AusTraits

A national database of Australian plant traits that synthesises data on 500 traits across 30,000 plant taxa

The Challenge

AusTraits is a national data asset quantifying the traits of Australia’s flora. It collects functional and structural traits (such as leaf size, potential photosynthetic rate, maximum height, floral colour, and floral symmetry) as well as capturing differences among species in their ecology, function, and evolution. These traits are crucial for advancing core research and applied outcomes in plant science.

The challenge for AusTraits was to broaden coverage of the resource and improve the quality of the data, while making it more accessible.

The Response

In phase 1 (doi.org/10.47486/DP720), the new version of AusTraits delivered:

broadened coverage of the resource by connecting with new datasets and research communities
improved data access using existing biodiversity platforms, including Atlas of Living Australia, and EcoCommons.

In phase 2 (2024 to 2027), AusTraits aims to:

increase the completeness of trait data for Australian plants
deliver new synthesised products (species average traits and geospatial trait layers)
deploy our new workflows for aggregating trait observations for other facets of biodiversity (e.g., physiology, animal traits).

In particular, this includes:

maintaining the {APCalign} package for aligning and updating scientific names of Australian plants.

The new version AusTraits is:

expanding coverage of key traits by adding data to AusTraits, with a focus on traits deemed essential for assessing species’ responses to disturbance (especially from fire), climate change (especially to drought, extreme temperatures), and reproduction (e.g. pollination traits, flower colour). All are essential for understanding the conservation status of the Australian flora
developing new species-level and geo-spatial layers of traits for use in ecological modelling
expanding our API or developing additional interfaces with Zenodo archives to deliver these new layers into the ALA and state herbaria
enhancing AusTraits exposure through workshops, conference talks and one-on-one networking
offering mentoring and guidance for teams using AusTraits and/or the traits.build trait database building workflow, including national and international trait-based initiatives
continuing to develop the traits.build workflow, output structure and data model
broadened coverage of the resource by connecting with new datasets and research communities
improved data access using existing biodiversity platforms, including Atlas of Living Australia and EcoCommons.

The Outcomes

Access AusTraits, now a national database of Australian plant traits that synthesises data on 500 traits across 30,000 plant taxa.

This project has also delivered a:

data paper
R package
step-by-step user guide to the traits.build database model, R package and workflow
API
plant dictionary (accessible also via ARDC Research Vocabularies Australia).

All these resources and more can be accessed via the AusTraits website.

AusTraits has transformed our ability to understand and manage Australian vegetation. It provides tangible impacts beyond academic research by freeing up ecological data which can be used to create stronger conservation management, business investment and societal engagement with the environment.

These have led to wide-ranging impacts, including:

Broadscale assessment of species vulnerability to bushfires
Analysis of continental trends in plant function (e.g. doi.org/10.1111/nph.19478; doi.org/10.1111/nph.18993)
Reconstructing past environments through functional trait analysis (doi.org/ 10.1038/s41559-022-01943-4)
Global integration of trait data using the AusTraits Plant Dictionary (doi.org/10.1111/nph.18999)
Better integration and usage of biodiversity data using APCalign (e.g. Schrader, AIslands Project, in prep; Lu-Irving, compiling list of NSW weed species, in prep)

Phase 2 intended outcomes

Strengthening the availability and uptake of more comprehensive trait data in conservation planning and management decisions and for priority research questions in the face of climate and environmental change. This will support evidence-based decision making by government and industry.
The species-level data and geo-spatial layers of trait data will be a synthetic and easy-to-use summary of the raw data in AusTraits and will make the trait data more accessible to researchers and the general public. This translation of raw plant trait data to synthesised outputs ensures reliable data and information products are available to form the building blocks for environmental assessments across diverse research sectors.
Continued development and deployment of our API ensures AusTraits data can be seamlessly delivered via multiple web portals, ensuring AusTraits trait data remain easily accessible to both researchers and the general public.
Workshops, conference talks and one-on-one networking ensure AusTraits is widely used and respected as an accurate, easy-to-use data resource.
By offering mentoring for those building trait datasets for any organism using the traits.build workflow, we increase the number of teams using this workflow to build interoperable, fully-documented trait databases. In turn, the traits.build (AusTraits) standard becomes established as a ‘gold standard’ model among users, promoting the sharing of reliable data and information.
Continued development of the traits.build workflow, output structure and data model ensure databases built using this workflow can be integrated into global biodiversity resources such as GBIF and meet the requirements of all teams wishing to use this workflow. Creating this reusable infrastructure promotes the sharing of data and information.
Efficient alignment and updating of lists of scientific names to those accepted by the Australian Plant Census. The APC align hence offers a method to ensure the reliability and trustworthiness of scientific names in research on Australian plants.

Who Will Benefit

Researchers, research organisations and government agencies can benefit from:

improved access and discoverability with AusTraits available as an open access resource via existing biodiversity platforms
comprehensive national coverage of functional and structural traits across Australia’s flora in a unified data asset.

The Partners

Phase 2 partners are:

UNSW (project lead)
ARDC
Western Sydney University
Botanic Gardens of Sydney
University of Melbourne
Atlas of Living Australia
Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW)

The partners for Phase 1 of AusTraits were:

UNSW
ARDC
Macquarie University
Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust
Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research
The University of Melbourne
Western Sydney University
EcoCommons Australia
CSIRO
Landcare Research New Zealand
University of New England
Murdoch University
University of Arizona
Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Australian Biological Resources Study
Parks Australia
Atlas of Living Australia
Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research
NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions
Greening Australia.