Alberta grassland plant data
Leaf and root traits and abundances and phylogeny for 76 grassland plant species from Alberta, Canada. Data set and collection methods are described in:
S.W. Kembel and J.F. Cahill, Jr. 2011. Independent evolution of leaf and root traits within and among temperate grassland plant communities. PLoS ONE 6(6): e19992.
File descriptions
community.traits.csv
- Each row represents abundance and traits measured for a species in a 20x20m sample plot. Traits should be log10-transformed prior to analysis. There are a few missing data points. Traits were measured on mature healthy leaves and on fine roots (<2mm diameter) taken from representative individuals in each plot.
-abund: the abundance of each species in the plot. Abundance is an estimate of the percent cover of the species in the plot (0-100%) to the nearest 10%. Abundance was measured by noting presence of species in 10 quadrats placed within the plot.
-SLA: specific leaf area
-LeafArea: one-sided projected leaf area
-LeafThickness: leaf laminar thickness
-LeafTissueDens: leaf tissue density
-SRL: specific root length
-RootTissueDens: root tissue density
-RootDiam: average root diameter
plot.metadata.csv
- Plot-level metadata on habitat and site plus plot aspect/slope.
species.phylogeny.txt
- Species-level phylogeny with branch lengths proportional to estimated clade age. Tree backbone based on Davies et al. angiosperm phylogeny, within-family relationships resolved by hand using references cited in Kembel and Cahill 2011.