EstablishMed: a dataset of transition probabilities for woody plant establishment in the Mediterranean Region

Motivation: Plant establishment is the result of sequential demographic
processes, namely post-dispersal seed survival, seed germination, seedling
survival and sapling survival. These processes can be quantified as
transition probabilities between life stages through field experiments,
and their product provides an overall establishment probability. This
information is essential to understand demography within populations and
plant colonization potential under global change scenarios. The
Mediterranean Region constitutes a biodiversity hotspot characterised by
severe summer droughts, which suppose a critical demographic bottleneck
for perennial plant establishment. Despite many studies have quantified
transition probabilities of woody species in this region, information is
scattered through literature and has not yet been compiled. To fill this
gap, we collated data from a systematic literature review and completed
them with new unpublished data to create the EstablishMed dataset. Main
types of variables contained: EstablishMed is a compilation of 4728
records of transition probabilities that quantify demographic processes
operating during plant establishment. All records belong to native species
and were obtained in situ under field conditions. Each record includes
information about the specific spatiotemporal context of the study (i.e.,
year, site, population, habitat and microhabitat) and the experimental
procedures employed (e.g., degree of protection against natural enemies).
In addition, we included taxonomic and trait information of the study
species (i.e., seed mass, dispersal syndrome and life form), and the
bioclimate of the study sites. Spatial location and grain: The dataset
covers the whole Mediterranean Region. The finest spatial resolution
corresponds to microhabitat types within populations. Time period and
grain: Data were extracted from 271 studies originated between 1991 and
2024. Major taxa and level of measurement: 134 woody species from 80
genera and 39 families. Software format: EstablishMed is available in .csv
format in Dryad repository.