Data from: Matching seed to site by climate similarity: Techniques to prioritize plant materials development and use in restoration

Land management agencies are increasing the use of native plant materials for vegetation treatments to restore ecosystem function and maintain natural ecological integrity. This shift towards the use of natives has highlighted a need to increase the diversity of materials available. A key problem is agreeing on how many, and which, new accessions should be developed. Here we describe new methods that address this problem. Our methods use climate data to calculate a climate similarity index between two points in a defined extent. This index can be used to predict relative performance of available accessions at a target site. In addition, the index can be used in combination with standard cluster analysis algorithms to quantify and maximize climate coverage (mean climate similarity), given a modeled range extent and a specified number of accessions. We demonstrate the utility of this latter feature by applying it to the extents of 11 Western North American species with proven or potential use in restoration. First, a species-specific seed transfer map can be readily generated for a species by predicting performance for accessions currently available; this map can be readily updated to accommodate new accessions. Next, the increase in climate coverage achieved by adding successive accessions can be explored, yielding information that managers can use to balance ecologic and economic considerations in determining how many accessions to develop. This approach identifies sampling sites, referred to as climate centers, which contribute unique, complementary climate coverage to accessions on hand, thus providing explicit sampling guidance for both germplasm preservation and research. We examine how these, and other, features of our approach add to existing methods used to guide plant materials development and use. Finally, we discuss how these new methods provide a framework that could be used to coordinate native plant materials development, evaluation, and use across agencies, regions, and research groups.

土地管理机构正逐步提升本土植物材料（native plant materials）在植被修复处理中的应用占比，以恢复生态系统功能并维系自然生态完整性。这一转向本土材料的应用趋势，凸显了提升可用材料多样性的迫切需求。当前的核心难题在于，就应开发多少种以及哪些新的种质材料（accessions）达成共识。本文将介绍可解决该问题的全新方法。我们的方法借助气候数据，在划定范围内的任意两点间计算气候相似性指数（climate similarity index），该指数可用于预测现有种质材料在目标修复位点的相对表现。此外，结合标准聚类分析（cluster analysis）算法，该指数可在给定模拟分布范围与指定种质材料数量的前提下，量化并最大化气候覆盖度（climate coverage，即平均气候相似性）。我们将该后一功能应用于北美西部11种已证实或潜在可用于生态修复的物种的分布范围，以此验证其效用。其一，通过预测现有种质材料的表现，可快速生成针对单一物种的专用种子调拨图（seed transfer map），且该图谱可随时更新以适配新增的种质材料；其二，可探究逐步新增种质材料所带来的气候覆盖度提升幅度，由此得到的信息可帮助管理者在确定需开发的种质材料数量时，平衡生态与经济两方面的考量。该方法可识别被称为气候中心（climate centers）的采样位点，这些位点可为现有种质材料提供独特且互补的气候覆盖度，进而为种质资源保存（germplasm preservation）与相关研究提供明确的采样指导。我们分析了本方法的上述及其他特性如何补充并完善现有用于指导植物材料开发与应用的方法体系，最后探讨了这些全新方法如何构建一套可跨机构、跨区域、跨研究团队协同开展本土植物材料开发、评价与应用的框架。