Vegetation Ecology Research Articles

Modelling the productivity of Siberian larch forests from Landsat NDVI time series in fragmented forest stands of the Mongolian forest-steppe

The monitoring of the spatial and temporal dynamics of vegetation productivity is important in the context of carbon sequestration by terrestrial ecosystems from the atmosphere. The accessibility of the full archive of medium-resolution earth observation data for multiple decades dramatically improved the potential of remote sensing to support global climate change and terrestrial carbon cycle studies. We investigated a dense time series of multi-sensor Landsat Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data at the southern fringe of the boreal forests in the Mongolian forest-steppe with regard to the ability to capture the annual variability in radial stemwood increment and thus forest productivity. Forest productivity was assessed from dendrochronological series of Siberian larch (Larix sibirica) from 15 plots in forest patches of different ages and stand sizes. The results revealed a strong correlation between the maximum growing season NDVI of forest sites and tree ring width over an observation period of 20 years. This relationship was independent of the forest stand size and of the landscape’s forest-to-grassland ratio. We conclude from the consistent findings of our case study that the maximum growing season NDVI can be used for retrospective modelling of forest productivity over larger areas. The usefulness of grassland NDVI as a proxy for forest NDVI to monitor forest productivity in semi-arid areas could only partially be confirmed. Spatial and temporal inconsistencies between forest and grassland NDVI are a consequence of different physiological and ecological vegetation properties. Due to coarse spatial resolution of available satellite data, previous studies were not able to account for small-scaled land-cover patches like fragmented forest in the forest-steppe. Landsat satellite-time series were able to separate those effects and thus may contribute to a better understanding of the impact of global climate change on natural ecosystems.

Analysis of mining-induced variation of the water table and potential benefits for ecological vegetation: a case study of Jinjitan coal mine in Yushenfu mining area, China

The impact of high-intensity coal mining on water resources has drastically affected the local environment in the Yushenfu mining area, Northwest China. Many studies have ascertained that coal mining has caused reduction of the phreatic water level and vegetation death, which has deteriorated the fragile arid and semiarid ecosystems. However, at Jinjitan coal mine, it has been observed that the phreatic water level rose due to coal mining, which has been beneficial for the local ecology, especially the vegetation. In this study, the variation of the phreatic water table and its ecological effects were investigated by in-situ tests and remote sensing. The results suggest that the recovery of the permeability of the loess aquitard controls the vertical leakage of phreatic water, whereas horizontal recharge is controlled by land subsidence. An ecological impact evaluation, using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), demonstrates that the vegetation is being gradually improved. Compared to a small improvement of ~9.7% in the unexploited area, a ~23.3% improvement occurred in the exploited area where low-density shrubs transformed to high-density shrubs and herbs. Emergence of phreatic water at the land surface in low-lying areas of the working faces may induce the formation of an oasis and wetland system in arid and semiarid areas. These findings could change the conventional negative impression around mining and improve ecological restoration practices.

Vegetation ecology with anthropic drivers and consequences

Current research on vegetation makes a difference in people’s lives. Plant community classification is a backbone of land management, plant communities are changing in response to anthropogenic drivers, and the processes of change have impacts on ecosystem services. In the following progress report, we summarize the status of classification and recent research on vegetation responses to pollution, especially nitrogen deposition, invasive species, climate change, and land use and direct exploitation. Two areas with human feedbacks are underscored: fire ecology and urban ecology. Prominent questions at the current research frontier are highlighted with attention to new perspectives.

Progress and recent trends of vegetation ecology in China

Progress and recent trends of vegetation ecology in China

Climatic Warming and Humidification in the Arid Region of Northwest China: Multi-Scale Characteristics and Impacts on Ecological Vegetation

