal agent.
  • floods: Floods are an important fruit dispersal agent.
  • flying_vertebrates: Flying birds and bats are important fruit dispersal agents.
  • flying_foxes: Flying foxes are an important fruit dispersal agent.
  • garden_refuse: Fruit are dispersed through garden refuse.
  • insects: Insects are an important fruit dispersal agent.
  • invertebrates: Invertebrates are an important fruit dispersal agent.
  • mammals: Mammals are an important fruit dispersal agent.
  • non-flying_vertebrates: Mammals and non-flying birds (i.e. cassowary, emu) are important fruit dispersal agents.
  • passive: There is no special dispersal agent.
  • rain: Rain is an important fruit dispersal agent; the diaspore is propelled by action of rain on plant structure or the wetting of the plant structure by rain or dew.
  • rodents: Rodents are an important fruit dispersal agent.
  • vehicles: Vehicles are an important dispersal agent, such as through mud on tyres.
  • vertebrates: Vertebrates are an important fruit dispersal agent.
  • wind: Wind is an important fruit dispersal agent.
  • water: Water is an important fruit dispersal agent.
  • water_currents: Water currents are an important fruit dispersal agent; the diaspore may be either floating or submerged in fresh/saltwater currents.

plant_flood_regime_classification

• label: Growth and germination response to flood regime
• description: Functional group classification scheme used to categorise taxa into seven groups based on their growth and germination responses to flood regime. Based on Brock and Casanova (1997) and Casanova (2011).
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • terrestrial_dry: Species which germinate, grow and reproduce where there is no surface water and the water table is below the soil surface. (Dry species; Tdr)
  • terrestrial_damp: Species which germinate, grow and reproduce on saturated soil. (Damp species; Tda)
  • amphibious_fluctuation_tolerators_emergent: Species which germinate in damp or flooded conditions, which tolerate variation in water level, and which grow with their basal portions under water and reproduce out of water. (Emergent species; ATe)
  • amphibious_fluctuation_tolerators_low: Species which germinate in damp or flooded conditions, which tolerate variation in water level, which are low-growing and tolerate complete submersion when water-levels rise. (Low-growing species; ATl)
  • amphibious_fluctuation_responders_plastic: Species which germinate in flooded conditions, grow in both flooded and damp conditions, reproduce above the surface of the water, and which have morphological plasticity (e.g. heterophylly) in response to water-level variation. (Morphologically plastic species; ARp)
  • amphibious_fluctuation_responders_floating: Species which germinate in flooded conditions, grow in both flooded and damp conditions, reproduce above the surface of the water, and which have floating leaves when inundated. (Species with floating leaves; ARf)
  • amphibious: Species which germinate in damp or flooded conditions and can grow in or our of water.
  • submerged: Species which germinate, grow and reproduce underwater. (S

vegetative_reproduction_ability

• label: Ability to regenerate and spread through the growth and division of vegetative material.
• description: A binary trait, indicating whether a plant taxon is able to reproduce and spread through the growth and division of vegetative material. For plants able to reproduce vegetatively, more detailed information is provided in the trait clonal_spread_mechanism.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • not_vegetative: Plant taxa that regenerate and spread only by seed.
  • vegetative: Plant taxa that can regenerate and spread through the growth and division of vegetative material, not just from seed; examples include runners, rhizomes, and bulbs.

stem_respiration_per_dry_mass

• label: Stem respiration rate per unit dry mass
• description: Stem respiration rate per unit dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: umol{CO2}/g/s
• allowable range: 0.01 - 10 umol{CO2}/g/s

bark_thickness

• label: Bark thickness
• description: Thickness of the bark of the stem
• type: numeric
• units: mm
• allowable range: 0.01 - 50 mm

huber_value

• label: Huber value
• description: Sapwood area to leaf area ratio
• type: numeric
• units: mm2{sapwood}/mm2{leaf}
• allowable range: 1e-06 - 0.2 mm2{sapwood}/mm2{leaf}

leaf_photosynthesis_Jmax_per_area

• label: Capacity for photosynthetic electron transport, calculated from an A-Ci response curve, on an area basis
• description: Capacity for photosynthetic electron transport, calculated from an A-Ci response curve, on an area basis
• type: numeric
• units: umol/m2/s
• allowable range: 1 - 500 umol/m2/s

leaf_photosynthesis_Vcmax_per_area

• label: Maximum carboxylase activity of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco), measured through chlorophyll fluorescence, on a per mass basis
• description: Maximum carboxylase activity of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco), calculated from an A-Ci response curve, on an area basis
• type: numeric
• units: umol/m2/s
• allowable range: 10 - 500 umol/m2/s

fire_and_establishing

• label: Post-fire establishment
• description: Trait capturing post-fire time frame during which species establishes. The selection of trait values does not distinguish between intermediate age and mature vegetation, as this level of detail is rarely provide in datasets.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • establish_anytime: Plants can establish immediately after fire and in later years as vegetation ages, right thru to mature and over-mature vegetation (assuming suitable seasonal conditions).
  • establish_just_after_fire_only: Plants establish immediately after a fire (within the first 2 seasons, and usually within the first season), but cannot continue recruitment as the vegetation ages further, unable to establish in mature vegetation.
  • establish_intermediate_to_mature_vegetation_only: Plants unable to establish immediately after fire (within the first season or two), but can establish in older vegetation (including mature to over-mature vegetation), requires some environmental charateristics not found in vegetation straight after fires.

fire_response_juvenile

• label: Juvenile plants resprout or killed by file
• description: Variable summarising how juvenile plants respond to fire
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • juvenile_fire_killed: Few to no juvenile plants resprout following fire
  • juvenile_resprout: More than 50% of juvenile plants survive and resprout following fire
  • juvenile_moderate_fire_killed: 25-50% of juvenile plants resprout following fire

fire_response_on_maturity

• label: Plants’ maturity status after fire
• description: Variable summarising how plants’ maturity status changes following fire.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • remain_mature: Mature plants remain mature following fire.
  • mature_to_juvenile: Mature plants become juvenile following fire.
  • mature_do_not_resprout: Mature plants do not resprout following fire.

lifespan

• label: Life span (years)
• description: Broad categories of plant life span, in years
• type: numeric
• units: a
• allowable range: 0.1 - 10000 a

seed_longevity_categorical

• label: Seed longevity
• description: Seed or propagule longevity
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • transient: Propagule transient, lasting in the seedbank for only weeks to months.
  • intermediate_longevity: Propagule survives for approximately months to less than a year, although cutoff varies by study.
  • persistent: Propagule persistent, time not specified.
  • short_persistent: Propagule is persistent for approximately 1 to 5 years, although cutoff varies by study.
  • long_persistent: Propagule is persistent for more than 5 years, although cutoff varies by study.
  • widely_dispersed: Seed longevity not important, as seeds are widely dispersed and always available for germination.

life_form

• label: Life form
• description: Raunkiaer classification of life form, indicating the location of and protection provided to surviving meristematic tissue (buds) during the unfavourable (cold or dry) season.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • phanerophyte: Plant whose perennating buds are on persistent shoots which rise at least 50 cm above the soil surface. These are normally woody perennials.
  • chamaephyte: Plant whose perennating buds are on persistent shoots that do not extend more than 50 cm above the soil surface. These are normally woody perennials.
  • hemicryptophyte: Plant whose perennating buds are at or near the soil surface.
  • cryptophyte: Plant whose perennating buds are subterranean or under water. This grouping can be further divided into geophyte, helophyte, and hydrophyte.
  • geophyte: Plant that perennates as an organ (rhizome, bulb, corm, or tuber) buried in dry soil, with all leaves dying back each year; a subcategory of cryptophyte.
  • helophyte: Plant that perennates as an organ (rhizome, bulb, corm, or tuber) buried in marshy or wet soil or lying under water, with buds emerging during the growing season and shoots and leaves rising about the water surface; a subcategory of cryptophyte. (synonym, emergent_hydrophyte)
  • hydrophyte: Plant that perennates as buds or as an organ (rhizome, bulb, corm, or tuber) buried in marshy or wet soil or lying under water, with shoots emerging during the growing season that remain below or at the water surface; a subcategory of cryptophyte.
  • therophyte: Annual plants whose shoot and root systems die completely at the end of flowering and seed production, such that they survive the unfavourable cold or dry season in the form of seeds.
  • epiphyte: Plant that grows on the surface of another plant.
  • aerophyte: Plant that obtains moisture and nutrients from the air and rain, resting on other plants or the ground surface.

diaspore_fleshiness

• label: Diaspore fleshiness (fleshy / dry)
• description: Binary variable, dividing diaspores into ‘dry’ versus ‘fleshy’ based on whether they have fleshy pericarps, fleshy accessory tissues (such as the receptacle in Podocarpus), or fleshy appendages (e.g. aril, thalamus, receptacle, calyx, rachis or bract or succulent pedicel) when mature. Dispersal units where none of these tissues is fleshy are designated as ‘non-fleshy’.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • dry: Diaspores where the true fruit, accessory tissues and dispersal appendages are all dry when mature.
  • fleshy: Diaspores where either the true fruit, accessory tissues or dispersal appendages are fleshy when mature.

fruit_dehiscence

• label: Fruit dehiscence (dehiscent /indehiscent)
• description: Binary variable, dividing fruits into ‘dehiscent’ versus ‘indehiscent’ based on whether the individual fruit units are dehiscent when mature.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • dehiscent: Fruits are dehiscent when mature.
  • indehiscent: Fruits are indehiscent when mature.

fruit_fleshiness

• label: Fruit fleshiness (fleshy / dry)
• description: Binary variable, dividing entire, true fruits into ‘dry’ versus ‘fleshy’ based on whether their botanical fruit type is fleshy when mature and fresh. This trait explicitly refers to fruit fleshiness, not diaspore or seed fleshiness; diaspore fleshiness is a separate trait.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • dry: Fruits are dry when mature and fresh.
  • fleshy: Fruits are fleshy when mature and fresh.

fruit_length

• label: Fruit length
• description: Linear dimension from the base to the apex of a fresh fruit, even if this is not the longest dimension.
• type: numeric
• units: mm
• allowable range: 0.01 - 2000 mm

fruit_type

• label: Fruit type
• description: Fruit types
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • achene: A simple, dry, indehiscent fruit with a single seed that is attached to the pericarp at one point only. (synonym, cypsela)
  • anthocarp: A ripened ovary surrounded by attached accessory floral tissues; the floral tissues may be fleshy or dry. (synonym, accessory_fruit, pseudocarp, diclesium)
  • berry: A simple, indehiscent fruit with one to many seeds embedded in a fleshy pericarp.
  • capsule: A dry, dehiscent fruit composed of two or more united carpels; different types of capsules distinguished by type of dehiscence (e.g. valves, slits, pores).
  • caryopsis: A simple, dry, indehiscent fruit with a single seed which is fused to the pericarp at one point only; the fruit type of all Poaceae (synonym, grain)
  • compound_fruit_other: A fruit derived from more than one flower. (synonym, aggregate_fruit)
  • drupe: A simple indehiscent fruit with a hard, stony endocarp and a fleshy mesocarp.
  • follicle: A dry, dehiscent fruit derived from a single carpel that splits along one suture.
  • legume: A dry, dehiscent fruit derived from a single carpel that splits along two sutures; applies to Fabaceae. (synonym, pod)
  • legume_indehiscent: A dry, indehiscent fruit derived from a single carpel; applies to Fabaceae.
  • mericarp: A fruitlet (seed-containing portion of a fruit) that is a half-carpel; the individual fruitlets separate from one another at maturity; a specific type of schizocarp. (In some datasets, term likely refers to any fruitlet derived from a portion of a schizocarp that separates at maturity, not explicitly just a half-carpel.)
  • multiple_fruit: A fruit composed of several fruitlets developing from a single flower (e.g. raspberries, magnolias); fruits developing from more than one flower are included under compound (aggregate) fruits.
  • nut: A simple, dry, indehiscent fruit with a single seed and a hard pericarp.
  • nutlet: A diminutive of nut, referring to a simple, dry, indehiscent structure with a single seed that might be an entire fruit (nut; monocarp) or a portion of a fruit, such as the individual components derived from an apocarp (fruit with multiple unfused ovaries) or schizocarp (fruit with multiple ovaries that separate at maturity).
  • pome: A fleshy fruit with the bulk of the fleshy tissue derived from flora tissue that surrounds the inferior ovary.
  • pyrene: A fleshy fruit in which the seed(s) are covered by a hard layer of endocarp.
  • samara: A winged, dry fruit.
  • schizocarp: Category that includes all fruits derived from a compound pistil that separate into individual carpellary constituents at maturity; broad terms that includes dry and fleshy fruits, some with accessory tissues, others without. The individual seed-containing units that a schizocarp breaks apart into include mericarps, nutlets, and fruitlets.
  • silique: A type of capsule (dry, dehiscent fruit) where the fruit is divided into two parts by a thin partition; more than three times as long as wide; applies to Brassicaceae (synonym, silicle, siliqua)
  • strobilus: A modified reproductive shoot system found in many nonflowering plants, especially gymnosperms, comprised of overlapping bracts (scales). (synonym, cone)
  • syncarp: A compound fruit produced by the adhesion of the fruits from several flowers.
  • syconium: A fleshy compound fruit, in which the fruitlets are enclosed in accessory material, such as the hollow-centered fruits of Moraceae. (synonym, synconium, fig)
  • utricle: A bladdery or inflated dry fruit with a single seed; essential an achene in which the pericarp is significantly larger than the mature seed.

fruit_width

• label: Fruit width
• description: Greatest linear width dimension of a fresh fruit, sometimes referred to as ‘diameter’ in fruits where the width and height are identical; orthogonal to the length, the base-to-apex dimension.
• type: numeric
• units: mm
• allowable range: 0.01 - 2000 mm

water_potential_predawn

• label: Pre-dawn water potential
• description: A plant’s water potential just before sunrise
• type: numeric
• units: MPa
• allowable range: -8 - 0 MPa

leaf_photosynthetic_rate_per_area_ambient

• label: Leaf photosynthesis rate per unit leaf area
• description: Rate at which a plant consumes carbon dioxide through photosynthesis, per unit leaf area
• type: numeric
• units: umol{CO2}/m2/s
• allowable range: 0.25 - 50 umol{CO2}/m2/s

leaf_stomatal_conductance_per_area_ambient

• label: Stomatal conductance per unit leaf area under ambient conditions
• description: Rate of water loss through stomata under ambient conditions, per unit leaf area
• type: numeric
• units: mmol{H2O}/m2/s
• allowable range: 0.1 - 2000 mmol{H2O}/m2/s

leaf_transpiration

• label: Leaf transpiration under ambient conditions
• description: Rate of water loss from leaf under ambient conditions
• type: numeric
• units: mmol{H2O}/m2/s
• allowable range: 1e-04 - 10000 mmol{H2O}/m2/s

water_potential_midday

• label: Midday water potential
• description: A plant’s water potential during the heat of the day
• type: numeric
• units: MPa
• allowable range: -10 - 0 MPa

leaf_specific_conductivity

• label: Leaf specific hydraulic conductivity (Kl)
• description: Kl; the ratio of leaf hydraulic conductivity to the leaf area distil to the segment
• type: numeric
• units: 10^4.kg/m/MPa/s
• allowable range: 0.1 - 500 10^4.kg/m/MPa/s

sapwood_specific_conductivity

• label: Sapwood specific conductivity (Ks)
• description: Ks; Describes the flow rate of water (kg/s) along a stem for a given drop in pressure (1/MPa), normalised to the length of the segment (1/m). Calculated as hydraulic conductivity divided by the sapwood cross-sectional area where the measurement is taken.
• type: numeric
• units: kg/m/MPa/s
• allowable range: 0.01 - 500 kg/m/MPa/s

