Ukrainian Plant Trait Database: UkrTrait

Ukrainian Plant Trait Database (UkrTrait v. 1.0) represents a collection of plant trait data from Ukraine. We compiled and digitized plant traits from local Ukrainian literature sources. Furthermore, we performed our own field and laboratory measurements of various plant traits that were not previously available in the literature. In the current version of the UkrTrait, we focus on vascular plant species that are absent from the other European trait databases, with emphasis on species that are representative for the steppe vegetation. Traits assembled from literature include life span (annuals, biennials, perennials), plant height, flowering period (flowering months), life form (by Raunkiaer), plant growth form, and others. Our own measured traits include seed mass, seed shape, leaf area, leaf nitrogen concentration, and leaf phosphorus concentration. The current version, i.e. UkrTrait v. 1.0, comprises digitized literature data of 287,948 records of 75 traits for 6,198 taxa and our own trait measurements of 2,390 records of 12 traits for 388 taxa.

More detailed information on content and methodology is available in:

Vynokurov D, Borovyk D, Chusova O, Davydova A, Davydov D, Danihelka J, Dembicz I, Iemelianova S, Kolomiiets G, Moysiyenko I, Shapoval V, Shynder O, Skobel N, Buzhdygan O, Kuzemko A (2024) Ukrainian Plant Trait Database: UkrTrait v. 1.0. Biodiversity Data Journal 12: e118128. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.12.e118128

Taxonomical background. We used the Ukrainian Checklist (Mosyakin and Fedoronchuk 1999) as a primary taxonomical source to preserve the original taxa names and their corresponding trait values, which is especially meaningful for the traits collected from the existing literature sources. Additionally, we provided the crosswalks between the Ukrainian checklist and international sources: GBIF Backbone Taxonomy, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (World Checklist of Vascular Plants (World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), World Flora Online (WFO) and Euro+Med PlantBase. However, the provided nomenclature crosswalks should be used with caution, since online databases are constantly updated. Therefore, we recommend conducting an additional match of the original taxa names to obtain up-to-date nomenclature information.

The dataset includes four files in two formats (*.tsv and *.csv): 

1. database-measured-traits is a dataset of the measured plant traits including generative plant height measured in the field (cm); vegetative plant height measured in the field (cm); average dry leaf mass (mg); average specific leaf area (SLA) (mm2 * mg-1); leaf nitrogen concentration (mg * g-1); leaf phosphorus concentration (mg * g-1); length of a seed (mm); width of a seed (mm); thickness of a seed (mm); variance of its three dimensions (unitless, raging from 0 to 1); average dry mass of a seed (mg).

2. database-literature-traits is a dataset including plant traits compiled from the literature sources. It includes the following traits: Average height of the whole plant; Plant flowering period; Plant life span (annuals, biennials or short-lived or perennials); Raunkiaer life form (phanerophytes, chamaephytes, hemicryptophytes, geophytes, hydrophytes, therophytes); Plant growth form (trees, shrubs, semishrubs, polycarpic and monocarpic herbs, epiphytes, woody and herbaceous lianas); Species geographic range; Leaf phenology; Rosette plants; Root system; Golubev life form (trees, shrubs, low shrubs, subshrubs, low subshrubs, polycarpic herbs, perenial monocarpic herbs, spring annuals, autumn annuals, epihydrophytes, idiohydrophytes, lianas, sparse cushion-shaped plants, spherical-shaped plants, creeping, succulents and fleshy plants, parasitic, semi-parasitic, saprophytic, carnivorous, rhizomatous, bulbosous); Biomorphological adaptations for vegetative renewal and reproduction; Listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine (edition 2021); Conservation status according to the Red Data Book of Ukraine (edition 2021); Residence time status of alien species; Region of origin of the alien species; Naturalisation degree of the alien species; Cultivated plants; Escaped from cultivation plants.

3. traits-ontologies is a file linking trait terminology used in the UkrTrait to the Thesaurus of Plant Characteristics (TOP), the Plant Trait Ontology (TO) and the TRY Plant Trait Database.

4. taxonomy_UkrTrait is a file containing taxonomical crosswalks between the UkrTrait species list and other nomenclature sources (Mosyakin et Fedoronchuk 1999; Euro+Med PlantBase; GBIF Backbone Taxonomy; World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP); World Flora Online (WFO).

Recommended citation for this database:

Vynokurov D, Borovyk D, Chusova O, Davydova A, Davydov D, Danihelka J, Dembicz I, Iemelianova S, Kolomiiets G, Moysiyenko I, Shapoval V, Shynder O, Skobel N, Buzhdygan O, Kuzemko A (2024) Ukrainian Plant Trait Database: UkrTrait v. 1.0. Biodiversity Data Journal 12: e118128. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.12.e118128