About TRY

Plant functional classifications were proposed in the early-mid 1990’s as a tool to model vegetation dynamics and ecosystem functioning (esp. biogeochemical cycles) in response to climate and CO2. Since then, plant functional type (PFT) research has been a flourishing field, well beyond the realm of global change research. However a disconnect remains between modelers, working at the regional scale or beyond, who still tend to use rather coarse classifications, with few PFTs that are based on a small number of plant traits (e.g. life form, phenology, photosynthetic pathway), and experimental scientists who focus on a greater range of plant traits, and nowadays tend to prefer continuous descriptions rather than classifications into discrete PFTs.

To bridge this gap between knowledge and modeling IGBP, QUEST and DIVERSITAS launched the Fast Track Initiative on Plant Functional Types: Refining Plant Functional Classifications for Earth System Modeling (PFT-FTI , 2006-2009). In cooperation with the Organismic Biogeochemistry Group at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry (MPI-BGC) the PFT-FTI now forms the TRY initiative. Here TRY is an expression of sentiment rather than an acronym. The initiative is headed by Sandra Diaz, Sandra Lavorel, Colin Prentice, Paul Leadley, Cristian Wirth and Jens Kattge. TRY is working in close collaboration with DiverSus, the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew and the ARC-NZ Research Network for Vegetation Function.

Main objectives:

(1) The construction of a global-scale database of vascular plant traits. This database should gather under a single, easily accessible format data available in different existing datasets that cover a variety of biomes, geographic areas, and traits. The database construction is under the technical responsibility of the Organismic Biogeochemistry Group at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry, and is coordinated with the TraitNet NSF project to ensure up to date ontology and data standards.

(2) Make the trait data available for the ecological community. The TRY database is not public, but data are shared among participants of the TRY initiative upon request, respecting the intellectual property rights of data contributors.

(3) Support the design of a new generation of dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) which take into account the greater biological complexity, necessary for a more robust representation of ecosystem response to global environmental change.

Perspectives:

First results of data based analyses and model-data integration will be available in 2010. The perspective of TRY beyond 2010 is to consolidate the data basis and the cooperation with TraitNet and intensify model-data integration activities.

TRY Coordination and Advisory Board:

  • Sandra Diaz (IGBP - DIVERSITAS)
  • Sandra Lavorel (IGBP - DIVERSITAS)
  • Colin Prentice (QUEST)
  • Paul Leadley (DIVERSITAS )
  • Jens Kattge (MPI-BGC)
  • Gerhard Boenisch (MPI-BGC)
  • Christian Wirth (MPI-BGC)


Initiatives that have contributed major datasets to TRY:
  • GLOPNET Contact: Ian Wright and Peter Reich
  • Wood Density Contact: Amy Zanne
  • Vessel Anatomy Contact: Amy Zanne
  • Eastern Australian Plant Traits Contact: Ian Wright
  • Neotropic Plant Traits Contact: Ian Wright
  • Categorical Data Lookup Tables Contact: Ian Wright
  • Fonseca/Wright NSW Contact: Ian Wright
  • Overton/Wright NZ Contact: Ian Wright

  • Seed Information Database (SID) Contact: John Dickie
  • African Plant Traits Database Contact: Don Kirckup
  • Wood Anatomy/Leaf Element Contact: Steven Jansen
  • CORDOBASE Contact: Sandra Diaz
  • Sheffield-Iran-Spain Database Contact: Sandra Diaz

  • Leda-Traitbase Contact: Michael Kleyer
  • Cedar Creek Savanna Contact: Peter Reich
  • Global Leaf N/P Contact: Peter Reich and Jacek Oleksyn
  • Cedar Creek Physiology Contact: Dan Bunker

More initiatives will be added to this list - this is still work in progress.

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