stem_hydraulic_conductivity

• label: Hydraulic conductivity (Kh)
• description: Kh; Measure of how efficiently water is transported through the leaf, determined as the ratio of water flow rate through the leaf to the difference in water potential across the leaf, standardised to leaf area; units same as mg*m/s/MPa
• type: numeric
• units: 10^6.kg.m/MPa/s
• allowable range: 0.01 - 2000 10^6.kg.m/MPa/s

water_potential_50percent_lost_conductivity

• label: Xylem pressure at which 50% of conductivity is lost
• description: Xylem pressure at which 50% of conductivity is lost
• type: numeric
• units: MPa
• allowable range: -15 - 0 MPa

hydraulic_safety_margin_50

• label: Hydraulic safety margin (versus 50% loss conductivity)
• description: Difference between minimum observed water potential and water potential at which 50% of conductivity is lost.
• type: numeric
• units: MPa
• allowable range: -5 - 10 MPa

water_potential_88percent_lost_conductivity

• label: Xylem pressure at which 88% of conductivity is lost
• description: Xylem pressure at which 88% of conductivity is lost
• type: numeric
• units: MPa
• allowable range: -15 - 0 MPa

reproductive_maturity_secondary_after_fire

• label: Years required to reach secondary reproductive maturity following disturbance (fire)
• description: For species that survive a fire, the number of years post-disturbance required to resprout and re-reach reproductive maturity.
• type: numeric
• units: a
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 a

reproductive_maturity

• label: Age of plants at reproductive maturity
• description: Age of plants at reproductive maturity.
• type: numeric
• units: a
• allowable range: 0 - 1000 a

fruiting_time

• label: Range of fruiting time
• description: Months during which taxon produces fruit with mature seeds; keyed as a sequences of 12 Ns (not flowering) and Ys (flowering) starting with January.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • **:

plant_diameter_breast_height

• label: Stem diameter
• description: Diameter at the base of the plant, usually “DBH” except in short plants; only “maximum” values are included
• type: numeric
• units: mm
• allowable range: 0.01 - 5000 mm

leaf_margin

• label: Leaf margin
• description: Shape of the leaf margin, referencing incisions or projections in the outermost 1/8 of the leaf lamina.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • entire: Leaf margin lacks projections or indentations that extend less than 1/8 of the distance to the midrib.
  • toothed: Leaf margin has small projections or lobes along the edge of the leaf lamina. This is a broad term that includes serrate, dentate, and crenulate.
  • toothed_serrate: Type of toothed leaf margin with sharp teeth that are angled toward the tip of the leaf. (synonym, saw-toothed)
  • toothed_dentate: Type of toothed leaf margin with sharp teeth that point outwards at right angles to the leaf margin.
  • toothed_crenate: Type of toothed leaf margin with teeth that are rounded or obtuse, rather than having a sharp apex. [PO:0025519]

leaf_margin_posture

• label: Leaf margin posture
• description: The posture (curvature or curling) of the leaf margin.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • revolute: Leaf margins along the side of the leaf are rolled under or downward. [PATO:0001963]
  • recurved: Leaf tip is curved outward or downward. [PATO:0002211]
  • flat: Leaf lamina, including margins, is a flat plane. [PATO:0000407]

plant_width

• label: Plant width
• description: Width of the plant canopy
• type: numeric
• units: m
• allowable range: 0.001 - 20 m

leaf_light_respiration_per_area

• label: Leaf respiration rate per unit leaf area, in the light
• description: Leaf respiration rate per unit leaf area, in the light
• type: numeric
• units: umol{CO2}/m2/s
• allowable range: 1e-05 - 10000 umol{CO2}/m2/s

leaf_senesced_N_per_dry_mass

• label: Senesced leaf nitrogen (N) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Senesced leaf nitrogen (N) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 1 - 100 mg/g

leaf_senesced_P_per_dry_mass

• label: Senesced leaf phosphorus (P) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Senesced leaf phosphorus (P) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.005 - 15 mg/g

wood_P_per_dry_mass

• label: Wood phosphorus (P) content per unit wood dry mass
• description: Wood phosphorus (P) content per unit wood dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.001 - 10 mg/g

cell_cross-sectional_area

• label: Cell cross sectional area
• description: Cell cross sectional area
• type: numeric
• units: um2
• allowable range: 100 - 10000 um2

leaf_cuticle_thickness_abaxial

• label: Lower cuticle thickness
• description: Thickness of the lower cuticle
• type: numeric
• units: um
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 um

leaf_cuticle_thickness_adaxial

• label: Upper cuticle thickness
• description: Thickness of the upper cuticle
• type: numeric
• units: um
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 um

leaf_epidermis_thickness_abaxial

• label: Thickness of the epidermis on the lower leaf surface
• description: Thickness of the epidermis on the lower leaf surface
• type: numeric
• units: um
• allowable range: 1 - 100 um

leaf_epidermis_thickness_adaxial

• label: Thickness of the epidermis on the upper leaf surface
• description: Thickness of the epidermis on the upper leaf surface
• type: numeric
• units: um
• allowable range: 1 - 100 um

leaf_palisade_cell_thickness_abaxial

• label: Lower palisade cell thickness
• description: Thickness (length) of lower palisade cells
• type: numeric
• units: um
• allowable range: 10 - 1000 um

leaf_palisade_cell_thickness_adaxial

• label: Upper palisade cell thickness
• description: Thickness (length) of upper palisade cells
• type: numeric
• units: um
• allowable range: 10 - 1000 um

leaf_spongy_mesophyll_thickness

• label: Spongy mesophyll cell thickness
• description: Thickness of the spongy mesophyll cells
• type: numeric
• units: um
• allowable range: 10 - 1000 um

nitrogen_fixing

• label: Plant nitrogen fixation capacity
• description: Binary variable describing whether or not a plant hosts a nitrogen-fixing bacteria
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • non_nitrogen_fixer: plant does not exhibit nitrogen-fixation
  • nitrogen_fixer: plant does exhibit nitrogen-fixation

photosynthetic_pathway

• label: Photosynthetic pathway
• description: Type of photosynthetic pathway displayed by plants
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • c3: Plant using the ‘standard’ photosynthetic pathway, where a 3-carbon compound is produced after the first stage in the photosynthetic pathway
  • c4: Plants in which the photosynthetic light-dependent reactions and the Calvin cycle are physically separated to reduce photo respiration
  • c3-c4: Taxa that shift between c3 and c4 photosynthesis
  • cam: Plants which display crassulacean acid metabolism
  • c3-cam: Taxa that shift between c3 and cam photosynthesis
  • c4-cam: Taxa that shift between c4 and cam photosynthesis
  • facultative_cam: Species that shifts between C3 and CAM photosynesis depending on water availablility.
  • unknown: Photosynthetic pathway unknown

leaf_hypodermis_thickness_adaxial

• label: Upper hypodermis thickness
• description: Thickness of the upper hypodermis
• type: numeric
• units: um
• allowable range: 1 - 100 um

leaf_hypodermis_thickness_abaxial

• label: Lower hypodermis thickness
• description: Thickness of the lower hypodermis
• type: numeric
• units: um
• allowable range: 1 - 100 um

leaf_inclination_angle

• label: Leaf inclination angle, relative to horizontal
• description: The inclination angle of the upper (adaxial) leaf lamina surface relative to a horizontal plane, such that a leaf surface facing the solar zenith has an angle of 0.
• type: numeric
• units: deg
• allowable range: -90 - 90 deg

leaf_stomatal_resistance_conductance_ambient

• label: Leaf resistance conductance under ambient conditions
• description: Leaf stomatal resistance under ambient conditions. This is the original way leaf stomatal conductance was measured and reported and is still regularly used in environmental models and meteorology. An equation converts between resistance conductance and the molar values obtained through gas exchange readings (“Plants and Microclimate” by H.G. Jones (1992), page 55 and Appendix 3; “Elevated Carbon Dioxide Impacts on Soil and Plant Water Relations” by M.B. Kirkham (2011), page 149).
• type: numeric
• units: cm/s
• allowable range: 1e-04 - 10 cm/s

woodiness

• label: Woodiness
• description: A binary trait, indicating whether or not a plant’s stems are woody, with woody broadly defined to include both true wood (secondary xylem) and taxa that do not produce secondary xylem (i.e. monocots and ferns) but have thick, stiff, robust lignified stems.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • herbaceous: Plant with non-lignified stems.
  • woody: Plant whose stems are stiff and lignified, including both stems that produce secondary xylem and those that produce only lignified primary tissues but are notably stiff and robust.

leaf_reflectance

• label: Proportion of incoming visible light that is reflected by the leaf
• description: Proportion of incoming visible light (between 400-700 nm) that is reflected by the leaf
• type: numeric
• units: umol/umol
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1 umol/umol

leaf_reflectance_near_infrared

• label: Proportion of incoming near infra-red light that is reflected by the leaf
• description: Proportion of incoming near infra-red light (between 750-10500 nm) that is reflected by the leaf
• type: numeric
• units: umol/umol
• allowable range: 0.1 - 1 umol/umol

leaf_water_content_per_fresh_mass

• label: Leaf water content per unit fresh mass
• description: Ratio of the mass of water in a leaf to leaf fresh mass. (See also leaf_dry_matter_content, the ratio of a leaf’s dry mass to fresh mass, that is recorded by a greater number of studies.)
• type: numeric
• units: g/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 10 g/g

leaf_pendulousness

• label: Pendulous leaves
• description: Binary variable describing whether or not leaves are pendulous, hanging loosely downward and possessing the ability to flutter.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • pendulous: Leaves are pendulous.
  • not_pendulous: Leaves are not pendulous.

leaf_lifespan

• label: Leaf lifespan (longevity)
• description: Duration of time that an individual leaf is attached to the stem and physiologically functional.
• type: numeric
• units: mo
• allowable range: 1 - 1000 mo

seed_P_per_seed_dry_mass

• label: Seed phosphorus concentration
• description: Seed phosphorus (P) content per unit seed mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 1 - 100 mg/g

leaf_B_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf boron (B) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf boron (B) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/kg
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1000 mg/kg

leaf_Ca_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf calcium (Ca) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf calcium (Ca) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1000 mg/g

leaf_Cu_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf copper (Cu) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf copper (Cu) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/kg
• allowable range: 0.01 - 150 mg/kg

leaf_Fe_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf iron (Fe) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf iron (Fe) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/kg
• allowable range: 1 - 10000 mg/kg

leaf_K_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf potassium (K) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf potassium (K) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 mg/g

leaf_Mg_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf magnesium (Mg) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf magnesium (Mg) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 10000 mg/g

leaf_Mn_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf manganese (Mn) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf manganese (Mn) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/kg
• allowable range: 1 - 20000 mg/kg

leaf_Ni_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf nickel (Ni) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf nickel (Ni) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/kg
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 mg/kg

leaf_S_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf sulphur (S) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf sulphur (S) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/kg
• allowable range: 50 - 50000 mg/kg

leaf_Zn_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf zinc (Zn) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf zinc (Zn) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/kg
• allowable range: 0.1 - 1000 mg/kg

leaf_Mo_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf molybdenum (Mo) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf molybdenum (Mo) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/kg
• allowable range: 0 - 100 mg/kg

serotiny

• label: Serotiny
• description: Categorical variable describing whether a fruit or cone only releases its seeds following an environmental trigger, often fire
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • not_serotinous: Plant does not display serotiny
  • serotinous: Plant serotinous, level not specified
  • serotiny_low: Plant displays a low level of serotiny
  • serotiny_moderate: Plant displays a moderate level of serotiny
  • serotiny_high: Plant displays a high level of serotiny

leaf_ash_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf ash content per dry mass
• description: Leaf ash content per dry mass, where leaf ash is the component of the leaf remaining after combustion.
• type: numeric
• units: g/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 100 g/g

leaf_phenol_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf phenol content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf phenol content, measured as gallic acid equivalents (GAE), per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 1 - 500 mg/g

leaf_Si_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf silicon (Si) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf silicon (Si) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: g/kg
• allowable range: 0.01 - 100 g/kg

leaf_area_ratio

• label: Leaf area ratio
• description: The total leaf area of a plant divided by the plant’s total dry mass; LAR.
• type: numeric
• units: mm2/mg
• allowable range: 0.05 - 100 mm2/mg

whole_plant_transpiration

• label: Whole plant transpiration
• description: Rate of water loss per plant, as calculated across longer periods of time under experimental conditions.
• type: numeric
• units: g/cm2/d
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1000 g/cm2/d

bulk_modulus_of_elasticity

• label: Bulk modulus of elasticity (e)
• description: In leaves, the ratio of the change in cell turgor to the change in cell volume as a plant dries out; calculated from a pressure-volume curve
• type: numeric
• units: MPa
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 MPa

leaf_relative_water_content_at_turgor_loss_point

• label: Leaf relative water content at turgor loss point
• description: Ratio of water in a fresh leaf to water in a leaf at turgor loss; calculated from a pressure-volume curve.
• type: numeric
• units: g/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 1 g/g

osmotic_potential_at_full_turgor

• label: Osmotic potential at full tugor
• description: Osmotic potential at full tugor; calculated from a pressure-volume curve
• type: numeric
• units: MPa
• allowable range: -10 - -0.1 MPa

root_shoot_ratio

• label: Root to shoot ratio (dry mass)
• description: Ratio of root dry mass to shoot dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg{root}/mg{shoot}
• allowable range: 0.01 - 15 mg{root}/mg{shoot}

leaf_soluble_starch_per_mass

• label: Soluble starch per leaf mass
• description: Mass of soluble starch per leaf mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 200 mg/g

leaf_soluble_sugars_per_mass

• label: Soluble sugars per leaf mass
• description: Mass of soluble sugars per leaf mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 1 - 200 mg/g

root_soluble_starch_per_mass

• label: Soluble starch per root mass
• description: Mass of soluble starch per root mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 mg/g

root_soluble_sugars_per_mass

• label: Soluble sugars per root mass
• description: Mass of soluble sugars per root mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 1 - 200 mg/g

stem_soluble_starch_per_mass

• label: Soluble starch per stem mass
• description: Mass of soluble starch per stem mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 mg/g

stem_soluble_sugars_per_mass

• label: Soluble sugars per stem mass
• description: Mass of soluble sugars per stem mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 1 - 200 mg/g

leaf_stomatal_distribution

• label: Stomatal distribution
• description: Distribution of stomatal across the two leaf surfaces
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • amphistomatic: Leaves with stomata on both leaf surfaces
  • amphistomatic_uneven: Leaves with stomata on both leaf surfaces, but more stomata on the lower leaf surface
  • epistomatic: Leaves that only have stomata on the upper (adaxial) leaf surface
  • hypostomatic: Leaves that only have stomata on the lower (abaxial) leaf surface

leaf_work_to_punch

• label: Work to punch through a leaf
• description: Measure of how much force (work) is required to punch through a leaf; units same as J/m2; slight variation in methods used will mean that, in some cases, values are not perfectly comparable across studies
• type: numeric
• units: N/m
• allowable range: 0.5 - 10000 N/m

leaf_work_to_punch_adjusted

• label: Work to punch through a leaf, adjusted for leaf thickness
• description: Measure of how much force (work) is required to punch through a leaf, adjusted for leaf thickness; units same as J/m2; slight variation in methods used will mean that, in some cases, values are not perfectly comparable across studies
• type: numeric
• units: N/m2
• allowable range: 1000 - 3e+07 N/m2

leaf_work_to_shear

• label: Work to shear a leaf
• description: Measures of how much force (work) is required to shear a leaf; equivalent to cutting a leaf with scissors; units same as J/m; slight variation in methods used will mean that, in some cases, values are not perfectly comparable across studies
• type: numeric
• units: N
• allowable range: 0.01 - 10 N

leaf_work_to_shear_adjusted

• label: Work to shear a leaf, adjusted for leaf thickness
• description: Measures of how much force (work) is required to shear a leaf, adjusted to leaf thickness; same units as J/m2; also referred to as ‘fracture toughness’; slight variation in methods used will mean that, in some cases, values are not perfectly comparable across studies
• type: numeric
• units: N/m
• allowable range: 100 - 10000 N/m

