Gaps in Global Alien Plant Trait Data and How to Fill Them

IF 6 1区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ECOLOGY

Global Ecology and Biogeography Pub Date : 2025-10-02 DOI:10.1111/geb.70131

Matthias Grenié, Helge Bruelheide, Wayne Dawson, Franz Essl, Mark van Kleunen, Ingolf Kühn, Holger Kreft, Petr Pyšek, Patrick Weigelt, Marten Winter

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Aim

Functional traits help to understand the ecological processes underlying biological invasions. The extent to which trait data are available for alien plants at the global scale is unknown. In this study, we assess the availability of trait data and identify global gaps and biases.

Location

Global.

Time Period

Present.

Major Taxa Studied

Vascular plants.

Methods

We used the GloNAF database to get a global list of plants naturalised outside their native range and their distributions. We combined data from the four largest trait databases: AusTraits, BIEN, GIFT, and TRY, on which we performed taxonomic and trait harmonisation. We studied the availability of trait data. Then, based on the distribution data, we tested to what extent trait knowledge was driven by ecological and socioeconomic variables.

Results

We found that the species-by-trait matrix (2764 traits for 14,539 species) was only 1.5% complete, with most traits measured for very few species. Only ten traits were available for more than 50% of all alien plants. Four percent of the species lacked all trait data, while 27% of species had data for the three key plant traits: leaf mass per area, seed mass, and plant height. We observed a strong latitudinal gradient in trait knowledge, with tropical regions showing lower trait knowledge than higher latitudes, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere. Growth form, range size, and invasion status were the strongest predictors of trait knowledge, with widespread, invasive tree species being better recorded than other alien species.

Main Conclusions

We identified large trait data gaps at a global scale for alien plants, which limits our ability to study functional invasion ecology at large spatial scales. These gaps are partly driven by uneven sampling and a lack of trait data integration across sources. We recommend prioritising the most invasion-relevant traits and coordinating community efforts of plant and invasion scientists to sample them in a standardised way, which could help close these gaps.

Abstract Image

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全球外来植物性状数据的空白及如何填补

目的功能性状有助于理解生物入侵背后的生态过程。在全球范围内，外来植物的性状数据可获得的程度是未知的。在本研究中，我们评估了性状数据的可用性，并确定了全球差距和偏差。位置全球。时间：现在。维管植物的主要分类群。方法利用GloNAF数据库获取全球范围外归化植物及其分布。我们结合了四个最大的性状数据库：AusTraits、BIEN、GIFT和TRY的数据，并对其进行了分类和性状协调。我们研究了性状数据的可用性。然后，基于分布数据，我们测试了性状知识在多大程度上受到生态和社会经济变量的驱动。结果14539个物种的2764个性状的种-性状矩阵只完成了1.5%，大部分性状都是在极少数物种中测量到的。50%以上的外来植物只具备10个性状。4%的物种缺乏所有性状数据，而27%的物种拥有三个关键植物性状的数据：单位面积叶质量、种子质量和植物高度。我们观察到在性状知识上有很强的纬度梯度，热带地区的性状知识比高纬度地区低，特别是在北半球。生长形式、范围大小和入侵状态是性状知识的最强预测因子，广布的入侵树种比其他外来树种更容易被记录。在全球范围内，我们发现了大量的外来植物性状数据缺口，这限制了我们在大空间尺度上研究功能入侵生态学的能力。这些差距部分是由于采样不均匀和缺乏跨来源的性状数据整合。我们建议优先考虑与入侵最相关的特征，并协调植物和入侵科学家的社区努力，以标准化的方式对它们进行采样，这可能有助于缩小这些差距。

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来源期刊

Global Ecology and Biogeography 环境科学-生态学

CiteScore

12.10

自引率

3.10%

发文量

170

审稿时长

3 months

期刊介绍： Global Ecology and Biogeography (GEB) welcomes papers that investigate broad-scale (in space, time and/or taxonomy), general patterns in the organization of ecological systems and assemblages, and the processes that underlie them. In particular, GEB welcomes studies that use macroecological methods, comparative analyses, meta-analyses, reviews, spatial analyses and modelling to arrive at general, conceptual conclusions. Studies in GEB need not be global in spatial extent, but the conclusions and implications of the study must be relevant to ecologists and biogeographers globally, rather than being limited to local areas, or specific taxa. Similarly, GEB is not limited to spatial studies; we are equally interested in the general patterns of nature through time, among taxa (e.g., body sizes, dispersal abilities), through the course of evolution, etc. Further, GEB welcomes papers that investigate general impacts of human activities on ecological systems in accordance with the above criteria.