The climatic warming and humidification observed in the arid region of Northwest China (ARNC) and their impacts on the ecological environment have become an issue of concern. The associated multi-scale characteristics and environmental responses are currently poorly understood. Using data from satellite remote sensing, field observations, and the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6, this paper systematically analyzes the process and scale characteristics of the climatic warming and humidification in the ARNC and their impacts on ecological vegetation. The results show that not only have temperature and precipitation increased significantly in the ARNC over the past 60 years, but the increasing trend of precipitation is also obviously intensifying. The dryness index, which comprehensively considers the effects of precipitation and temperature, has clearly decreased, and the trend in humidification has increased. Spatially, the trend of temperature increase has occurred over the entire region, while 93.4% of the region has experienced an increase in precipitation, suggesting a spatially consistent climatic warming and humidification throughout the ARNC. Long-term trends and interannual changes in temperature and precipitation dominate the changes in climatic warming and humidification. Compared to interannual variations in temperature, the trend change of temperature contributes more to the overall temperature change. However, the contribution of interannual variations in precipitation is greater than that of the precipitation trend to the overall precipitation change. The current climatic warming and humidification generally promote the growth of ecological vegetation. Since the 1980s, 82.4% of the regional vegetation has thrived. The vegetation index has a significant positive correlation with precipitation and temperature. However, it responds more significantly to interannual precipitation variation, although the vegetation response varies significantly under different types of land use. The warming and humidification of the climate in the ARNC are probably related to intensifications of the westerly wind circulation and ascending air motions. They are expected to continue in the future, although the strength of the changes will probably be insufficient to significantly change the basic climate pattern in the ARNC. The results of this study provide helpful information for decision making related to China’s “Belt and Road” development strategies.

Response of vegetation ecosystem to climate change based on remote sensing and information entropy: a case study in the arid inland river basin of China

Vegetation is sensitive to regional climate change especially in the arid area, and the effects of global warming on regional climate and ecological vegetation are complex and varied. Spatio-temporal variation of vegetation is closely related to the changing climate, detecting the correlation between the variation of climate and vegetation characteristics in time and spatial dimension is important for understanding the effects of climate change on vegetation ecosystem. Therefore, remote sensing and information entropy were proposed in the study to estimate the spatio-temporal variation of vegetation with normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and meteorological elements in the Nalenggele river basin, northwest China. The average NDVI value of the study area showed an increasing trend but more than 40% of the vegetation characteristic in this area showed a worse trend from 1987 to 2016. Temperature is the relatively prominent factor that affects the vegetation variation in this area, but only 12.25% of the vegetation showed strong correlation with temperature. The increasing temperature promoted the growth of vegetation in the oasis region and also caused the degradation of vegetation in the Gobi desert region to some extent. The variation of precipitation and humidity are not the key factors that control vegetation growth, less than 2% of the vegetation showed strong correlation with these two meteorological elements. The results of this study support the conclusion that the fragile vegetation ecosystem in the vast Gobi desert areas shows deteriorating trend in the past several decades closely to the changing climate.

Spatiotemporal Pattern of Vegetation Ecology Quality and Its Response to Climate Change between 2000–2017 in China

Vegetation ecology quality (VEQ) is an important indicator for evaluating environmental quality and ecosystem balance. The VEQ in China has changed significantly with global warming and gradual intensification of human activities. It is crucial to research the spatiotemporal characteristics of VEQ and its response to climate change in China. However, most previous studies used a single indicator to reflect VEQ in China, which needs to combine the effects of multiple indicators to reveal its variation characteristics. Based on the six remote sensing indicators, fractional vegetation cover, leaf area index, net primary productivity, vegetation wetness, land surface temperature, and water use efficiency of vegetation, the vegetation ecology quality index (VEQI) was constructed by principal component analysis in this paper. The spatio-temporal distribution and trend characteristic of VEQ within disparate ecosystems in China from 2000 to 2017 were studied. How continuous climate change affected VEQ over time was also analyzed. The results showed that the differences in spatial distribution between the excellent and poor VEQ regions were significant, with the proportion of excellent regions being much larger than that of poor regions. The VEQ has been ameliorated continuously during the past 18 years. Simultaneously, the VEQ would be ameliorated persistently in the future. Differences in the distribution and variation trend of VEQ occurred in disparate ecosystems. The VEQ of broadleaved forest was the best, while that of shrubs and arctic grassland ecosystem was the worst. The VEQ characteristics were different in disparate climate zones, with the best VEQ in the tropical monsoon climate zone and the worst in the plateau mountain climate zone. Except for desert vegetation and paddy field-dominated vegetation, VEQ of other ecosystems were significantly negatively correlated with altitude. Generally, moderate precipitation and temperature were favorable to improve VEQ in China. VEQ during the peak growing season was negatively correlated with temperature and positively correlated with precipitation, and the influence of precipitation on VEQ was stronger than that of temperature. Our results can be used to enact relevant management measures and policies.