leaf_work_to_tear_adjusted

• label: Work to tear a leaf, adjusted for leaf thickness
• description: Measures of how much force (work) is required to tear/rip a leaf, adjusted to leaf thickness; units same as J/m2; slight variation in methods used will mean that, in some cases, values are not perfectly comparable across studies
• type: numeric
• units: N/m
• allowable range: 10 - 15000 N/m

flower_androecium_structural_merism

• label: Number of androecium parts in each whorl (Androecium structural merism)
• description: The number of stamens or stamen bundles (fascicles) in one whorl, considering both fertile stamens and staminodes. This character is not applicable for spiral or irregular stamen arrangements, nor when there is a single structural stamen (i.e., one stamen, no staminodes; e.g., Chloranthus, Chloranthaceae). (Definition derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘332. Androecium structural merism (C1)’)
• type: numeric
• units: {count}
• allowable range: 0 - 100 {count}

flower_androecium_structural_phyllotaxis

• label: Androecium structural phyllotaxis
• description: Structural phyllotaxy of the androecium, considering both fertile stamens and staminodes. In cases of stamen fascicles, it is the phyllotaxis of fascicles, not individual stamens that are recorded. This character is not applicable when there is a single structural stamen (i.e., one stamen, no staminodes; e.g., Chloranthus, Chloranthaceae). (Definition and trait values derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘330. Androecium structural phyllotaxy (D1)’)
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • whorled: Stamens and staminodes arranged in whorls
  • spiral: Stamens and staminodes have a spiral arrangement
  • irregular: Stamens and staminodes have an irregular arrangement

flower_androecium_structural_whorls_count

• label: Number of androecium structural whorls
• description: The number of whorls, considering both fertile stamens and staminodes. In cases of stamen fascicles, the count of whorls of fascicles is recorded. This character is not applicable for spiral or irregular stamen arrangements, or when there is a single structural stamen (i.e., one stamen, no staminodes; e.g., Chloranthus, Chloranthaceae). (Definition derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘331. Number of androecium structural whorls (C1)’)
• type: numeric
• units: {count}
• allowable range: 0 - 100 {count}

flower_anther_attachment

• label: Anther attachment
• description: Anther attachment refers to the area of insertion of the filament on the anther connective (i.e. the tissue connecting the two thecae of an anther). (Definition and trait values derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘312. Anther attachment (D1)’)
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • basifixed: Filament attached to the base of the connective. Laminar stamens are classified as basifixed
  • dorsifixed: Filament attached to the dorsal side of the anther
  • dorsifixed_at_base: Filament attached to the dorsal side of the anther, at the base**
  • ventrifixed: Filament attached to the ventral side of the anther

flower_anther_dehiscence

• label: Anther dehiscence
• description: Anther dehiscence refers to the type of opening of the anther when releasing its pollen through the stomia. (Definition and trait values derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘313. Anther dehiscence (D1)’)
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • longitudinal_slit: Anther with longitudinal slits that extend along the entire length of each theca
  • poricidal: Anther where dehiscence of longitudinal slits is incomplete, with pollen exiting via a small pore
  • h_valvate: Anther with two valves on longitudinal hinges, opening horizontally as sallon doors; when the stomium bifurcates at its distal and/or proximal end and thus a valve is formed
  • flap_valvate: Anther with one or more flap-like valves on horizontal hinges, opening vertically
  • transverse_slit: Anther with horizontal slit
  • short_basal_slits: Anther where dehiscence of longitudinal slits is incomplete and only occurs over a short extent at the base of the theca
  • short_central_slits: Anther where dehiscence of longitudinal slits is incomplete and only occurs over a short extent at the center of the theca
  • short_apical_slits: Anther where dehiscence of longitudinal slits is incomplete and only occurs over a short extent at the apical end of the theca
  • t_valvate: Anther with T-shaped stomium; reduced transverse slit at base
  • common_stomium_confluent_thecae: (uncertain)

flower_anther_orientation

• label: Anther orientation
• description: Orientation of anther at anthesis. Anthers of angiosperms are rather uniform in their basic structure. They normally have four microsporangia (pollen sacs) that are arranged pair-wise in two thecae. The two microsporangia of a theca usually release their pollen grains through a common opening (stomium). Often, it is difficult to establish anther orientation clearly in a flower as this is a gradual feature with many intermediate stages. (Definition and trait values derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘311. Anther orientation (D1)’)
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • apical: When thecae are positioned in a transverse position at the tip of the connective and thus dehisce upward in the flower (e.g., Sinofranchetia, Endress and Hufford, 1989).
  • extrorse: When the stomia of the thecae face the floral periphery
  • introrse: When the stomia of the thecae face the floral centre
  • latrorse: When pollen is released toward the side (i.e., toward neighbouring anthers)

flower_fertile_stamens_count

• label: Number of fertile stamens
• description: Count of fertile stamens in bisexual or male flowers; does not score female flowers. (Definition derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘301. Number of fertile stamens (C1)’)
• type: numeric
• units: {count}
• allowable range: 0 - 10000 {count}

flower_filament

• label: Filament presence and shape
• description: Trait that considers the absence or presence of the filament, and in the latter case, the shape of the filament. Shape is considered in terms of length and width and is defined in relation to anther length/width. The width of the filament may thus either be broad as in laminar (e.g., Eupomatiaceae) or bulky stamens (e.g., Chloranthaceae), or narrow (filamentous) as found in many core eudicots groups (e.g., Rosaceae). This trait is considered inapplicable when filaments are entirely fused with each other or to the perianth. (Definition and trait values derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘305. Filament (D1)’)
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • absent: No filaments present
  • present_general: Filaments present, with no specific defining characteristics
  • long_and_narrow: Long and narrow shape; also called filiform, slender
  • short_and_narrow: Short and narrow shape; subsessile anthers
  • long_and_wide: Long and wide laminar shape
  • short_and_wide: Short and wide laminar shape
  • long_and_very_wide: Long and very wide shape; for instance, the petal-like (outer) stamens of Nymphaea
  • petaloid: Long and wide and colorful, e.g. Canna
  • fused_into_synandrium: Structure formed when stamens fused together
  • fused_into_fascicle_stalks: Special case where the stamens are fused into the stalk of a fascicle of flowers
  • long_and_narrow_divided_in_two: Long and narrow shape that is divided in two; e.g. Adoxa
  • short_general: Filament is short relative to the anther

flower_filament_fusion

• label: Fusion of filaments
• description: Fusion of stamen (and staminode) filaments among each other at anthesis (congenitally or postgenitally) is recorded on a continuous scale, from 0 (free filaments) to 1 (filaments fused along their entire length). Partial fusion is recorded using an approximate number between these two extremes (e.g., 0.1 corresponds to basal fusion, 0.5 to fusion along half of the length of filaments). (Definition derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘306. Fusion of filaments (C1)’)
• type: numeric
• units: {dimensionless}
• allowable range: 0 - 1 {dimensionless}

flower_filament_fusion_to_inner_perianth

• label: Fusion of filaments to inner perianth series
• description: The fusion of filaments with the innermost perianth organs at anthesis on a continuous scale, from 0 (filaments completely free from perianth) to 1 (filaments fused along their entire length with the perianth; the ‘entire length’ of the filament is defined as the distance between the floral base and the joint between filament and anther). Partial fusion is recorded using an approximate number between these two extremes (e.g., 0.1 corresponds to basal fusion, 0.5 to fusion along half of the length of perianth parts). If two (or more) stamen whorls (including staminodial whorls) differ in their extent of filament fusion with the perianth, this trait is recorded as a range of values. For example, if the filaments of an outermost stamen whorl are fused, up to 90% of their length, but an inner whorl only up to 50%, the trait is assigned a range of 0.5 to 0.9. The rationale for this is to provide a general trait that allows comparison of fusion among all angiosperms. (Definition derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘308. Fusion of filaments to inner perianth series (C1)’)
• type: numeric
• units: {dimensionless}
• allowable range: 0 - 1 {dimensionless}

flower_gynoecium_phyllotaxis

• label: Gynoecium phyllotaxis
• description: Structural phyllotaxy of the gynoecium. This trait is not applicable to unicarpellate flowers. (Definition and trait values derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘400. Gynoecium phyllotaxy (D1)’)
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • one_whorl: Flowers with a single whorl of carpels
  • two_or_more_whorls: Flowers with two or more whorls of carpels
  • spiral: Flowers with carpels in a spiral arrangement

flower_gynoecium_placentation

• label: Placentation
• description: The different types of placentation in apocarpous/unicarpellate and in syncarpous gynoecia. In apocarpous and unicarpellate gynoecia, placentation is often described as marginal as the ovules are usually attached along the ventral slit (i.e., the zone where the carpel margins become postgenitally closed during carpel development). In syncarpous gynoecia there are three main types of placentation, 1) axile placentation refers to ovaries where the ovules are placed in the angle between carpel flanks in the center of the ovary; 2) in ovaries with parietal placentation the ovules attach to the ovary wall where two carpels meet; 3) in ovaries with free-central placentation the ovules are attached to a central column that emerges from the base of the ovary and protrudes into the non-septate ovary. It is not unusual that syncarpous gynoecia show a transition from proximally axile to a distally parietal placentation (e.g., Polemoniaceae). Basal and apical placentation may occur both in apocarpous/unicarpellate and in syncarpous gynoecia. Usually there is one longitudinal series of ovules attached to each carpel margin. However, both in apocarpous/unicarpellate and in syncarpous gynoecia there may be more than one series of ovules at the flanks of a carpel. These latter cases are referred to as laminar (or laminar-diffuse) placentation (e.g., in some Nymphaeaceae). A placenta that is protruding from its surroundings and has more than two series of ovules (either axile or parietal) is called protruding-diffuse. (Definition and trait values derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘412. Placentation (D1)’)
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • axile: Ovules are placed in the angle between carpel flanks in the center of the ovary; in syncarpous gynoecia
  • apical: Ovules attach at the top of the ovary; pendulous; in syncarpous gynoecia and apocarpous and unicarpellate gynoecia
  • basal: Ovules attach at the base of the ovary; in syncarpous gynoecia and apocarpous and unicarpellate gynoecia
  • parietal: Ovules attach to the ovary wall where two carpels meet; in syncarpous gynoecia
  • marginal: Ovules attach along the ventral slit; in apocarpous and unicarpellate gynoecia
  • free_central: Ovules are attached to a central column that emerges from the base of the ovary and protrudes into the non-septate ovary; in syncarpous gynoecia
  • laminar: When there is more than one series of ovules at the flanks of a carpel; in syncarpous gynoecia and apocarpous and unicarpellate gynoecia

flower_ovary_fusion

• label: Fusion of ovaries
• description: Degree of ovary fusion expressed as a fraction of the total length of the ovary (from the floral base to the apex of the ovary). Fusion of styles and stigmas is not taken into account for this trait. Not applicable when there is a single carpel. (Definition derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘403. Fusion of ovaries (C1)’)
• type: numeric
• units: {dimensionless}
• allowable range: 0 - 1 {dimensionless}

flower_ovary_position

• label: Ovary position
• description: The ovary is the part of the gynoecium where the ovules are produced. The ovary may be located on the receptacle and thus be positioned above the insertion level of the remaining floral organs (i.e., the ovary is superior and the flower is hypogynous). Alternatively, the ovary may be embedded in the receptacle and therefore be located below the insertion level of the remaining floral organs (i.e., the ovary is inferior and the flower is epigynous). Flowers with a hypanthium may either have a superior ovary (perigyny; e.g., many Rosaceae) or an inferior ovary (epiperigyny). It is also possible that the ovary is inferior to a certain degree only, such as half-inferior, if the receptacle is surrounding the ovary to its mid-level. (Definition and trait values derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘102. Ovary position (D1)’)
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • inferior: Flower with inferior ovary, where the ovary is embedded in the receptacle and therefore located below the insertion level of the remaining floral organs
  • superior: Flower with superior ovary, where the ovary is positioned above the insertion level of the remaining floral organs
  • half_inferior: Flower where the receptacle is surrounded by the ovary to its mid-level
  • one_quarter_inferior: Flower where the receptacle surrounds up to one quarter of the ovary
  • three_quarters_inferior: Flower where the receptacle surrounds more than three quarters of the ovary

flower_ovules_per_functional_carpel_count

• label: Number of ovules per functional carpel
• description: Number of ovules per carpel recorded as a continuous character (with integer values of 1 and above). Reduced (sterile) carpels are not taken into account here. (Definition derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘411. Number of ovules per functional carpel (C1)’)
• type: numeric
• units: {count}
• allowable range: 0 - 100000 {count}

flower_perianth_differentiation

• label: Perianth differentiation
• description: The ways in which perianth organs may look different from each other in a given flower. Typically, outer perianth parts are sepaloid and protect the other floral organs during floral development, while inner organs are often petaloid and play a role in pollinator attraction (Endress, 1994). However, it is also possible that all parts are either sepaloid or petaloid but remain differentiated in shape, size, and/or texture. In case of spiral perianths, differentiation may be continuous (i.e., gradual), whereby two successively initiated organs are very similar or only slightly different, while the outermost and innermost organs at both ends of the spiral are very different from each other (e.g., Chimonanthus). In the special case of perianths consisting of a single whorl, they are scored as undifferentiated. This perianth differentiation trait may be seen as both functional (the parting vs. sharing of functions among perianth parts) and developmental (the expression of a genetic program for different forms of perianth parts vs. a single program for a single type of perianth part morphology). Within-whorl differentiation, whereby organs of the same whorl take different forms, is common in zygomorphic flowers (e.g., Balsaminaceae, Fabaceae, Orchidaceae) but is not taken into account with this trait. This trait is not applicable when the perianth is absent. (Definition and trait values derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘234. Perianth differentiation (D1)’)
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • undifferentiated: All tepals alike; includes a single undifferentiated whorl
  • marked_differentiation_outer_sepaloid_inner_petaloid: A typical flower with calyx and corolla
  • marked_differentiation_among_petaloid_tepals: All tepals alike; includes a single undifferentiated whorl
  • marked_differentiation_among_sepaloid_tepals: A typical flower with calyx and corolla
  • marked_differentiation: All tepals alike; includes a single undifferentiated whorl
  • continuous_differentiation_outer_sepaloid_inner_petaloid: A typical flower with calyx and corolla
  • continuous_differentiation_among_petaloid_tepals: All tepals alike; includes a single undifferentiated whorl
  • continuous_differentiation_among_sepaloid_tepals: A typical flower with calyx and corolla
  • weak_differentiation: All tepals alike; includes a single undifferentiated whorl
  • very_weak_differentiation: A typical flower with calyx and corolla

flower_perianth_fusion

• label: Fusion of perianth
• description: Fusion of perianth organs (congenital or postgenital) at anthesis, recorded on a continuous scale, from 0 (free parts) to 1 (parts fused along their entire length). Partial fusion was recorded using an approximate number between these two extremes (e.g., 0.1 corresponds to basal fusion, 0.5 to fusion along half of the length of perianth parts). In case of multiple whorls, this trait records within-whorl fusion. For example, if organs within each whorl are fused along their entire length, a trait value of 1 is recorded. In cases where organs of two whorls are fused into a common tubular structure, such as frequently observed in monocots (e.g., Polygonatum), the perianth is considered to be fused. If the two (or more) whorls differed in their extent of fusion, a range of trait values may be recorded. For example, if the calyx is only basally fused, up to 10% of its length, but the corolla is entirely fused, a range of 0.1 to 1 is recorded as the trait value for the species. (Definition derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘204. Fusion of perianth (C1)’)
• type: numeric
• units: {dimensionless}
• allowable range: 0 - 1 {dimensionless}

