The Tervuren xylarium Wood Density Database (TWDD)

Wood density is a key plant property, indispensable for estimating forest
biomass. Yet, despite tropical regions' substantial contributions to
global tree diversity and carbon cycling, they remain underrepresented in
wood density datasets such as the CIRAD and Global Wood Density Database
(GWDD). To address this gap, we present the ‘Tervuren xylarium Wood
Density Database’ (TWDD), containing 13,332 samples from 2,994 species,
1,022 genera, and 156 plant families across six continents (72% from
Africa). TWDD offers direct measurements of oven-dry (oven-dry
mass/oven-dry volume, all samples), air-dry (air-dry mass/air-dry volume,
6,408 samples), green (green mass/green volume, 1,657 samples), and basic
wood density (oven-dry mass/green volume, 1,686 samples). Basic density
was estimated for the remaining 11,646 samples via conversion from
oven-dry density. TWDD closes a substantial wood density data gap,
especially in Africa, adding 1,164 new species, 160 new genera, and 8 new
plant families not included in GWDD or CIRAD datasets. The TWDD provides a
critical resource for advancing research on forest community dynamics,
ecosystem functioning, carbon cycling, and trait-based ecology worldwide.