Evaluation of MODIS-based Vegetation Restoration After the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake

Mountainous vegetation recovery after major earthquakes has been significant for preventing post-seismic soil erosion and geo-hazards. Magnitude 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake struck western Sichuan, China in 2008, caused salient number of geological hazards and caused major vegetation damage. This recovery process could be a very long and fluctuating. And Remote sensing has been an important method of vegetation restoration monitoring. This study aims to use remote sensing technology data to analyze the post-seismic vegetation damage and recovery situation of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake over years to 2020, and find the relevant factors affecting the restoration of ecological vegetation. This paper examined the vegetation recovery processes following the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake using 16-day interval MODIS normalized difference vegetation index time series from 2000 to 2020. It has been found that the vegetation recovery rate generally increased by years, the entire study area has recovered 49.89% by 2020. In addition, by combining remote sensing imagery and geographic information data, we also found that the heavily affected vegetation areas are mainly located along the southern part of the earthquake surface rupture, where have a very high slope which mainly over 60 degrees. It makes this part having higher probabilities to experiences secondary natural hazards and a fluctuating vegetation recovery rate. Through this research, it can be concluded that remote sensing is an effective method for monitoring vegetation dynamics in a long series. For soil and soil retention and ecological vegetation protection of landslides after the earthquake, it should be more concerned about the areas where have steep slope that over 60 degrees.

Transitional fishery: a new resource for global nutritional food and medicinal security

Sea and river junctions form lagoon, sites become largely marshy land with fresh water at upper approaching river reach and brackish water towards sea. Such bays are plentiful in numbers and visited by aquatic birds during the winter seasons. Previous studies established vast possibility of harvesting biological nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) through aquatic bird droppings viz Guano. The vast sizes and number of such sites have huge potential for fishery with differing in quality characters which is termed as transitional fishery in the present study. Objective of the present study was to bring impetus in this new category of fishery with scientific management so as to make the venture highly efficient and responsive, and enable harnessing plentiful benefits of nutritional food and medicinal security. The transitional fishery was considered as ecosystems and various networks of ecology of land, vegetation, fish and aquatic birds were brought in a band for managing it in new pattern. Ecological lessons were hypothesized and validated by results on fishery on lagoons available in literatures. First innovative lesson was that fish adopt site in North East direction of fresh water stream, as also corroborated by honey bee comb sites on N-E side of any circular water tank’s supporting posts. The second innovative fact was to transformed terrestrial land as sites for growing highly palatable nitrogen rich organic feed for fishery. Thus, colonization and feeding become conclusive approach, as supported by past researches, as guide to fishery scientist to move steps ahead in harnessing productivity of lagoons. Thus, fresh and marine brackish water transition zones become vast resources for countries to derive prosperity and employment generations. The innovative fishery feed will be usable for other types of fisheries ie fresh water fishery as well as marine fishery.

Научное совещание «Теоретические вопросы классификации растительных сообществ России» (Ялта, 1–3 ноября 2021 г.)

Thirty years after the publication of the USSR vegetation syntaxa prodromus (Korotkov et al., 1991), the active work on the preparation of the Prodromus of the Russian Federation vegetation (Plugatar et al., 2020) has started. 29 contributions (incl. 5 via Skype), were represented at the Workshop “Theoretical problems of the classification of plant communities of Russia”, that took place in Yalta, Republic of Crimea, on November 1–3, 2021. Twenty six scientists (Fig. 1, 2) from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Ufa, Vladivostok, Yakutsk, Syktyvkar, Bryansk, Rostov on Don, Khanty-Mansiysk, Ekaterinburg, Nalchik, Kursk, Yalta) participated this meeting. The reviews of syntaxonomic systems of forests, steppes, meadows, and aquatic, halophytic, synantropic, alpine, arctic, petrophytic, see-shore vegetation and wetlands were represented. The problems, that have appeared after beginning the syntaxa checklists development, such as the validation of units, the dubiousness of some accepted syntaxonomic decisions, poor syntaxonomic knowledge of some regions were discussed. The directors of three Botanical Gardens (from Yalta, Novosibirsk and Vladivostok) of the Russian Academy of Sciences signed documents (Fig. 3) on the starting of a scientific consortium «National Network of Botanical Gardens of the Russian Federation», focused on joint fundamental researches in the vegetation science, ecology, bioclimatology and biogeography; on the development of the National classification of vegetation and National typology of habitats as a scientific basis for assessing the carbon balance, rational use of natural resources and vegetation conservation in the country. Resolution of the Workshop emphasizes the necessity to consider the development of the Russian national vegetation classification as a priority task for phytosociologists in Russian Federation for the next five years.