flower_perianth_merism

• label: Number of perianth parts in each whorl (Perianth merism)
• description: The number of perianth parts in each whorl, recorded as a continuous trait (with integer values of 1 and above). Not applicable when perianth phyllotaxis is spiral or irregular or when the perianth is absent. (Definition derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘232. Perianth merism (C1)’)
• type: numeric
• units: {count}
• allowable range: 0 - 50 {count}

flower_perianth_parts_count

• label: Number of perianth parts
• description: The total number of perianth parts, including sepals, petals, or any form of tepal. A value of zero was scored when the perianth is absent. In flowers with perianth whorls fused along their complete length (e.g., Convolvulus), perianth parts are counted based on merism (e.g., if a calyx has 5 distinct sepals and the corolla is entirely fused, then the corolla is often interpreted to consist of five fused petals), anatomy (e.g., number of vascular traces), development (e.g., number of primordia), or comparison with closely related taxa. (Definition derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘201. Number of perianth parts (C1)’)
• type: numeric
• units: {count}
• allowable range: 0 - 1000 {count}

flower_perianth_phyllotaxis

• label: Perianth phyllotaxis
• description: Perianth phyllotaxis at anthesis. Perianth parts may be organised in one or more whorls or along a continuous spiral, usually with wide divergence angles more or less equal to 137.5 degrees. Less frequently, perianth phyllotaxis may be irregular. Perianth phyllotaxis at anthesis may differ from phyllotaxis of perianth part primordia at their inception and it is not uncommon that spirally initiated perianths become whorled later through development. (Definition and trait values derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘230. Perianth phyllotaxy (D1)’, with more information of differentiating between trait values in this manuscript.)
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • irregular: Perianth parts lacking any symmetrical organisation.
  • spiral: Perianth parts organised along a continuous spiral, usually with wide divergence angles more or less equal to 137.5 degrees, the Fibonacci ‘golden angle’
  • whorled: Perianth parts organised in one or more whorls

flower_perianth_symmetry

• label: Symmetry of perianth
• description: Trait capturing the symmetry of the perianth. This trait is applied to the perianth as a whole. In case of flowers with two or more perianth whorls, species are considered actinomorphic if all whorls are actinomorphic and as zygomorphic if one or more whorls are zygomorphic. Trait is not applicable when the perianth is missing. (Definition and trait values derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘207. Symmetry of perianth (D1)’)
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • actinomorphic_general: Perianth displaying radial symmetry
  • actinomorphic_rotational: Perianth that can be equally divided into three or more identical sections that, when rotated around the center of the flower by some number of degrees, exactly match each other in orientation and shape.
  • actinomorphic_strictly_polysymmetric: Polysymmetry, with three or more planes of bilateral symmetry
  • actinomorphic_spiral: Perianth lacking a distinct plane of symmetry because their perianth parts are spirally arranged.
  • asymmetric: Perianth lacking any planes of symmetry
  • disymmetric: Perianth with two orthogonal planes of bilateral symmetry
  • zygomorphic: Monosymmetric, with a single plane of bilateral symmetry

flower_perianth_whorls_count

• label: Number of perianth whorls
• description: The number of perianth whorls as a continuous trait (with integer values of 1 and above). Not applicable when perianth phyllotaxis is spiral or irregular or when the perianth is absent. (Definition derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘231. Number of perianth whorls (C1)’)
• type: numeric
• units: {count}
• allowable range: 0 - 15 {count}

flower_pollen_aperture_shape

• label: Pollen grain aperture shape
• description: Pollen grains are often described according to the shape, structure, and position of their apertures. This trait describes the main shape of the many described aperture types. Aperture terminology is partly determined by the position of the aperture on the pollen grain (either at the pole or at the equator) and pollen grain polarity, in turn, is determined by the spatial orientation of the microspore in the meiotic tetrad. (Definition and trait values derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘5002. Aperture shape (D1)’)
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • absent: (uncertain)
  • colporus: Pollen aperture shape that combines the groove of colpate and the pore of porate apertures
  • colpus: Pollen aperture shape is elongate and grooved and may be positioned globally or equatorially
  • pore: Pollen aperture shape is round and pore-like and may be positioned globally or equatorially
  • ring_like: (uncertain)
  • spiraperturate: Pollen grain with one or more spiral apertures
  • sulcus: Pollen aperture shape is elongate and grooved and positioned at the pole
  • syncolpus: Pollen grain with two or more simple (or compound) colpi, the ends of which join at the pole
  • ulcus: Pollen aperture shape is round and pore-like and positioned at the pole

flower_pollen_apertures_count

• label: Number of pollen grain apertures
• description: A pollen aperture is a structurally delimited region of the pollen grain wall through which the pollen tube emerges during pollen germination and which plays a role in harmomegathy. Here we report the number of apertures per pollen grain as a continuous character. A value of zero is scored when pollen is inaperturate (i.e. when there is no distinct aperture). Aperturate pollen is scored with integer values of 1 and above. (Definition derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘5000. Number of apertures (C1)’)
• type: numeric
• units: {count}
• allowable range: 0 - 100 {count}

flower_structural_carpels_count

• label: CNumber of structural carpels
• description: Number of fertile or sterile carpels in bisexual or female flowers, recorded as a continuous character (with integer values of 1 and above). Includes the number of co-occurring carpellodes (sterile carpels) because this number is often more easily obtained from the literature than the actual number of fertile carpels. However, the number of carpellodes in male flowers is ignored for this character. In multicarpellate, unilocular gynoecia with complete carpel fusion up to the stigma (e.g., Primula), it may be difficult to assess the number of carpels unequivocally. In such cases, the number of carpels is scored only if it is well established based on anatomical or developmental investigations. Similarly, in gynoecia where one or more carpels are reduced (e.g., in the pseudomonomerous gynoecia of some Arecaceae, Stauffer et al., 2002), the total number of structural carpels is only scored when unequivocally determined in the literature. (Definition derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘401. Number of structural carpels (C1)’)
• type: numeric
• units: {count}
• allowable range: 0 - 10000 {count}

flower_structural_sex_type

• label: Floral structural sex
• description: Structural flower sex type.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • bisexual: Hermaphrodite; flowers with both male and female reproductive organs
  • incompletely_unisexual: Male flowers with pistillode and/or female flowers with staminodes
  • unisexual: Flowers with either male or female reproductive organs

flower_style_differentiation

• label: Style differentiation
• description: Presence or absence of a style, and, when present, the shape of the style in terms of length and width in relation to ovary length and width. This trait does not distinguish between fused or free styles. (Definition and trait values derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘404. Style differentiation (D1)’)
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • absent: Stigma sessile
  • present_length_and_shape_unknown: Style present, but shape unknown
  • present_short_and_thick: Style present, and short and thick
  • present_short_and_narrow: Style present, and short and narrow, including short filiform styles
  • present_long_and_wide: Style present, and long and wide
  • present_long_and_narrow: Style present, and long and narrow, including long filiform styles
  • present_petaloid: Style present and petaloid
  • continuous: When the style is an apical extension of carpel with decurrent stigma

flower_style_fusion

• label: Fusion of styles
• description: The degree of fusion of styles at anthesis, recorded on a continuous scale, from 0 (free styles) to 1 (styles fused along their entire length, but excluding the stigmatic region). Partial fusion is recorded using an approximate number between these two extremes (e.g., 0.1 corresponds to basal fusion, 0.5 to fusion along half of the total length of the styles). This character is not applicable in unicarpellate flowers. (Definition derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘406. Fusion of styles (C1)’)
• type: numeric
• units: {dimensionless}
• allowable range: 0 - 1 {dimensionless}

flower_anther_connective_extension

• label: Connective extension (apical)
• description: Apical (distal) connective extensions (also called ‘distal connective protrusions’) are sterile anther structures that distally extend beyond the level of the thecae (i.e., the two lateral pairs of pollen sacs of a tetrasporangiate anther). This trait records both absence or presence of anther connective extensions and also the shape of these extensions in terms of length in relation to the length of the thecae. (Definition and trait values derived from Schoenenberger et al. (2020) for their character ‘314. Connective extension (apical) (D1)’)
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • absent: Apical connective extensions are lacking
  • short_extension: Connective extension less than a third of the length of anther
  • long_extension: Connective extension more than a third but less than length of anther; e.g. Idiospermum australiense
  • very_long_extension: Connective extension more than length of anther; e.g. Galbulimima belgraveana
  • present_general: Apical connective extensions are present, but no information on their length relative to the anthers

leaf_fluorescence_fv_over_fm

• label: Fv/Fm
• description: Chlorophyll fluorescence measurement that indicates whether plant stress affects photo-system II in a dark adapted state
• type: numeric
• units: {dimensionless}
• allowable range: 0.2 - 1 {dimensionless}

osmotic_potential

• label: Osmotic potential
• description: Potential for water to move across a semi-permeable membrane based on solute concentration
• type: numeric
• units: MPa
• allowable range: -10 - 0 MPa

root_mass_fraction

• label: Fraction of plant dry mass comprised of root material
• description: Fraction of plant dry mass comprised of root material
• type: numeric
• units: mg/mg
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1 mg/mg

stem_density

• label: Stem dry mass per unit fresh stem volume
• description: Stem dry mass per unit stem fresh volume, specifically for non-woody or partially woody stems that otherwise are outliers for wood density
• type: numeric
• units: mg/mm3
• allowable range: 0.1 - 1.4 mg/mm3

stem_mass_fraction

• label: Stem mass fraction
• description: Ratio of stem dry mass to total plant dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: g/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1 g/g

seed_germination

• label: Germination (proportion)
• description: Proportion of seeds in a sample that germinated under conditions specified under methods or contextual conditions.
• type: numeric
• units: {count}/{count}
• allowable range: 0 - 1 {count}/{count}

seed_viability

• label: Seed viability
• description: Proportion of mature seeds in a sample that are capable of germinating under suitable conditions.
• type: numeric
• units: {count}/{count}
• allowable range: 0 - 1 {count}/{count}

leaflet_area

• label: Leaf area
• description: Area of the surface of a single leaflet
• type: numeric
• units: mm2
• allowable range: 0.1 - 1e+06 mm2

leaflet_dry_mass

• label: Dry mass of a single leaflet
• description: Dry mass of a single leaflet
• type: numeric
• units: mg
• allowable range: 0.005 - 15000 mg

branch_mass_fraction

• label: Fraction of plant dry mass comprised of branch material
• description: Fraction of plant dry mass comprised of branch material
• type: numeric
• units: mg/mg
• allowable range: 0 - 1 mg/mg

leaf_water_content_per_area

• label: Leaf water content per unit area
• description: Ratio of the mass of water in a leaf to leaf surface area; leaf succulence
• type: numeric
• units: g/m2
• allowable range: 10 - 5000 g/m2

plant_succulence

• label: Plant succulence
• description: Trait characterising whether the leaves or stems of a plant are thick and fleshy because they store water, generally an adaptation to arid or salty environments.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • succulent_stems: Stems are thick and fleshy.
  • succulent_leaves: Leaves are thick and fleshy.
  • succulent: A plant is designated as succulent, but it is not specified which tissues are thick and fleshy.
  • semi-succulent: A plant has tissues that are somewhat thick and fleshy, including many chenopods.
  • not_succulent: Neither stems nor leaves are thick and fleshy.

leaf_mass_fraction

• label: Leaf mass fraction
• description: Ratio of leaf dry mass to total plant dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: g/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1 g/g

leaf_relative_water_content_predawn

• label: Leaf relative water content predawn
• description: Ratio of water in a fresh leaf to water in a saturated leaf; measured pre-dawn
• type: numeric
• units: g/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 1.4 g/g

leaf_water_use_efficiency_integrated

• label: Integrated water use efficiency
• description: WUE; Rate of carbon dioxide uptake relative to water loss, per unit leaf area. This measures how much biomass is produced relative to transpiration, and is therefore an integrated measure of water use efficiency. (Calculated as biomass production / transpiration)
• type: numeric
• units: g{H2O}/g{biomass}
• allowable range: 0.1 - 200 g{H2O}/g{biomass}

leaf_stomatal_density_abaxial

• label: Stomatal density on the lower leaf surface
• description: Stomatal density on the lower leaf surface
• type: numeric
• units: {count}/mm2
• allowable range: 1 - 1000 {count}/mm2

leaf_stomatal_density_adaxial

• label: Stomatal density on the upper leaf surface
• description: Stomatal density on the upper leaf surface
• type: numeric
• units: {count}/mm2
• allowable range: 0 - 1000 {count}/mm2

leaf_stomatal_density_average

• label: Stomatal density averaged across both leaf surfaces
• description: Stomatal density averaged across both leaf surfaces
• type: numeric
• units: {count}/mm2
• allowable range: 0 - 1000 {count}/mm2

fire_response_numeric

• label: Proportion of individuals in a population that resprout
• description: Proportion of individuals in a population that resprout following a fire.
• type: numeric
• units: {count}/{count}
• allowable range: 0 - 1 {count}/{count}

root_morphology

• label: Categorical root descriptions, sense Cannon 1949
• description: Categorical root descriptions sensu Cannon 1949, A Tentative Classification of Root Systems, Ecology, doi.org/10.2307/1932458
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • type_i: The primary root is fibrous or fleshy and is relatively long; mesophytic
  • type_ii: The primary root is relatively short and is fibrous. Roots are well branched in a dry habitat but branch little in one that is wet.
  • type_iii: The primary root is usually long and fibrous. The first order lateral roots are well branched and are usually short; they are rather evenly distributed along the primary root; xerophytic
  • type_iv: The primary root is usually long and slender like that of Type II. The first order lateral roots are well branched. Those closest to the surface of the ground, or not far below, are relatively long; xerophytic and mesophytic
  • type_v: The primary root is divided-forked or branched-and fibrous, and with few first order lateral roots, or, in age, apparently with none; xerophytic
  • type_vi: The primary root is usually as in Type V. The first order lateral roots are mostly on the upper portion of the primary root and are thus relatively superficial; xerophytic or in well aerated sandy soil where the rainfall is not light.
  • type_vii: Adventitious roots that are in one group and arise on a short horizontal, or vertical, axis of the shoot. They are fibrous or fleshly; mesophytic and hydrophytic
  • type_viii: Adventitious roots that are in one group and are fibrous and fleshy, or fibrous and thick. The fibrous adventitious roots are absorbing-anchoring roots and are usually with laterals to the second order; meophytic
  • type_ix: Adventitious roots that arise on the aerial stem and branches of some herbaceous taxa, shrubs, and trees; on creepers, vines, and runners; and on subterranean rhizomes and stolons

root_structure

• label: Root structure
• description: Specific specialized types of root structures and root symbioses. https://www.mycorrhizas.info/ provides detailed information for types of mycorrhizal associations.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • arbuscular_mycorrhizal: Symbiosis in which the mycorrhizal fungi does penetrate the cortex cells of the plant roots and its hyphae form arbuscules and vesicles inside the plant root; endomycorrhizal, AM, VAM
  • carnivorous: non-mycorrhizal carnivorous root
  • cluster_roots: cluster roots in non-proteoid taxa
  • coiling_vam: Associations that spread predominantly by intracellular hyphal coils within roots
  • dauciform_root: A type of cluster root found in the family Cyperaceae
  • ectomycorrhizal: Symbiosis in which the mycorrhizal fungi does not penetrate the cortex cells of the plant roots
  • ericoid_mycorrhizal: A form of arbuscular mycorrhizal relationship only found on plants in the order Ericales. The fungi’s hyphae penetrate the plant root but do not form arbuscules
  • fine_roots: Particularly fine roots for nutrient uptake
  • haustorium: highly modified stem or root of a parasitic plant, such as mistletoe , or a specialized branch or tube originating from a hairlike filament (hypha) of a fungus. The haustorium penetrates the tissues of a host and absorbs nutrients and water.
  • hemiparasitic_root: Partially parasitic root
  • long_root_hairs: Specialised long root hairs
  • mycorrhizal: Mycorrhizal, type not specified
  • non_mycorrhizal: Plants lacking a mycorrhizal symbiont
  • orchid_mycorrhizal: A mycorrhizal relationship specific to orchid taxa, and for most orchids, essential for seedlings to establish
  • parasitic_root: Parasitic root
  • proteoid_root: Also known as cluster roots, are plant roots that form clusters of closely spaced short lateral rootlets and aid in nutrient upake in nutrient-poor soils; common in members of the family Proteaceae, but present in other families as well
  • root_hairs: Specialised root hairs
  • sand-binding: Persistent sheaths of sand that form around the roots of taxa in the families Restionaceae, Cyperaceae, Haemodoraceae, and Lomandraceae in western Australia. Assumed to function in nutrient uptake.
  • saprophyte: Plant that acquires nutrients from decaying matter
  • subepidermal_mycorrhizal: Mycorrhizae where hyphae grow in a cavity under epidermal cells. Only in the genus Thysanotus (family Laxmaniaceae).
  • unknown: root structures unknown

