Seedling trait data of 180 grassland species used in: Different from the start: Key dimensions of seedling traits of Central European temperate grassland species

During the last two decades, the research on plant functional traits has advanced rapidly. However, so far, research has focused on traits of adult plants, while research on seedling traits is scarce. Seedling traits, however, could play an important role during plant establishment from seeds and they are essential to understand the full plant life cycle. We studied seedling traits related to the timing of germination and seedling development (number of days until germination, time until two leaves developed), above- and belowground morphological seedling traits (seedling height, specific leaf area (SLA), root tissue density, specific root length), relative growth rate as well as seedling above- and belowground biomass in the stage, when seedlings had developed the first two true leaves. For this, we examined ca 229 temperate grassland species in a microcosm experiment under ambient light and temperature conditions in an open greenhouse (at the UFZ Field Station Bad Lauchstädt, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany) between November 2020 and July 2022. <br>The microcosm experiment was part of the project SeedDiv within the framework of the DFG-funded joint project Biodiversity Exploratories (https://www.biodiversity-exploratories.de).