Using information statistics to study the ecology of vegetation and dynamic processes of the Earthʹs vegetation cover

Using information statistics to study the ecology of vegetation and dynamic processes of the Earthʹs vegetation cover

Vegetation science during hectic times

Vegetation science during hectic times

A simplified and affordable approach to forest monitoring using single terrestrial laser scans and transect sampling

Traditional forestry, ecology, and fuels monitoring methods can be costly and error-prone, and are often used beyond their original assumptions due to difficulty or unavailability of more appropriate methods. These traditional methods tend to be rigid and may not be useful for detecting new ecological changes or required data at modern levels of precision [1]. The integration of Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) methods into forest monitoring strategies can cost effectively standardize data collection, improve efficiency, and reduce error, with datasets that can easily be analyzed to better inform management decisions. Affordable (sub-$20K) off-the-shelf TLS units—such as the Leica BLK360— have been used commercially in the built environment but have untapped potential in the natural world for monitoring. Here, we provide a methodology that successfully integrates LiDAR scanning with existing monitoring methods. This new method:•Allows for simplified and quick extraction of forestry, fuels and ecological vegetation variables from a single TLS point cloud and quick transect sampling.•Streamlines the data collection process, removes sampling bias, and produces data that can be easily processed to provide inputs for models and decision support frameworks.•Is adaptable to integrate additional or new environmental measurements.

新疆白杨河流域特征及生态植被需水分析

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 新疆白杨河流域特征及生态植被需水分析 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201911092362 作者: 作者单位: 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 新疆水利科技专项（YF2020-01） Analysis on characteristics of Baiyang River Basin and water requirement of ecological vegetation in Xinjiang Author: Affiliation: Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:新疆白杨河流域地跨上游乌鲁木齐市达坂城及下游吐鲁番市托克逊县两个行政区，上游达坂城区位于天山博格达峰山前冲击、洪积山间盆地干旱区，源于天山多支源流汇集于盆地南端峡口，基于峡口形成下游并由有多支流沿程补给白杨河干流，穿越极端干旱戈壁荒漠区的托克逊县直至末端吐鲁番市境内尾闾-艾丁湖，是我国典型少有的跨越干旱与极端干旱叠加型流域灌区，水资源有效利用及水生态环境保护具有重要作用。遵循流域各河流水系形成的自然生态环境属性及河道取水工程节点，采用Penman-Monteith法生态需水定额和卫星遥感面积识别及水文年内展布方法，分析评估流域内上下游绿洲生态环境植被需水量和河流生态基流及其调控断面。结果表明，上游达坂城区黑沟河年生态需水量、生态基流、年均径流占比和控制断面，分别为921万m3、0.29m3/s、18%和黑沟渠首；阿克苏河为1048万m3、0.33m3/s、12%和阿克苏渠首；高崖子河为862万m3、0.27m3/s、12%和高崖子渠首；下游托克逊境内由白杨河干流调节，艾丁湖等生态需水量分别为4256万m3、1.35m3/s、32%和小草湖渠首。白杨河流域年生态需水7880万m3，生态基流2.50m3/s，生态水占年均径流量17%，分析结果为流域生态环境管理保护提供依据。 Abstract:The Baiyang River Basin extends across two administrative districts including Dabancheng in the upper reaches of Urumqi city and Tuokesun County of Turpan City in the lower reaches, Xinjiang. The upper Dabancheng district is located in the dry area of alluvial and proluvial intermontane basin in front of Bogda peak of Tianshan Mountain. Many branches of source streams converge at the mouth of the southern end of the basin, and form the downstream from the gorge. Many tributaries supply the main stream of Baiyang River along the way. Baiyang River passes through Tuokesun County in the extremely arid Gobi desert and ends at Turpan City-Ayding Lake, one of the few typical irrigation areas in China which spans the superposition of drought and extreme drought. The effective utilization of water resources and protection of water ecological environment play an important role. According to the naturally ecological environment attributes formed by the river water system and the river water intake project nodes, Penman-Monteith ecological water demand quota, satellite remote sensing area identification, and hydrological year distribution method were used to analyze and evaluate water demand of the ecological environment vegetation, river ecological base flow and its regulation sections in the upper and lower reaches of the basin. The results show that the annual ecological water demand, ecological base flow, annual runoff proportion, and control section of Heigou River in Dabancheng district are 921 thousand m3, 0.29 m3/s, 18%, and Heigoutou section respectively; those of Aksu River are 1048 ten thousand m3, 0.33 m3/s, 12%, and Aksu canal head; those of Gaoyazi River are 862 ten thousand m3, 0.27 m3/s, 12%, and Gaoyazi channel head; and those of Ayding Lake are 4256 ten thousand m3, 1.35 m3/s, 32%, and the head of Xiaocaohu, where the downstream Tuokesun is regulated by the main stream of Baiyang River. The annual ecological water demand of Baiyang River Basin is 7880 ten thousand m3, the ecological base flow is 2.50 m3/s, and the ecological water accounts for 17% of the annual runoff. The results provide the basis for the management and protection of ecological environment in the basin. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Variability of selected tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) cultivars for yield traits and storability under southern Guinea Savannah ecological vegetation