root_specific_root_length

• label: Root length per unit root dry mass (specific root length, SRL)
• description: Root length per unit root dry mass; SRL
• type: numeric
• units: m/g
• allowable range: 0.5 - 5000 m/g

genome_size

• label: Plant genome size
• description: Mass of the plant’s genome
• type: numeric
• units: pg
• allowable range: 0.5 - 100 pg

root_wood_density

• label: Root wood density
• description: Root wood dry mass per unit root wood fresh volume
• type: numeric
• units: mg/mm3
• allowable range: 0.05 - 10 mg/mm3

leaf_water_content_per_saturated_mass

• label: Leaf water content per unit mass of saturated leaf
• description: Ratio of water in a saturated leaf (maximal water holding capacity at full turgidity) to leaf saturated mass
• type: numeric
• units: g/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 10 g/g

leaf_soluble_starch_per_area

• label: Soluble starch per leaf area
• description: Mass of soluble starch per leaf area
• type: numeric
• units: g/m2
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 g/m2

leaf_soluble_sugars_per_area

• label: Soluble sugars per leaf area
• description: Mass of soluble sugars per leaf area
• type: numeric
• units: g/m2
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 g/m2

leaf_chlorophyll_A_B_ratio

• label: Ratio of leaf chlorophyll A to chlorophyll B
• description: Ratio of leaf chlorophyll A to chlorophyll B
• type: numeric
• units: umol/umol
• allowable range: 0.1 - 6 umol/umol

leaf_chlorophyll_per_area

• label: Sum of chlorophyll A and B per leaf area
• description: Sum of chlorophyll A and B per leaf area
• type: numeric
• units: umol/m2
• allowable range: 10 - 2000 umol/m2

leaf_soluble_protein_per_area

• label: Soluble protein per leaf area
• description: Mass of soluble protein per leaf area
• type: numeric
• units: g/m2
• allowable range: 0.1 - 20 g/m2

fruit_dry_mass

• label: Fruit dry mass
• description: Fruit dry mass, including seeds. Fruits will generally be oven-dried.
• type: numeric
• units: mg
• allowable range: 1e-04 - 1e+06 mg

fruit_P_per_dry_mass

• label: Fruit phosphorus (P) content per unit fruit dry mass
• description: Fruit phosphorus (P) content per unit fruit dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 10 mg/g

competitive_stratum

• label: Competitive stratum
• description: Categorical descriptions of a taxon’s relative stature in its community, used to assess competitive heirarchies within a community (definition based on Keith 2007, Gosper 2012)
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • ground: Graminoids, herbs and ferns reaching maximum heights of c. 0.2–1 m
  • mid: Shrubs reaching maximum heights of c. 1–2 m
  • upper: Tall shrubs reaching maximum heights of c. 3–5 m
  • post_fire_ephemeral: Taxa that avoid competition with other strata by rapidly completing their life cycle after fire; a sub-category of ‘ground’

soil_seedbank

• label: Seeds present in soil seedbank
• description: Binary variable indicating if seeds present in soil seedbank; see also ‘seed_longevity_categorical’, ‘seed_storage_location’, ‘canopy_seedbank’, and ‘serotiny’
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • soil_seedbank_absent: Seeds not present in soil seedbank
  • soil_seedbank_present: Seeds present in soil seedbank

fire_time_from_fire_to_fruit

• label: Elapsed time from fire to fruiting
• description: Elapsed time from fire to fruiting
• type: numeric
• units: mo
• allowable range: 1 - 500 mo

pollination_syndrome

• label: Pollination syndrome
• description: Pollination syndrome
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • abiotic: Pollination occurs through wind, water, or collision of free-floating particles
  • animal: Generic catch-all for any form of animal pollination; change to biotic
  • bat: Bat-pollinated
  • bee: Bee-pollinated
  • beetle: Beetle-pollinated
  • bird: Bird-pollinated
  • butterfly: Butterfly-pollinated
  • fly: Fly-pollinated
  • insect: Insect-pollinated, type of insect not specified
  • moth: Moth-pollinated
  • none: Spore-producing plants
  • vertebrate: Vertebrate-pollinated, broadly defined
  • wind: wind-pollinated
  • pollination_rare: plants mostly reproduce through vegetative spread and flowering is rare

fire_flame_duration

• label: Flame duration for a single leaf.
• description: Flame duration for a single leaf. Time from the first visible flame until no more flames could be seen (seconds)
• type: numeric
• units: s
• allowable range: 0.1 - 200 s

fire_smoulder_duration

• label: Smoulder duration for a single leaf.
• description: Smoulder duration for a single leaf. Time from the end of the last visible flame until the glowing phase died out (seconds)
• type: numeric
• units: s
• allowable range: 0.1 - 1000 s

fire_time_to_ignition

• label: Time to ignition
• description: Time to ignition for a single leaf. Time from ignition source contacting leaf (or other material) until ignition occurs.
• type: numeric
• units: s
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 s

fire_total_burn_duration

• label: Sum of flame duration and smoulder duration for a single leaf.
• description: Sum of flame duration and smoulder duration for a single leaf.
• type: numeric
• units: s
• allowable range: 0.1 - 1500 s

leaf_density

• label: Leaf tissue density
• description: Leaf tissue density
• type: numeric
• units: mg/mm3
• allowable range: 0.05 - 1.1 mg/mm3

leaf_lignin_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf lignin per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf lignin per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/mg
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1 mg/mg

leaf_tannin_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf tannins (polyphenols) per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf tannins (polyphenols) per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/mg
• allowable range: 0.001 - 1 mg/mg

bark_Al_per_dry_mass

• label: Bark aluminium (Al) content per unit bark dry mass
• description: Bark aluminium (Al) content per unit bark dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 10 mg/g

bark_B_per_dry_mass

• label: Bark boron (B) content per unit bark dry mass
• description: Bark boron (B) content per unit bark dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.001 - 1 mg/g

bark_C_per_dry_mass

• label: Bark carbon (C) content per unit bark dry mass
• description: Bark carbon (C) content per unit bark dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 50 - 750 mg/g

bark_Ca_per_dry_mass

• label: Bark calcium (Ca) content per unit bark dry mass
• description: Bark calcium (Ca) content per unit bark dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 mg/g

bark_cellulose_per_dry_mass

• label: Bark cellulose per unit bark dry mass
• description: Bark cellulose per unit bark dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/mg
• allowable range: 0.1 - 1 mg/mg

bark_Cu_per_dry_mass

• label: Bark copper (Cu) content per unit bark dry mass
• description: Bark copper (Cu) content per unit bark dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 1e-04 - 1 mg/g

bark_density

• label: Bark dry mass per unit fresh bark volume
• description: Bark dry mass per unit bark fresh volume (bark density)
• type: numeric
• units: mg/mm3
• allowable range: 0.1 - 1.1 mg/mm3

bark_Fe_per_dry_mass

• label: Bark iron (Fe) content per unit bark dry mass
• description: Bark iron (Fe) content per unit bark dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.001 - 10 mg/g

bark_K_per_dry_mass

• label: Bark potassium (K) content per unit bark dry mass
• description: Bark potassium (K) content per unit bark dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 100 mg/g

bark_lignin_per_dry_mass

• label: Bark lignin per unit bark dry mass
• description: Bark lignin per unit bark dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/mg
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1 mg/mg

bark_Mg_per_dry_mass

• label: Bark magnesium (Mg) content per unit bark dry mass
• description: Bark magnesium (Mg) content per unit bark dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 10 mg/g

bark_Mn_per_dry_mass

• label: Bark manganese (Mn) content per unit bark dry mass
• description: Bark manganese (Mn) content per unit bark dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.001 - 1 mg/g

bark_N_per_dry_mass

• label: Bark nitrogen (N) content per unit bark dry mass
• description: Bark nitrogen (N) content per unit bark dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 mg/g

bark_Na_per_dry_mass

• label: Bark sodium (Na) content per unit bark dry mass
• description: Bark sodium (Na) content per unit bark dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 100 mg/g

bark_P_per_dry_mass

• label: Bark phosphorus (P) content per unit bark dry mass
• description: Bark phosphorus (P) content per unit bark dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.001 - 10 mg/g

bark_S_per_dry_mass

• label: Bark sulphur (S) content per unit bark dry mass
• description: Bark sulphur (S) content per unit bark dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 mg/g

bark_tannin_per_dry_mass

• label: Bark tannins (polyphenols) per unit bark dry mass
• description: Bark tannins (polyphenols) per unit bark dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/mg
• allowable range: 1e-05 - 1 mg/mg

bark_water_content_per_dry_mass

• label: Bark water content per unit dry mass
• description: Ratio of the mass of water in a bark to bark dry mass.
• type: numeric
• units: g/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1 g/g

bark_Zn_per_dry_mass

• label: Bark zinc (Zn) content per unit bark dry mass
• description: Bark zinc (Zn) content per unit bark dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.001 - 10 mg/g

leaf_cellulose_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf cellulose per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf cellulose per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/mg
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1 mg/mg

leaf_senesced_Al_per_dry_mass

• label: Senesced leaf aluminium (Al) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Senesced leaf aluminium (Al) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 10 mg/g

leaf_senesced_B_per_dry_mass

• label: Senesced leaf boron (B) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Senesced leaf boron (B) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.001 - 10 mg/g

leaf_senesced_Ca_per_dry_mass

• label: Senesced leaf calcium (Ca) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Senesced leaf calcium (Ca) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1000 mg/g

leaf_senesced_Cu_per_dry_mass

• label: Senesced leaf copper (Cu) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Senesced leaf copper (Cu) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/kg
• allowable range: 0.01 - 100 mg/kg

leaf_senesced_Fe_per_dry_mass

• label: Senesced leaf iron (Fe) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Senesced leaf iron (Fe) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/kg
• allowable range: 1 - 10000 mg/kg

leaf_senesced_K_per_dry_mass

• label: Senesced leaf potassium (K) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Senesced leaf potassium (K) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 mg/g

leaf_senesced_Mg_per_dry_mass

• label: Senesced leaf magnesium (Mg) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Senesced leaf magnesium (Mg) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 100 mg/g

leaf_senesced_Mn_per_dry_mass

• label: Senesced leaf manganese (Mn) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Senesced leaf manganese (Mn) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/kg
• allowable range: 1 - 10000 mg/kg

leaf_senesced_Na_per_dry_mass

• label: Senesced leaf sodium (Na) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Senesced leaf sodium (Na) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/kg
• allowable range: 100 - 20000 mg/kg

leaf_senesced_S_per_dry_mass

• label: Senesced leaf sulphur (S) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Senesced leaf sulphur (S) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/kg
• allowable range: 100 - 50000 mg/kg

leaf_senesced_Zn_per_dry_mass

• label: Senesced leaf zinc (Zn) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Senesced leaf zinc (Zn) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/kg
• allowable range: 0 - 100 mg/kg

bark_ash_per_dry_mass

• label: Bark ash content per dry mass
• description: Bark ash content per dry mass, where bark ash is the component of the bark remaining after combustion.
• type: numeric
• units: g/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 100 g/g

leaf_posture_numeric

• label: Leaf lamina posture (3-dimensionality)
• description: The maximum perpendicular height of a leaf when positioned on a flat surface.
• type: numeric
• units: mm
• allowable range: 0 - 100 mm

fire_fuel_bed_bulk_density

• label: Fuel bed bulk density.
• description: Fuel bed bulk density. This is the mass of the fuel bed, divided by the fuel bed volumne.
• type: numeric
• units: g/cm3
• allowable range: 0.001 - 1 g/cm3

fire_rate_of_spread

• label: Rate of spread.
• description: Rate of spread. How fast the fire moves across the landscape.
• type: numeric
• units: cm/s
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1 cm/s

leaf_Al_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf aluminium (Al) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf aluminium (Al) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/kg
• allowable range: 0.01 - 12000 mg/kg

leaf_fresh_mass_per_area

• label: Leaf fresh mass per leaf area
• description: The ratio of leaf fresh mass to leaf area, measured on an entire leaf including the petiole.
• type: numeric
• units: g/m2
• allowable range: 200 - 2000 g/m2

leaf_photosynthetic_nitrogen_use_efficiency_maximum

• label: Leaf photosynthesis rate per unit leaf nitrogen (N) content (photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency, PNUE) at saturating light and CO2 conditions
• description: Ratio of photosynthesis (CO2 assimilation rate) to leaf nitrogen content at saturating light and CO2 conditions
• type: numeric
• units: umol{CO2}/mol{N}/s
• allowable range: 1 - 1000 umol{CO2}/mol{N}/s

leaf_photosynthetic_phosphorus_use_efficiency_maximum

• label: Leaf photosynthesis rate per unit leaf phosphorus (P) content (photosynthetic phosphorus use efficiency, PPUE) at saturating light and CO2 conditions
• description: Ratio of photosynthesis (CO2 assimilation rate) to leaf phosphorus content at saturating light and CO2 conditions
• type: numeric
• units: umol{CO2}/mol{P}/s
• allowable range: 100 - 1e+05 umol{CO2}/mol{P}/s

leaf_N_resorption

• label: Nitrogen resorption from leaves
• description: Nitrogen resorption from leaves
• type: numeric
• units: mg/mg
• allowable range: -1.1 - 1 mg/mg

leaf_P_resorption

• label: Phosphorus resorption from leaves
• description: Phosphorus resorption from leaves
• type: numeric
• units: mg/mg
• allowable range: -1.1 - 1 mg/mg

leaf_cell_wall_fraction

• label: Leaf cell wall fraction (fraction of cell wall material recovered from total leaf biomass)
• description: Fraction of total leaf biomass that is cell wall material
• type: numeric
• units: mg/mg
• allowable range: 0.1 - 1 mg/mg

leaf_cell_wall_N_per_cell_wall_dry_mass

• label: Leaf cell wall nitrogen concentration
• description: Proportion of leaf cell wall material that is nitrogen
• type: numeric
• units: mmol{N}/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 10 mmol{N}/g

leaf_cell_wall_N_per_leaf_N

• label: Leaf cell wall nitrogen fraction
• description: Proportion of all N in leaves that is found in the leaf cell walls
• type: numeric
• units: mg/mg
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1 mg/mg

leaf_guard_cell_length

• label: Guard cell length
• description: Length of guard cells
• type: numeric
• units: um
• allowable range: 10 - 200 um

leaf_senesced_Mo_per_dry_mass

• label: Senesced leaf molybdenum (Mo) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Senesced leaf molybdenum (Mo) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/kg
• allowable range: 0 - 30 mg/kg

leaf_epidermis_Ca_per_fresh_mass

• label: Ca content of epidermal cells
• description: Ca content of epidermal cells
• type: numeric
• units: umol/g
• allowable range: 1 - 500 umol/g

leaf_epidermis_P_per_fresh_mass

• label: P content of epidermal cells
• description: P content of epidermal cells
• type: numeric
• units: umol/g
• allowable range: 0 - 10 umol/g

