A-Islands: A vascular plant dataset for biodiversity research and species monitoring on Australian continental islands

Australia’s coastline features over 8,000 continental islands with diverse landforms, geology and plant diversity. This repository is for A-Islands, a curated, open-access dataset of >6,500 plant species from 844 islands, compiled from 1,349 species lists and floras. The islands vary in size (18 m²–4,400 km²), isolation, and climate zones, with 251 repeatedly sampled up to 11 times, enabling temporal studies. Its simple structure (three CSV files) allows integration with other databases and supports research on biodiversity, species turnover, island biogeography, and conservation. Continuously updated via version control, A-Islands offers a critical resource for understanding and monitoring Australia’s island ecosystems.