Variability of selected tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) cultivars for yield traits and storability under southern Guinea Savannah ecological vegetation

LiVegetation: an investigative tool for vegetation mapping in the era of citizen science

<p indent="0mm">Vegetation maps are important for understanding the spatial distribution and geographical pattern of vegetation. Vegetation maps also provide important auxiliary information for natural resource research and management decision-making. Vegetation mapping is based on vegetation survey data. To realize vegetation mapping in continuous areas, the data are supplemented by 3S technology, i.e., remote sensing, geographic information systems, and global positioning systems. Despite the rapid development of 3S technology, obtaining massive distribution information of vegetation groups remains a crucial prerequisite and also represents a bottleneck for large-scale vegetation mapping. With the increased availability of smart terminals and personal remote sensing devices, combined with the rise of citizen science, the crowdsourcing model has created new opportunities for vegetation formation investigation. In this study, we developed a collection and analysis system for vegetation group information based on smartphones and web services, which we refer to as LiVegetation. The LiVegetation application supports Android and iOS systems, and the main functions include data collection, layer management, point of interest management, trajectory management, user information, and data display. The LiVegetation application can efficiently collect photo and text records with geographic information in the field. The LiVegetation web system provides management functions that correspond to the LiVegetation application as well as a data inspection function with hierarchical experts. Since July 2018, the LiVegetation system has collected 108,083 data records, which are widely distributed across 34 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in China. These data cover seven vegetation group types and 582 vegetation formation types. The maximum number of data uploaded by the system in a single day is 5,358, and the maximum total number of data uploaded by a single person in a single day is 2,543. Data collected by the LiVegetation system have been successfully applied to update the 1:1,000,000 Vegetation Map of China and are serving the mapping of the 1:500,000 Vegetation Map of China. In future, it is expected that LiVegetation data will continue to support vegetation ecology research and policy management.

History and prospect of vegetation map compilation in China

<p indent="0mm">Vegetation maps are the product of vegetation research, which contain professional ecology information in terms of both vegetation types and spatial distribution patterns. They are important and basic data for revealing the distribution features of plants and communities, which can provide not only a solid foundation for research in ecology and geography, but also useful reference information for the development of agriculture, forestry, husbandry and ecological construction. The brief overview of the origin and development of global vegetation mapping was showed in this paper. And the compiling history and achievements of national and regional vegetation maps of China were reviewed. Vegetation mapping of China started in the 1950s. The vegetation maps of China (1:8,000,000), published in 1960, firstly showed 129 alliance-level vegetation types of the whole country. Subsequently, national vegetation maps (i.e., 1:4,000,000 and 1:1,000,000), provincial and regional vegetation maps of various scales were published successively. In the future, vegetation map compilation should fully utilize modern science and technology, be based on sufficient field survey data and vegetation ecology research. Meanwhile, multi-source and multi-temporal remote sensing data and big data of ecological geographic information, combined with artificial intelligence (e.g., deep learning) classification methods are also required.