leaf_hypodermis_Ca_per_fresh_mass

• label: Ca content of hypodermis cells
• description: Ca content of hypodermis cells
• type: numeric
• units: umol/g
• allowable range: 1 - 500 umol/g

leaf_hypodermis_P_per_fresh_mass

• label: P content of hypodermis cells
• description: P content of hypodermis cells
• type: numeric
• units: umol/g
• allowable range: 0 - 10 umol/g

leaf_Na_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf sodium (Na) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf sodium (Na) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/kg
• allowable range: 1 - 20000 mg/kg

leaf_palisade_mesophyll_Ca_per_fresh_mass

• label: Ca content of palisade mesophyll cells
• description: Ca content of palisade mesophyll cells
• type: numeric
• units: umol/g
• allowable range: 1 - 100 umol/g

leaf_palisade_mesophyll_P_per_fresh_mass

• label: P content of palisade mesophyll cells
• description: P content of palisade mesophyll cells
• type: numeric
• units: umol/g
• allowable range: 0 - 30 umol/g

leaf_sclerenchyma_Ca_per_fresh_mass

• label: Ca content of sclerenchyma cells
• description: Ca content of sclerenchyma cells
• type: numeric
• units: umol/g
• allowable range: 1 - 100 umol/g

leaf_sclerenchyma_P_per_fresh_mass

• label: P content of sclerenchyma cells
• description: P content of sclerenchyma cells
• type: numeric
• units: umol/g
• allowable range: 0 - 10 umol/g

leaf_spongy_mesophyll_Ca_per_fresh_mass

• label: Ca content of spongy mesophyll cells
• description: Ca content of spongy mesophyll cells
• type: numeric
• units: umol/g
• allowable range: 1 - 1000 umol/g

leaf_spongy_mesophyll_P_per_fresh_mass

• label: P content of spongy mesophyll cells
• description: P content of spongy mesophyll cells
• type: numeric
• units: umol/g
• allowable range: 0 - 30 umol/g

leaf_internal_parenchyma_Ca_per_fresh_mass

• label: Ca content of internal parenchyma cells
• description: Ca content of internal parenchyma cells
• type: numeric
• units: umol/g
• allowable range: 1 - 500 umol/g

leaf_internal_parenchyma_P_per_fresh_mass

• label: P content of internal parenchyma cells
• description: P content of internal parenchyma cells
• type: numeric
• units: umol/g
• allowable range: 0 - 10 umol/g

accessory_cost_fraction

• label: Fraction of total reproductive investment to non-seed tissues
• description: Fraction of total reproductive investment required to mature a seed that is invested in non-seed tissues
• type: numeric
• units: mg/mg
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1 mg/mg

accessory_cost_mass

• label: Mass of seed accessory costs
• description: Mass of seed accessory costs, the proportion of a fruit that does not develop into a seed
• type: numeric
• units: mg
• allowable range: 0.01 - 10000 mg

fruit_Ca_per_dry_mass

• label: Fruit calcium (Ca) content per unit fruit dry mass
• description: Fruit calcium (Ca) content per unit fruit dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.5 - 100 mg/g

fruit_K_per_dry_mass

• label: Fruit potassium (K) content per unit fruit dry mass
• description: Fruit potassium (K) content per unit fruit dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.5 - 100 mg/g

fruit_Mg_per_dry_mass

• label: Fruit magnesium (Mg) content per unit fruit dry mass
• description: Fruit magnesium (Mg) content per unit fruit dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.05 - 10 mg/g

fruit_N_per_dry_mass

• label: Fruit nitrogen (N) content per unit fruit dry mass
• description: Fruit nitrogen (N) content per unit fruit dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.5 - 100 mg/g

fruit_S_per_dry_mass

• label: Fruit sulphur (S) content per unit fruit dry mass
• description: Fruit sulphur (S) content per unit fruit dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.05 - 10 mg/g

seed_Ca_per_seed_dry_mass

• label: Seed calcium concentration
• description: Seed calcium (Ca) content per unit seed mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 1 - 100 mg/g

seed_K_per_seed_dry_mass

• label: Seed potassium concentration
• description: Seed potassium (K) content per unit seed mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 1 - 100 mg/g

seed_Mg_per_seed_dry_mass

• label: Seed magnesium concentration
• description: Seed magnesium (Mg) content per unit seed mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 mg/g

seed_N_per_seed_dry_mass

• label: Seed nitrgeon concentration
• description: Seed nitrogen (N) content per unit seed mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 10 - 1000 mg/g

seed_S_per_seed_dry_mass

• label: Seed sulphur concentration
• description: Seed sulphur (S) content per unit seed mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 mg/g

leaf_Cl_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf chlorine (Cl) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf chlorine (Cl) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/kg
• allowable range: 10 - 10000 mg/kg

leaf_photosynthesis_Jmax_over_Vcmax

• label: Ratio of photosynthetic electron transport capacity to maximum Rubisco activity, measured through chlorophyll fluorescence
• description: Ratio of photosynthetic electron transport capacity to maximum Rubisco activity, measured through chlorophyll fluorescence; this is the maximum quantum yield of PSII (Maxwell & Johnson 2000, doi.org/10.1093/jexbot/51.345.659)
• type: numeric
• units: {dimensionless}
• allowable range: 0 - 5 {dimensionless}

ploidy

• label: Chromosome ploidy
• description: Chromosome ploidy
• type: numeric
• units: {count}
• allowable range: 1 - 4 {count}

leaf_epidermis_thickness

• label: Thickness of the epidermis, leaf surface not specified
• description: Thickness of the epidermis, leaf surface not specified
• type: numeric
• units: um
• allowable range: 1 - 100 um

leaf_palisade_cell_width

• label: Width of individual palisade cells
• description: Width of individual palisade cells
• type: numeric
• units: um
• allowable range: 1 - 50 um

leaf_stomatal_hairs

• label: Whether or not stomata are covered by hairs
• description: Binary variable describing whether or not stomata are covered by dense hairs
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • stomata_covered_with_dense_hairs: Stomata densely covered by dense hairs
  • stomata_not_covered_by_hairs: Stomata not hair-covered

leaf_lobation

• label: Leaf lobation
• description: A trait that indicates whether or not a leaf lamina displays any divisions or dissections on a 2-dimensional plane that extend greater than 1/8 of the distance to the midrib.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • unlobed: Leaf margin lacks projections or indentations that extend more than 1/8 of the distance to the midrib.
  • lobed: Leaf margin has incisions, either rounded or sharp-tipped, that extend more than 1/8 of the distance to the midrib.
  • lobed_deep: Leaf margin with lobes that extend more than halfway to the midrib. (synonym, parted, divided)
  • lobed_shallow: Leaf margin with lobes that extend less than halfway to the midrib. (synonym, cleft)

leaf_total_vein_density

• label: Length of all minor and major leaf lamina veins per unit area.
• description: The length of all minor and major leaf lamina veins per unit leaf area.
• type: numeric
• units: mm/mm2
• allowable range: 0.01 - 20 mm/mm2

leaf_Cr_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf chromium (Cr) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf chromium (Cr) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: ppm
• allowable range: 0.01 - 150 ppm

leaf_Co_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf cobalt (Co) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf cobalt (Co) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: ppm
• allowable range: 0.01 - 150 ppm

leaf_Se_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf selenium (Se) content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf selenium (Se) content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: ppm
• allowable range: 0.01 - 100 ppm

seed_protein_per_seed_dry_mass

• label: Seed protein content
• description: Seed protein content as a fraction of total seed weight
• type: numeric
• units: g/g
• allowable range: 1e-05 - 1 g/g

plant_type_by_resource_use

• label: Water and salt tolerance and use strategies
• description: Plants categories referencing their ability to tolerate/obtain water and/or salt in their environment
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • hydrohalophyte: Tidal swamp or ‘mangrove’ and coastal lagoon elements and temperate-zone salt-marsh taxa are classed together.
  • phreatophyte: Deep-rooted plants—usually trees—obtaining water from a deep underground source that may or may not be saline.
  • psammophile: Sand-loving plants commonly found in littoral strand or inland sandfields
  • weedy: This inexact term is meant to indicate a high degree of adaptability to sites, and proven tendency toward aggressive colonization of either dry or wet sites, or rarely, both. In general, weeds invade and colonize highly disturbed sites or areas.
  • xerohalophyte: Plants adapted to inland salt desert and saline habitats
  • xerophyte: Drought-tolerant and drought-adapted plants

plant_tolerance_salt

• label: Salt tolerance strategies
• description: Salt-tolerance categories; Also see ‘plant_tolerance_soil_salinity’ for studies reporting actual soil salinity levels taxa can tolerate. Kew data on salt tolerance included in ‘water_tolerance’ trait
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • glycophyte: Plants that cannot survive even one tenth the salt concentration found in seawater
  • halophyte: Plants that complete their life cycle in a salty environment; many survive in seawater or even higher concentrations of salt
  • halophyte_moderate: Plant that is moderately tolerant of soil salinity/sodicity
  • hydrohalophyte: Tidal swamp or ‘mangrove’ and coastal lagoon elements and temperate-zone salt-marsh taxa are classed together.
  • salt_spray_tolerant: Plant that is tolerant of salt spray (typically inhabiting near-coastal environments)
  • salinity_tolerance_undefined: Plant’s ability to tolerate salt is unknown
  • xerohalophyte: Plants adapted to inland salt desert and saline habitats

plant_tolerance_soil_salinity

• label: Salt tolerance
• description: Maximum salinity tolerated by a taxon, reported as the conductivity of the soil
• type: numeric
• units: dS/m
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 dS/m

seed_oil_per_seed_dry_mass

• label: Seed oil content
• description: Seed oil content as a fraction of total seed weight, usually on a dry weight basis
• type: numeric
• units: g/g
• allowable range: 1e-04 - 1 g/g

bark_dry_mass_per_surface_area

• label: Bark mass per unit surface area of stem
• description: Bark mass per unit surface area of stem
• type: numeric
• units: g/cm2
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1 g/cm2

wood_axial_parenchyma_fraction

• label: Fraction of wood comprised of axial parenchyma
• description: Fraction of wood comprised of axial parenchyma
• type: numeric
• units: um2/um2
• allowable range: 0.001 - 1 um2/um2

wood_conduit_fraction

• label: Fraction of wood comprised of all conduits
• description: Fraction of wood comprised of all conduits
• type: numeric
• units: um2/um2
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1 um2/um2

wood_fibre_fraction

• label: Fraction of wood comprised of fibres
• description: Fraction of wood comprised of fibres
• type: numeric
• units: um2/um2
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1 um2/um2

wood_ray_parenchyma_fraction

• label: Fraction of wood comprised of rays
• description: Fraction of wood comprised of rays
• type: numeric
• units: um2/um2
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1 um2/um2

stem_dry_matter_content

• label: Stem dry mass per unit stem fresh mass (Stem dry matter content)
• description: Stem dry mass per unit stem fresh mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 100 - 1000 mg/g

stem_C_per_dry_mass

• label: Stem carbon (C) content per unit stem dry mass
• description: Stem carbon (C) content per unit stem dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 100 - 1000 mg/g

stem_N_per_dry_mass

• label: Stem nitrogen (N) content per unit stem dry mass
• description: Stem nitrogen (N) content per unit stem dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 1000 mg/g

leaf_mass_to_stem_mass_ratio

• label: Ratio of leaf dry mass to stem dry mass
• description: Ratio of leaf dry mass to stem dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: g/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 10 g/g

flower_N_per_dry_mass

• label: Flower nitrogen (N) content per unit flower dry mass
• description: Flower nitrogen (N) content per unit flower dry masshermaphrodite
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.5 - 100 mg/g

diaspore_dry_mass

• label: Dry mass of a plant’s dispersal unit
• description: Dry mass of a plant’s dispersal unit, including the seed and any dispersal appendages; synonymous with dispersule and often synonymous with the term disseminule. (Notes, Data mapped onto this trait have been very explicitly defined as a ‘diaspore’. There will be additional values mapped as either ‘seed_dry_mass’ or ‘fruit_dry_mass’ that are also diaspores, but have identified only as being a ‘seed’ or ‘fruit’. In addition, it is expected that some observations in AusTraits mapped onto ‘seed_dry_mass’ will actually include both the seed and some dispersal tissue, if the two cannot easily be separated.)
• type: numeric
• units: mg
• allowable range: 1e-05 - 1e+06 mg

root_C_per_dry_mass

• label: Root carbon (C) content per unit root dry mass
• description: Root carbon (C) content per unit root dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 50 - 750 mg/g

root_delta13C

• label: Root carbon (C) isotope signature (delta 13C)
• description: Root carbon stable isotope signature
• type: numeric
• units: {delta}[ppth]
• allowable range: -50 - 0 {delta}[ppth]

root_delta15N

• label: Root nitrogen (N) isotope signature (delta 15N)
• description: Root nitrogen stable isotope signature
• type: numeric
• units: {delta}[ppth]
• allowable range: -25 - 75 {delta}[ppth]

root_N_per_dry_mass

• label: Root nitrogen (N) content per unit root dry mass
• description: Root nitrogen (N) content per unit root dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 mg/g

leaf_epidermal_cell_density_abaxial

• label: Epidermal cell density on the lower leaf surface
• description: Epidermal cell density on the lower leaf surface
• type: numeric
• units: {count}/mm2
• allowable range: 100 - 10000 {count}/mm2

leaf_epidermal_cell_density_adaxial

• label: Epidermal cell density on the upper leaf surface
• description: Epidermal cell density on the upper leaf surface
• type: numeric
• units: {count}/mm2
• allowable range: 100 - 10000 {count}/mm2

stem_vessel_non_lumen_fraction

• label: Fraction of xylem vessels comprised of non-lumen
• description: Fraction of xylem vessels comprised of non-lumen
• type: numeric
• units: um2/um2
• allowable range: 0.001 - 1 um2/um2

stem_specific_conductivity

• label: Sapwood specific conductivity (Ks)
• description: Describes the flow rate of water (kg/s) along a stem for a given drop in pressure (1/MPa), normalised to the length of the segment (1/m). Calculated as hydraulic conductivity divided by the transverse branch area where the measurement is taken.
• type: numeric
• units: kg/m/MPa/s
• allowable range: 0.01 - 500 kg/m/MPa/s

leaf_lamina_mass_per_area

• label: Leaf lamina mass per area
• description: The ratio of leaf dry mass to leaf area, measured on a piece of the leaf lamina that does not include the petiole or major veins.
• type: numeric
• units: g/m2
• allowable range: 1 - 1000 g/m2

clonal_spread_mechanism

• label: Clonal growth mechanisms
• description: Mechanisms a plant uses to grow vegetatively, including the production of clones. Overlap with terms under storage_organ and bud_bank_location.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • aboveground_clonal: Vegetative buds or plant fragments that can disperse and produce new plants (including axillary buds, bulbils and turions).
  • adventitious_root_buds: Adventitious root buds on main root or lateral roots
  • bulb: Below ground storage organ derived from stem (and sometimes leaf) tissue, that divides into new individuals.
  • belowground_clonal: Plants use an unspecified underground organ for clonal spread.
  • corm: Below ground organ derived from stem tissue that can function either for vegetative spread or to regenerate following a disturbance.
  • rhizome: Plant has an underground stem; this stem may be woody or non-woody. Rhizomes are both a mechanism for vegetative spread and a strategy to survive fire.
  • root_buds: Lateral root that produces vertical suckers, adventitious roots
  • root_tuber: Below ground storage organ derived from root tissue.
  • stem_tuber: Below ground storage organ derived from stem tissue.
  • stolon: Plants having horizontal branches (stems) from the base of the plant that produce new plants from buds at its tip or nodes
  • viviparous: Plant produces clonal offspring that grow while still attached to the parent plant.
  • non_clonal: Plant does not display clonal growth

plant_physical_defence_structures

• label: Physical defence structures
• description: The presence (or explicit absence) of specific physical defence structures on a plant, including spines, thorns, prickles, and sharp-tipped leaves.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • absent: Plant that lacks a physical defence structure.
  • sharp_pointed_defence: Plant that has either spines, thorns, or prickles, but the type of physical defence structure is not specified.
  • prickle: A sharp-tipped outgrowth from the epidermis, bark or other plant organ that is explicitly not a spine (modified leaf) or thorn (modified stem).
  • pungent_leaf_apex: A sharp-tipped leaf.
  • spine: A sharp-pointed structure, which is a modified leaf or leaf part, including petioles, midribs, secondary veins, leaflets, or stipules.
  • stinging_or_irritant_hairs: Trichomes that sting or irritate, by injecting a toxin.
  • thorn: A sharp-pointed, stiff, woody modified stem.

