TRY - Plant Trait Database

Sites of trait measurements compiled in TRY (blue) and locations of institutes contributing data to TRY (red).

Cumulative number of datasets contributed to TRY, data requests and publications using trait records via TRY (Note: data contributions and publications are related to the left axis, while the number of data requests relates to the right axis.

Plant traits are a key to understanding and predicting the adaptation of ecosystems in the face of biodiversity loss and global change. To improve the empirical data basis for such projections, in 2007 the TRY project was initiated. TRY is a network of vegetation scientists headed by DIVERSITAS, IGBP, the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, and an international Steering Committee.

Research focus

To provide a comprehensive web-archive of the functional biodiversity of plants at the global scale by assembling, harmonizing, and distributing data on functional plant traits
To promote trait-based approaches aiming at understanding the emergence and ecosystem consequences of plant biodiversity
To support the design of a new generation of dynamic global vegetation and ecosystem models by making comprehensive and high-quality data on functional plant traits available to modeling projects

Key data

Location: Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena
Platform type: Database
Research groups involved: About 5,400 participants (539 participant contributing data, 4,830 participant requesting data)

Contact

Dr. Jens Kattge
jkattge@bgc-jena.mpg.de