Phytophthora Introductions in Restoration Areas: Responding to Protect California Native Flora from Human-Assisted Pathogen Spread

Over the past several years, plantings of California native plant nursery stock in restoration areas have become recognized as a pathway for invasive species introductions, in particular Phytophthora pathogens, including first in the U.S. detections (Phytophthora tentaculata, Phytophthora quercina), new taxa, new hybrid species, and dozens of other soilborne species. Restoration plantings may be conducted in high-value and limited habitats to sustain or re-establish rare plant populations. Once established, Phytophthora pathogens infest the site and are very difficult to eradicate or manage—they degrade the natural resources the plantings were intended to enhance. To respond to unintended Phytophthora introductions, vegetation ecologists took a variety of measures to prevent pathogen introduction and spread, including treating infested areas by solarization, suspending plantings, switching to direct seeding, applying stringent phytosanitation requirements on contracted nursery stock, and building their own nursery for clean plant production. These individual or collective actions, loosely coordinated by the Phytophthoras in Native Habitats Work Group ensued as demands intensified for protection from the inadvertent purchase of infected plants from commercial native plant nurseries. Regulation and management of the dozens of Phytophthora species and scores of plant hosts present a challenge to the state, county, and federal agriculture officials and to the ornamental and restoration nursery industries. To rebuild confidence in the health of restoration nursery stock and prevent further Phytophthora introductions, a voluntary, statewide accreditation pilot project is underway which, upon completion of validation, is planned for statewide implementation.

Biomes are everybody's kingdom: a platform where ecology and biogeography meet

Proches’ (2020) criticism of Mucina's (2019) research review on the evolution of the biome concept raises several points. It argues that evolutionary history is a tool reserved for delimiting phytochoria (phytogeographic regions) and it is not appropriate for biomes. Proches notes that the ‘only things biomes and kingdoms [phytochoria] have in common is that they both have to be globally mappable’. This statement bears on our understanding of the biome as an ecological‐evolutionary concept, and on how phytochoria and biomes are recognized (or delimited) and mapped. In the following, I respond to Proches' arguments that will demonstrate a divergence in our thinking regarding the conceptual framework for differences in the delimitation of biomes and phytochory.

Understanding Intraspecific Trait Variability Using Digital Herbarium Specimen Images

Plant traits are vital to quantify, understand and predict plant and vegetation ecology, including responses to environmental and climate change. Leaf traits are among the best sampled, with more than 200,000 records for individual traits. Nevertheless, their coverage is still strongly limited, especially with respect to characterizing variation within species and across longer time scales. However, to date, more than 3000 herbaria worldwide have collected 390 million plant specimens, dating from the 16th century. At present, the herbarium specimens are rapidly digitized and the images are made openly available to facilitate research and biodiversity conservation. In this study, we determined the potential of the digitized herbarium specimens images to: overcome limitations of data availability for quantitative leaf traits such as the area, length, width along with petiole length and use the trait values to understand the intraspecific variability across spatio-temporal scales. overcome limitations of data availability for quantitative leaf traits such as the area, length, width along with petiole length and use the trait values to understand the intraspecific variability across spatio-temporal scales. For the study, initially, specimen metadata was analysed from various online resources such as the Global Plants Database, Natural History Museum Paris, iDigBio and Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Based on the completeness of the metadata, image availability, and the ease of measuring the leaf traits, we selected Salix bebbiana, Alnus incana, Viola canina, Salix glauca, Impatiens capensis, Chenopodium album, and Solanum dulcamara for the study. The semi-automated tool TraitEx (Gaikwad et al. 2019) was used to measure quantitative leaf traits such as the leaf area, perimeter, width, length and petiole length. Finally, excluding duplicates, we downloaded 17383 digital herbarium specimen images from iDigBio and GBIF, which included specimens from the 17th century to the present. However, about 5000 had insufficient information or quality issues, including not-yet-identified duplicates, or no intact leaves. For each selected image we measured four leaf traits - area, length, width and perimeter of the leaf blade - on up to 5 leaves. In sum, we collected about 120,000 trait records from 32009 leaves. Comparison of measured leaf traits to data from the TRY Plant Trait database (Kattge et al. 2019) revealed that we could improve the database for studying intraspecific trait variability by several orders of magnitude (from less than 10-100 records per species to &amp;gt;1000). The variation of trait records within the seven species shows reasonable patterns, which improves trust in the data quality. The extracted trait measurements were used to analyse the intraspecific variability for the species across different spatio-temporal resolutions. Machine learning method (random forest) was used to perform the analysis and the results revealed the imprint of spatial and temporal climate variation, including long term trends and climate change as well as seasonality effects, on leaf area. Through this study, we demonstrate the high benefits of digitizing herbarium specimens and reusing it for research studies to improve ecological knowledge and predictability of size-related leaf traits.