seed_longevity_numeric

• label: Seed longevity
• description: Seed longevity
• type: numeric
• units: a
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1000 a

dispersal_unit

• label: Dispersal unit
• description: Plant dispersal unit, broadly defined by taxonomic group.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • fruit: Dispersal unit is a fruit.
  • seed: Dispersal unit is a seed.
  • spore: Dispersal unit is a spore.

fruit_height

• label: Fruit height
• description: Shorter linear width dimension of a fresh fruit and generally not reported in fruits where the width and height are identical; orthogonal to the length, the base-to-apex dimension.
• type: numeric
• units: mm
• allowable range: 0.01 - 2000 mm

root_distribution_coefficient

• label: Root biomass depth distribution coefficient
• description: Root biomass depth distribution coefficient (‘B’ from Gale & Grigal (1987), where high values indicate root biomass allocated deeper in the soil).
• type: numeric
• units: {dimensionless}
• allowable range: 0.5 - 1 {dimensionless}

root_dry_matter_content

• label: Root dry mass per unit root fresh mass (Root dry matter content)
• description: Root dry mass per unit root fresh mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 10 - 1000 mg/g

root_diameter

• label: Root diameter
• description: Root diameter; should only be used to record the maximum root diameter
• type: numeric
• units: mm
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1000 mm

root_system_type

• label: Tap root
• description: Binary variable describing whether or not a plant has a tap root
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • tap_root_absent: tap root not present
  • tap_root_present: tap root present
  • tap_root_sometimes_present: tap root sometimes present

root_fine_root_coarse_root_ratio

• label: Volume of fine root / Volume of coarse root
• description: Volume of fine root (<0.5mm diametre) / Volume of coarse root (>0.5mm diametre)
• type: numeric
• units: mm3/mm3
• allowable range: 0.05 - 50 mm3/mm3

root_specific_root_area

• label: Root area per unit root dry mass (specific root area)
• description: Root area per unit root dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mm2/mg
• allowable range: 0.001 - 1 mm2/mg

leaf_hairs_immature_leaves

• label: Presence of hairs on immature (still expanding) leaves
• description: Variable describing whether or not immature (still expanding) adult phase leaves on adult plants have hairs (trichomes).
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • glabrous: Immature (still expanding) leaves do not have hairs (trichomes).
  • hairy: Immature (still expanding) leaves have hairs (trichomes).

fire_response_stem_ratio

• label: Ratio of stem count post-fire to pre-fire
• description: Ratio of stem count post-fire to pre-fire at an individual or population level; this trait is appropriate to use for plants that have many stems from the base (shrubs, herbs, graminoids) where the number of stems before and after fire is censused. It is effectively a continuous measure of resprouting strength conditioned on initial size
• type: numeric
• units: {count}/{count}
• allowable range: 0 - 4 {count}/{count}

flower_count_maximum

• label: Maximum flower number
• description: Maximum flower number produced
• type: numeric
• units: {count}
• allowable range: 0 - 1000000 {count}

flower_colour

• label: Flower colour
• description: Flower colour, with six possible outcomes
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • blue_purple: blue or purple
  • green: green flower
  • pink: pink flower
  • red_brown: red or brown flower
  • white_cream: white or cream flower
  • yellow_orange: yellow orange flower

leaf_phyllotaxis

• label: Leaf phyllotaxis
• description: Leaf arrangement at a stem node, indicating the relative number and position of leaves at a single stem note.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • alternate: A single leaf is attached at each stem node.
  • opposite: A pair of leaves are attached opposite to one another at each stem node.
  • whorled: Three or more leaves are attached at each stem node, arranged in a symmetrical pattern around the stem. (synonym, verticillate)

atmospheric_CO2_concentration

• label: ambient CO2 concentration
• description: Ambient CO2 concentration (external CO2 concentration)
• type: numeric
• units: umol{CO2}/mol
• allowable range: 50 - 1000 umol{CO2}/mol

leaf_chloroplast_CO2_concentration

• label: CO2 concentration inside chloroplasts
• description: CO2 concentration inside chloroplasts
• type: numeric
• units: umol{CO2}/umol
• allowable range: 50 - 1000 umol{CO2}/umol

leaf_mesophyll_conductance_per_area

• label: Mesophyll conductance per unit leaf area
• description: Rate of CO2 movement between chloroplasts and sub-stomatal cavities (intracellular space), per unit leaf area
• type: numeric
• units: mmol{CO2}/g/s
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1 mmol{CO2}/g/s

leaf_mesophyll_conductance_per_mass

• label: Mesophyll conductance per unit leaf mass
• description: Rate of CO2 movement between chloroplasts and sub-stomatal cavities (intracellular space), per unit leaf mass
• type: numeric
• units: mol{CO2}/m2/s
• allowable range: 0.01 - 10 mol{CO2}/m2/s

leaf_photosynthesis_Jmax_per_mass

• label: Capacity for photosynthetic electron transport, measured through chlorophyll fluorescence, on a per mass basis
• description: Capacity for photosynthetic electron transport, measured through chlorophyll fluorescence, on a per mass basis
• type: numeric
• units: umol/g/s
• allowable range: 0 - 3 umol/g/s

leaf_photosynthesis_Vcmax_per_mass

• label: Maximum carboxylase activity of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco), measured through chlorophyll fluorescence, on a per mass basis
• description: Maximum carboxylase activity of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco), measured through chlorophyll fluorescence, on a per mass basis
• type: numeric
• units: umol/g/s
• allowable range: 0 - 1 umol/g/s

fire_response_detailed

• label: Resprouts or is killed by fire
• description: Detailed information distinguishing between plants that are killed by fire and resprout following fire
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • fire_killed: Plants killed by hot fires
  • weak_resprouting: Plant shows weak resprouting following fire; unless an author defines a study-specific cut-off, this term is applied to populations where some individuals, but fewer than 30% of individuals resprout following a fire.
  • intermediate_resprouting: Plant shows intermediate resprouting following fire; unless an author defines a study-specific cut-off, this term is applied to populations where between 30-70% of individuals resprout.
  • strong_resprouting: Plant shows strong resprouting following fire; unless an author defines a study-specific cut-off, this term is applied to populations where > 70% of individuals resprout.

leaf_glaucousness

• label: Whether mature leaves are glaucous
• description: Variable describing whether or not mature adult phase leaves have a glaucous appearance, the colour due to being covered with a smooth, usually whitish to bluish epicuticular wax that can easily be rubbed off.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • glaucous: Mature (fully expanded) leaves on adult plants have a waxy coating, giving them a glaucous appearance.
  • not_glaucous: Mature (fully expanded) leaves on adult plants do not have a glaucous appearance.

bark_modulus_of_elasticity

• label: A measure of the force required to bend bark
• description: A measure of the force required to bend bark
• type: numeric
• units: MPa
• allowable range: 10 - 100000 MPa

modulus_of_rupture

• label: Bulk modulus of rupture
• description: A measure of the force required to rupture xylem vessels
• type: numeric
• units: MPa
• allowable range: 1 - 10000 MPa

stem_modulus_of_elasticity

• label: A measure of the force required to bend a stem
• description: A measure of the force required to bend a stem; This is the modulus of a compound tissue made up of bark and wood (or xylem) and potentially pith; could also be called structural modulus of elasticity
• type: numeric
• units: MPa
• allowable range: 10 - 100000 MPa

xylem_modulus_of_elasticity

• label: Modulus of elasticity (Young’s modulus)
• description: A measure of xylem’s resistance to being deformed elastically (i.e., non-permanently) when a stress is applied to it; definition for measurements on wood (secondary xylem)
• type: numeric
• units: MPa
• allowable range: 10 - 100000 MPa

seed_dormancy_class

• label: Dormancy type
• description: Classification for seed dormancy
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • morphophysiological_dormancy: Seeds exhibit morphophysiological dormancy
  • non_dormant: Seeds are non-dormant
  • physical_dormancy: Seeds exhibit physical dormancy
  • physiological_dormancy: Seeds exhibit physiological dormancy

fruit_wall_thickness

• label: Fruit wall thickness
• description: Fruit wall thickness of a mature fresh fruit. This term sometimes applies explicitly to the entire pericarp (exocarp + mesocarp + endocarp), but more frequently will have a functional meaning, referring to the outer fleshy layer which might be just some components of the peripcarp, most frequently the exocarp and mesocarp.
• type: numeric
• units: mm
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1000 mm

leaf_chlorophyll_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf chlorophyll content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf chlorophyll content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mmol/kg
• allowable range: 0.1 - 15 mmol/kg

leaf_work_to_tear

• label: Work to tear a leaf
• description: Measures of how much force (work) is required to tear/rip a leaf; units same as J/m; slight variation in methods used will mean that, in some cases, values are not perfectly comparable across studies
• type: numeric
• units: N
• allowable range: 0.01 - 50 N

stem_water_content_per_saturated_mass

• label: Water content per unit mass of saturated stem
• description: Ratio of water in a saturated stem (maximal water holding capacity at full turgidity) to stem saturated mass
• type: numeric
• units: g/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 10 g/g

wood_Ca_per_dry_mass

• label: Wood calcium (Ca) content per unit wood dry mass
• description: Wood calcium (Ca) content per unit wood dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.001 - 10 mg/g

wood_K_per_dry_mass

• label: Wood potassium (K) content per unit wood dry mass
• description: Wood potassium (K) content per unit wood dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 100 mg/g

wood_Mg_per_dry_mass

• label: Wood magnesium (Mg) content per unit wood dry mass
• description: Wood magnesium (Mg) content per unit wood dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 10 mg/g

wood_Na_per_dry_mass

• label: Wood sodium (Na) content per unit wood dry mass
• description: Wood sodium (Na) content per unit wood dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 mg/g

wood_dead_Ca_per_dry_mass

• label: Dead wood calcium (Ca) content per unit dead wood dry mass
• description: Dead wood calcium (Ca) content per unit dead wood dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 mg/g

wood_dead_K_per_dry_mass

• label: Dead wood potassium (K) content per unit dead wood dry mass
• description: Dead wood potassium (K) content per unit dead wood dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 10 mg/g

wood_dead_Mg_per_dry_mass

• label: Dead wood magnesium (Mg) content per unit dead wood dry mass
• description: Dead wood magnesium (Mg) content per unit dead wood dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 10 mg/g

wood_dead_N_per_dry_mass

• label: Dead wood nitrogen (N) content per unit dead wood dry mass
• description: Dead wood nitrogen (N) content per unit dead wood dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 100 mg/g

wood_dead_Na_per_dry_mass

• label: Dead wood sodium (Na) content per unit dead wood dry mass
• description: Dead wood sodium (Na) content per unit dead wood dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.001 - 1 mg/g

wood_dead_P_per_dry_mass

• label: Dead wood phosphorus (P) content per unit dead wood dry mass
• description: Dead wood phosphorus (P) content per unit dead wood dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.001 - 10 mg/g

bark_photosynthetic_status

• label: Bark photosynthesis
• description: Binary variable indicating whether or not bark is photosynthetic
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • non_photosynthetic_bark: bark is not photosynthetic
  • photosynthetic_bark: bark is photosynthetic

stem_mass_to_shoot_mass_ratio

• label: Fraction of shoot dry mass that is stems (versus leaves)
• description: Fraction of shoot dry mass that is stems (versus leaves)
• type: numeric
• units: g/g
• allowable range: 0 - 1 g/g

leaf_chlorophyll_A_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf chlorophyll A content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf chlorophyll A content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mmol/kg
• allowable range: 0.1 - 10 mmol/kg

leaf_chlorophyll_B_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf chlorophyll B content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf chlorophyll B content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mmol/kg
• allowable range: 0.01 - 10 mmol/kg

leaf_epidermal_cell_density_both_sides

• label: Epidermal cell density averaged across the upper and lower leaf surfaces
• description: Epidermal cell density averaged across the upper and lower leaf surfaces
• type: numeric
• units: {count}/mm2
• allowable range: 100 - 10000 {count}/mm2

leaf_insoluble_protein_per_area

• label: Insoluble protein per leaf area
• description: Mass of insoluble protein per leaf area
• type: numeric
• units: g/m2
• allowable range: 0.1 - 20 g/m2

leaf_palisade_cell_length

• label: Length of individual palisade cells
• description: Length of individual palisade cells
• type: numeric
• units: um
• allowable range: 10 - 1000 um

leaf_palisade_layer_number

• label: Number of layers of palisade cells
• description: Number of layers of palisade cells
• type: numeric
• units: {count}
• allowable range: 1 - 10 {count}

leaf_starch_per_area

• label: Starch per leaf area
• description: Mass of starch per leaf area
• type: numeric
• units: g/m2
• allowable range: 0.1 - 50 g/m2

leaf_xylem_delta15N

• label: Xylem nitrogen (N) isotope signature (delta 15N) from leaves
• description: Xylem nitrogen stable isotope signature from leaves
• type: numeric
• units: {delta}[ppth]
• allowable range: -25 - 75 {delta}[ppth]

root_xylem_delta15N

• label: Xylem nitrogen (N) isotope signature (delta 15N) from roots
• description: Xylem nitrogen stable isotope signature from roots
• type: numeric
• units: {delta}[ppth]
• allowable range: -25 - 75 {delta}[ppth]

bark_thickness_index

• label: Scaled bark thickness
• description: Thickness of the bark (2 times a single thickness measure) of the stem divided by stem diameter, adjust for increasing bark thickness with increasing stem diameter. (based on Lawes)
• type: numeric
• units: mm/mm
• allowable range: 0.001 - 1 mm/mm

leaf_K_per_area

• label: Leaf potassium (K) content per unit leaf area
• description: Leaf potassium (K) content per unit leaf area
• type: numeric
• units: g/m2
• allowable range: 0.1 - 10 g/m2

root_specific_taproot_length

• label: Taproot length per unit root dry mass (specific tap root length, STRL)
• description: Taproot length per unit root dry mass. This trait measures the efficiency of taproot length per unit mass during the very early stage of growth when seedlings need to reach reliable water.
• type: numeric
• units: m/g
• allowable range: 0.5 - 5000 m/g

stem_count_categorical

• label: Stem Count, categorical
• description: Number of stems present, expressed in groups, where categories were 1=1; 2-3=2; 4-10=3; 11-30=4; and >30=5. Used by Peter Vesk.
• type: numeric
• units: {count}
• allowable range: 0 - 5 {count}

sprout_depth

• label: Depth below ground (negative number) or height above ground (positive number) from which buds emerge following a disturbance (i.e. fire)
• description: Depth of resprouting shoots
• type: numeric
• units: mm
• allowable range: -100 - 100 mm

leaf_secondary_vein_angle

• label: Angle of secondary veins
• description: Angle between a leaf’s secondary vein and its primary vein (midrib).
• type: numeric
• units: deg
• allowable range: 0 - 180 deg

leaf_vein_frequency

• label: Leaf vein frequency
• description: A measure of vein density, which is the number of veins intersecting the perimeter of a square divided by the perimeter of the square.
• type: numeric
• units: {count}/mm
• allowable range: 0.01 - 20 {count}/mm

leaf_delta18O

• label: Leaf oxygen (O) isotope signature (delta 18O)
• description: Leaf oxygen stable isotope signature
• type: numeric
• units: {delta}[ppth]
• allowable range: -10 - 50 {delta}[ppth]

leaf_carotenoid_per_dry_mass

• label: Leaf carotenoid content per unit leaf dry mass
• description: Leaf carotenoid content per unit leaf dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mmol/kg
• allowable range: 0.1 - 10 mmol/kg

leaf_rubisco_per_leaf_dry_mass

• label: N content of Rubisco
• description: Concentration of Rubisco
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 5 - 50 mg/g

leaf_total_non-structural_carbohydrates_per_area

• label: Total non-structural carbohydrates per leaf area
• description: Total non-structural carbohydrates per leaf area
• type: numeric
• units: g/m2
• allowable range: 0.1 - 50 g/m2

leaf_total_non-structural_carbohydrates_per_mass

• label: Total non-structural carbohydrates per leaf mass
• description: Total non-structural carbohydrates per leaf mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 10 - 200 mg/g

cotyledon_function

• label: Cotyledon function
• description: Cotyledon function
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • foliaceous: Cotyledons are photosynthetic and function as leaves.
  • reserve: Cotyledons function as energy reserve organs.

