A near-complete dataset of plant growth form, life history, and woodiness for all Australian plants
Elizabeth H. Wenk
A * , David Coleman A B , Rachael V. Gallagher B and Daniel S. Falster A
A
B
Abstract
Tabular records of plant-trait data are essential for diverse research purposes. Here we present scorings for a trio of core plant traits, plant growth form, woodiness and life history, for nearly all (>99%) accepted taxon concepts included in the Australian Plant Census (APC). This dataset is predominantly derived from Australia’s state and national floras, supplemented by the taxonomic literature and diverse web resources. In total, 29,993 species and infraspecific taxa were scored for plant growth form, 30,279 for woodiness and 30,056 for life history, with taxa scored as displaying a single or multiple trait values, as appropriate. We provide sample R code that shows how to access and interrogate the dataset. This resource will enable rapid assessment of plant responses to disturbance events and new biogeographic analyses of trait distributions, better understandings of evolutionary trajectories, and ecological strategies.
Keywords: Australian plants, biodiversity, bioinformatics, functional traits, life history, plant adaptation, plant growth form, plant traits.
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