Abstract
Plant functional traits have been incorporated in studies of vegetation ecology to better understand the mechanisms of ecological processes. For this reason, a global effort has been made to collect functional traits data for as many species as possible. In light of this, we identified the most common species of an area of 15,335 km2 inserted in the subtropical Atlantic Rain Forest in Southern Brazil. Then, we compiled functional trait information mostly from field samples, but also from herbarium and literature. The dataset presents traits of leaf, branch, maximum potential height, seed mass, and dispersion syndrome of 117 species, including trees, tree ferns, and palms. We also share images of anatomical features of branches used to measure wood traits. Data tables present mean trait values at individual and species level. Images of wood and stomatal features may be useful to assess other anatomical traits that were not covered in the data tables for the anatomical determination of species and/or for educational purposes.
Highlights
In the last decades, plant ecologists have employed trait-based approaches to investigate relationships among biological groups and the environment [1,2,3,4]
Spore mass of tree fern species was estimated from spore radius; we assumed that the spores were spherical and had a density of 0.5 mg mm−3; (2) Dispersal syndrome and (3) potential plant height were obtained from the IFFSC database
Our dataset provides high quality information about functional traits of plant species that may be useful for researchers at both regional and global scales
Summary
Plant ecologists have employed trait-based approaches to investigate relationships among biological groups and the environment [1,2,3,4]. Given the importance of trait-based approaches to model ecosystem processes, a global effort to collect data on functional traits for as many plant species as possible has been made [16]. We present a dataset containing images and data tables that were used to build our main data table that includes the mean values of 17 functional traits of 117 species occurring in the subtropical Atlantic Rain Forest. These traits cover leaf, wood, seed, height, and water-flux related functions. The images in the dataset refer to branches’ wood macroanatomy and stomata anatomy
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