cotyledon_position

• label: Cotyledon position at germination
• description: Binary variable distinguishing between seedlings where the cotyledon remains within the seed coat versus emerges from the seed coat at germination.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • cryptocotylar: A type of seed germination in which the cotyledons remain within the seed coat at germination.
  • phanerocotylar: A type of seed germination in which the cotyledons emerge from the seed coat.

establishment_light_environment_index

• label: Canopy light environment required for seedling establishment
• description: The minimum light environment required by seedlings for establishment, scaled from 0 to 8. 0 indicates No direct light, extremely low levels of transmitted/reflected light, such as beneath dense fern or palm fronds close to ground level.; 0.5 indicates No direct light, very low levels of transmitted light; 1 indicates Rare or no exposure to direct light from lateral sources, and low levels of transmitted light.; 2 indicates Low lateral light and low–moderate transmitted light with <10% of inverted cone exposed to lateral sources of direct light, plus low to moderate levels of transmitted light; 3 indicates Low-moderate lateral & moderate transmitted light, wit <5% exposure of the focal crown to vertical direct light, and <15 % of inverted cone exposed to lateral sources of direct light, plus moderate transmitted light.; 4 indicates Moderate lateral light & moderate–high transmitted light, with 5 – 10% exposure of focal crown to direct vertical light, plus 2-20% exposure of inverted cone to lateral sources of direct light, plus moderate to high levels of transmitted light.; 5 indicates Moderate vertical light and moderate–high lateral light, with 5 – 20% exposure of focal crown to direct vertical light, plus one or both of, i. 10-40% exposure of 90-degree inverted cone to lateral sources of direct light, ii. exposure to high levels of transmitted light; 6 indicates Moderate-High vertical and high lateral light, with 10-30% of vertical projection of the crown exposed to vertical light, and lateral light exposure for > 40% of 90-degree inverted cone, 7 indicates High vertical and lateral light, with 30-80% of vertical projection of the crown exposed to vertical light, or exposure to lateral sources of direct light for > 60 % of a 90-degree inverted cone encompassing the focal crown.; 8 indicates Full light exposure of crown, with > 80% of the vertical projection of the crown exposed to vertical light. (reference, Wells 2012).
• type: numeric
• units: {dimensionless}
• allowable range: 0 - 8 {dimensionless}

reproductive_light_environment_index

• label: Canopy light environment required for reproduction
• description: The minimum light environment required by seedlings for reproduction, scaled from 0 to 8. 0 indicates No direct light, extremely low levels of transmitted/reflected light, such as beneath dense fern or palm fronds close to ground level.; 0.5 indicates No direct light, very low levels of transmitted light; 1 indicates Rare or no exposure to direct light from lateral sources, and low levels of transmitted light.; 2 indicates Low lateral light and low–moderate transmitted light with <10% of inverted cone exposed to lateral sources of direct light, plus low to moderate levels of transmitted light; 3 indicates Low–moderate lateral & moderate transmitted light, wit <5% exposure of the focal crown to vertical direct light, and <15 % of inverted cone exposed to lateral sources of direct light, plus moderate transmitted light.; 4 indicates Moderate lateral light & moderate–high transmitted light, with 5 – 10% exposure of focal crown to direct vertical light, plus 2-20% exposure of inverted cone to lateral sources of direct light, plus moderate to high levels of transmitted light.; 5 indicates Moderate vertical light and moderate–high lateral light, with 5 – 20% exposure of focal crown to direct vertical light, plus one or both of, i. 10-40% exposure of 90-degree inverted cone to lateral sources of direct light, ii. exposure to high levels of transmitted light; 6 indicates Moderate-High vertical and high lateral light, with 10-30% of vertical projection of the crown exposed to vertical light, and lateral light exposure for > 40% of 90-degree inverted cone, 7 indicates High vertical and lateral light, with 30-80% of vertical projection of the crown exposed to vertical light, or exposure to lateral sources of direct light for > 60 % of a 90-degree inverted cone encompassing the focal crown.; 8 indicates Full light exposure of crown, with > 80% of the vertical projection of the crown exposed to vertical light. (reference, Wells 2012).
• type: numeric
• units: {dimensionless}
• allowable range: 0 - 8 {dimensionless}

seedling_germination_location

• label: Seedling germination location
• description: Binary variable distinguishing between seedlings that germinate above versus below ground.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • epigeal: Germinant with one or more cotyledons emerging aboveground.
  • hypogeal: Germinant with all cotyledons remaining belowground.

root_P_per_dry_mass

• label: Root phosphorus (P) content per unit root dry mass
• description: Root phosphorus (P) content per unit root dry mass
• type: numeric
• units: mg/g
• allowable range: 0.01 - 100 mg/g

branch_terminal_twig_cross_sectional_area

• label: Terminal twig cross-sectional area
• description: Cross-sectional area of the terminal twig
• type: numeric
• units: mm2
• allowable range: 0.05 - 50 mm2

seed_dry_mass_reserve

• label: Seed dry embryo and endosperm mass
• description: Dry mass of a seed’s embryo and endosperm (if present), the component of a seed that provides energy to a seedling. Distinct from a seed’s dispersal structures or protective tissues.
• type: numeric
• units: mg
• allowable range: 1e-05 - 1e+05 mg

branch_terminal_twig_length

• label: Terminal twig length
• description: Length of the terminal twig
• type: numeric
• units: mm
• allowable range: 1 - 1000 mm

leaf_vessel_density

• label: Count of vessels per area in leaves
• description: Count of vessels per area in leaves
• type: numeric
• units: {count}/mm2
• allowable range: 1 - 50000 {count}/mm2

leaf_vessel_diameter

• label: Diameter of xylem vessels in leaves
• description: Diameter of xylem vessels in leaves
• type: numeric
• units: um
• allowable range: 1 - 250 um

plant_tolerance_snow

• label: Snow tolerance
• description: Description of a taxon’s tolerance to snow cover
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • not_applicable: Taxa is virtually never confronted with snow in nature and the response is unknown.
  • intolerant: Taxa is frost tender and known to be killed by any snow.
  • days: Taxa can tolerate being covered by snow for days (typically less than 1 week).
  • weeks: Taxa can tolerate being covered by snow for weeks (typically less than 1 month).
  • months: Taxa can tolerate being covered by snow for months.

regeneration_non_fire_disturbance

• label: A plant’s ability to regenerate following a non-fire disturbance.
• description: An indication of whether a plant is able to regenerate from a disturbance other than fire.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • resprouts_non_fire_disturbance: Fire-killed plants that have the ability to resprout following a disturbance other than fire.

seed_release

• label: Serotiny
• description: When a fruit or cone only releases its seeds following an environmental trigger, often fire; ; see also ‘seed_longevity_categorical’, ‘seed_storage_location’, ‘soil_seedbank’, ‘canopy_seedbank’, and ‘serotiny’
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • serotinous: Plant releases its seeds following an environmental trigger (usually fire)
  • mature_en_mass: Seeds released en masse when mature (eg annually)
  • gradual_release: Seeds maturing and released gradually from parent

plant_tolerance_inundation

• label: Inundation tolerance
• description: Ability of taxon to tolerate being under water
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • not_applicable: Taxa is not typically confronted with beng inundated and its response is unknown.
  • less_than_1_month: Taxa able to tolerate being inundated for less than 1 month.
  • 1-6_months: Taxa able to tolerate being inundated for 1-6 months.
  • greater_than_6_months: Taxa able to tolerate being inundated for more than 6 months.
  • aquatic: Taxa truly aquatic and able to be permanantly inundated.

plant_tolerance_water_logged_soils

• label: Water-logging tolerance
• description: Ability of taxon to tolerate water-logged soils
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • not_applicable: Taxa is not typically confronted with waterlogging and its response is unknown
  • less_than_1_month: Taxa able to tolerate less than 1 month of waterlogging
  • 1-6_months: Taxa able to tolerate 1-6 months of waterlogging
  • greater_than_6_months: Taxa able to tolerate more than 6 months of waterlogging
  • aquatic: Taxa truly aquatic and able to be permanantly inundated

plant_tolerance_calcicole

• label: Calcicole versus calcifuge status
• description: Dichotonmous variable, defining plants as calcifuge (intolerant of basic soils) versus calcicole (tolerant of basic soils, such as calcareous sands and limestone derived soils)
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • calcicole: tolerant of basic soils, such as calcareous sands and limestone derived soils
  • calcifuge: intolerant of basic soils

fire_exposure_level

• label: Plant’s fire avoidance or exposure strategies
• description: A trait to capture different mechanisms plants use to avoid or experience fire.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • fire_not_relevant: Plant never affected by fire (for aquatic taxon).
  • fire_avoidance_among_rocks: Plants rarely experience fires because their habitat is restricted to rocky outcrops or rock pavement.

bark_morphology

• label: Bark morphology
• description: Description of bark morphology
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • eucalypt_box: Eucalypts with “Box” type bark (including Corymbia and Angophora)
  • eucalypt_gum: Eucalypts with “Gum” type bark (including Corymbia and Angophora)
  • eucalypt_stocking: Eucalypts with “Gum” type bark above a rough barked stocking (including Corymbia and Angophora)
  • eucalypt_ironbark: Eucalypts with “Ironbark” type bark (including Corymbia and Angophora)
  • eucalypt_peppermint: Eucalypts with “Peppermint” type bark (including Corymbia and Angophora)
  • eucalypt_stringybark: Eucalypts with “Stringy” type bark (including Corymbia and Angophora)
  • eucalypt_ribbonbark: Eucalypts with “Gum” type bark that sheds in ribbons (including Corymbia and Angophora)

plant_spinescence

• label: Spinescence
• description: Degree to which a plant is defended by spines, thorns and/or prickles, as defined by Pérez-Harguindeguy et al. 2013.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • no_spines: No spines. (level 0)
  • low_density_soft_spines: Low or very local density of soft spines <5mm long; plant may sting or prickle when hit carelessly, but not impart strong pain. (level 1)
  • high_density_soft_spines: High density of soft spines, intermediate density of spines of intermediate hardness, or low density of hard, sharp spines >5mm long; plant causes actual pain when hit carelessly. (level 2)
  • high_density_hard_spines_to_5mm: Intermediate or high density of hard, sharp spines >5mm long; plant causes strong pain when hit carelessly. (level 3)
  • high_density_hard_spines_to_20mm: Intermediate or high density of hard, sharp spines >20mm long; plant may cause significant wounds when hit carelessly. (level 4)
  • high_density_hard_spines_to_100mm: Intermediate or high density of hard, sharp spines >100mm long; plant is dangerous to careless large mammals, including humans. (level 5)

pollination_system

• label: Pollination system
• description: Pollination system
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • abiotic: Taxa use nonliving methods such as wind and water for pollen transfer
  • biotic_unspecialised: Taxa use living methods for pollen transfer, but do not have a specialist pollinator
  • biotic_specialised: Taxa depend upon a specialist pollinator for pollen transfer
  • self_pollination: Flowers are self-pollinated or pollinated by another flower on the same plant

seed_volume

• label: Seed volume
• description: Volume of a seed
• type: numeric
• units: mm3
• allowable range: 0.001 - 1e+05 mm3

cotyledon_type

• label: Cotyledon type
• description: Binary variable distinguishing between glabrous versus hairy cotyledons
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • glabrous: Cotyledon lacks hairs
  • hairy: Cotyledon has hairs

embryo_colour

• label: Embryo colour
• description: Binary variable distinguishing between embryos that are green versus colourless
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • colourless: Colourless embryo
  • green: Green embryo

seedling_first_node_leaf_count

• label: Leaf count at first node
• description: Binary variable distinguishing between seedlings where the leaves at the first node are single versus paired.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • single: When there is a single leaf at the first node
  • paired: When there is a pair of leaves at the first node

seedling_first_node_leaf_type

• label: First leaf style
• description: Binary variable distinguishing between seedlings where the first leaf is scale-like (cataphyll) versus leaf-like.
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • scale-like: When the first leaf at germination is scale-like, also referred to as a cataphyll
  • leaf-like: When the first leaf at germination is leaf-like

seedling_hypocotyl_hairs

• label: Hypocotyl type
• description: Binary variable distinguishing between glabrous versus hairy hypocotyls (the embryonic axis to which the cotyeledons are attached).
• type: categorical
• allowable values:
  • glabrous: Hypocotyl lacks hairs
  • hairy: Hypocotyl has hairs

bark_water_content_per_saturated_mass

• label: Water content per unit mass of saturated bark
• description: Ratio of water in a saturated bark (maximal water holding capacity at full turgidity) to bark saturated mass
• type: numeric
• units: g/g
• allowable range: 0.1 - 10 g/g

leaf_carotenoid_per_area

• label: Leaf carotenoid content per unit leaf area
• description: Leaf carotenoid content per unit leaf area
• type: numeric
• units: umol/m2
• allowable range: 10 - 1000 umol/m2

leaf_chlorophyll_A_per_area

• label: Leaf chlorophyll A content per leaf area
• description: Leaf chlorophyll A content per leaf area
• type: numeric
• units: umol/m2
• allowable range: 50 - 2000 umol/m2

leaf_chlorophyll_B_per_area

• label: Leaf chlorophyll B content per leaf area
• description: Leaf chlorophyll B content per leaf area
• type: numeric
• units: umol/m2
• allowable range: 10 - 1000 umol/m2

leaf_absorption

• label: Proportion of incoming visible light that is absorbed by the leaf
• description: Proportion of incoming visible light (between 400-700 nm) that is absorbed by the leaf
• type: numeric
• units: umol/umol
• allowable range: 0.01 - 1 umol/umol

leaf_transmission

• label: Proportion of incoming visible light that is transmitted through the leaf
• description: Proportion of incoming visible light (between 400-700 nm) that is transmitted through the leaf
• type: numeric
• units: umol/umol
• allowable range: 0.001 - 1 umol/umol

bark_delta13C

• label: Bark carbon (C) isotope signature (delta 13C)
• description: Bark carbon stable isotope signature
• type: numeric
• units: {delta}[ppth]
• allowable range: -50 - 0 {delta}[ppth]

bark_delta15N

• label: Bark nitrogen (N) isotope signature (delta 15N)
• description: Bark nitrogen stable isotope signature
• type: numeric
• units: {delta}[ppth]
• allowable range: -25 - 75 {delta}[ppth]

stem_vessel_wall_fraction

• label: Fraction of xylem vessels comprised of cell wall
• description: Fraction of xylem vessels comprised of cell wall
• type: numeric
• units: um2/um2
• allowable range: 0.001 - 1 um2/um2

wood_tracheid_fraction

• label: Fraction of wood comprised of tracheids
• description: Fraction of wood comprised of tracheids
• type: numeric
• units: um2/um2
• allowable range: 0 - 1 um2/um2