Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits—almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.

We introduce the AusTraits database - a compilation of values of plant traits for taxa in the Australian flora (hereafter AusTraits). AusTraits synthesises data on 448 traits across 28,640 taxa from field campaigns, published literature, taxonomic monographs, and individual taxon descriptions. Traits vary in scope from physiological measures of performance (e.g. photosynthetic gas exchange, water-use efficiency) to morphological attributes (e.g. leaf area, seed mass, plant height) which link to aspects of ecological variation. AusTraits contains curated and harmonised individual- and species-level measurements coupled to, where available, contextual information on site properties and experimental conditions. This article provides information on version 3.0.2 of AusTraits which contains data for 997,808 trait-by-taxon combinations. We envision AusTraits as an ongoing collaborative initiative for easily archiving and sharing trait data, which also provides a template for other national or regional initiatives globally to fill persistent gaps in trait knowledge.

Seed movement and delayed germination have long been thought to represent alternative risk‐spreading strategies, but current evidence covers limited scales and yields mixed results. Here we present the first global‐scale test of a negative correlation between dispersal and dormancy. The result demonstrates a strong and consistent pattern that species with dormant seeds have reduced spatial dispersal, also in the context of life‐history traits such as seed mass and plant lifespan. Long‐lived species are more likely to have large, non‐dormant seeds that are dispersed far. Our findings provide robust support for the theoretical prediction of a dispersal trade‐off between space and time, implying that a joint consideration of risk‐spreading strategies is imperative in studying plant life‐history evolution. The bet‐hedging patterns in the dispersal–dormancy correlation and the associated reproductive traits have implications for biodiversity conservation, via prediction of which plant groups would be most impacted in the changing era.

We reviewed the status of orthodox seed collections of globally threatened plants conserved in − 20 °C long-term storage at the Millennium Seed Bank, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK in terms of their geographic and bioclimatic representativeness, taxonomic and genetic diversity, quality and physiological status. The comprehensive dataset used spans over 45 years of worldwide conservation effort across various organisations. The data provides evidence-based results and future directions for the represented globally threatened flora that are of relevance to all plant conservation and seed banking organisations across the globe. The reviewed sample includes 523 collections and represents a wide geographic range, originating from 67 countries, from all nine bio-geographic continents. The majority of collections originated from temperate climates and from habitats with no dry seasons but experiencing warm summer periods. The taxonomic composition of the collections highlighted a substantial diversity, with 303 taxa (four extinct in the wild; 56 critically endangered; 105 endangered; and 138 vulnerable) represented by 297 species, 199 genera and 74 families. Almost four fifths of the collections were harvested from wild habitats. Whilst wild-origin collections can harbour useful genes not available in the cultivated gene pool, for threatened plants both collections and taxa are likely to suffer from low genetic diversity as a low number of individual plants, populations and/or potentially viable or usable seeds were sampled at the original harvest. Large numbers of empty and infested seeds in the original harvest have significantly affected the quality of collections in terms of availability of potentially viable or usable seeds in collections. As a result, just over one third of taxa and one fifth of collections consisted of ≥ 5000 potentially viable or usable seeds. Viable seeds exhibited a sound physiological status in terms of germinability and viability at the initial round of germination tests after storage, but on average, relative germination and viability achieved were below 85%. A decline in germinability during their variable time of storage was evident for 16% of the 78 collections analysed for longevity. According to a set of criteria, suitable germination protocols for propagation of plants from seeds were identified for 165 taxa. Given the apparent differences between wild species, especially those that are rare and threatened, and domesticated crops, the quality and physiological status of reviewed collections are reasonably sound. The characteristics we observed for collections, the challenges we identified for conserving them and the germination protocols we suggested for propagation of plants from seeds have the scope to be noted, integrated and used globally across various conservation activities and policies.

The Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) Partnership, developed and managed by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew), conserves propagules primarily from orthodox seed-bearing wild vascular plants. It is the largest ex situ conservation programme in the world, currently involving 96 countries and territories. Where possible, seeds are collected and conserved in the country of origin with duplicates being sent to RBG Kew’s MSB for storage. In this paper we assess the conservation value of the germplasm stored at the MSB using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The MSB holdings represent a high quality, rich biological resource. Substantial and unique taxonomic diversity exists amongst the collections, representing 365 families, 5813 genera, 36,975 species and 39,669 taxa conserved. The collections cover a wide geographic range, originating from 189 countries and territories, representing all nine bio-geographic regions and all 35 biodiversity hotspots. The collections possess significant natural capital and population value: 32% of taxa, representing 49% of collections, have at least one identified use to humans; and 74% of taxa, representing 78% of collections, are either endemic, endangered (nationally or globally) and/or have an economic, ecological, social, cultural or scientific value. While 10% of taxa, representing > 8% of collections, are either extinct, rare or vulnerable to extinction at the global and/or national level, 20% of taxa, representing 13% collections, are endemic at the country or territory scale. Over the 17-year period since 2000 at least 11,182 seed samples, representing 12% of taxa and 8% of collections, have been distributed globally for conservation, research, education and display. This analysis highlighted collection gaps in MSB holdings in relation to their geographic representativeness, the taxonomic diversity of large families and genera of angiosperms, and coverage of threatened taxa. Further analysis across the entire MSB Partnership is required to underpin future collection activities and maximize the usefulness of collections.

The Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change Project set out to improve the diversity, quantity, and accessibility of germplasm collections of crop wild relatives (CWR). Between 2013 and 2018, partners in 25 countries, heirs to the globetrotting legacy of Nikolai Vavilov, undertook seed collecting expeditions targeting CWR of 28 crops of global significance for agriculture. Here, we describe the implementation of the 25 national collecting programs and present the key results. A total of 4587 unique seed samples from at least 355 CWR taxa were collected, conserved ex situ, safety duplicated in national and international genebanks, and made available through the Multilateral System (MLS) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Plant Treaty). Collections of CWR were made for all 28 targeted crops. Potato and eggplant were the most collected genepools, although the greatest number of primary genepool collections were made for rice. Overall, alfalfa, Bambara groundnut, grass pea and wheat were the genepools for which targets were best achieved. Several of the newly collected samples have already been used in pre-breeding programs to adapt crops to future challenges.