Contribute Data to TRY

You are welcome to contribute plant trait data to the TRY initiative at any time.

Datasets contributed to the TRY Plant Trait Database are imported, curated, and usually become available with the next release of a new version of the TRY Database. However, during the period of data consolidation and harmonisation, new datasets only become available with the following version. If you want your datasets to be available earlier, you can choose in the upload process to additionally contribute to the TRY File Archive. Here, datasets are made available almost immediately.

Benefits of submitting data are:

• Potential co-authorships
• Citations in case the data are used in publications
• Receiving a DOI for your published dataset

The best way to submit data is to upload them:

You can also send data by email. However we recommend the upload, because this will give us the required information.

Plant trait data in TRY are public under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY. However, TRY accepts an embargo period of two (optionally plus another two) years, during which the contributor can restrict data availability or request involvement in publications. Contribution to TRY does not surrender ownership of the data: the contributor remains the owner of the data and will be informed of any data request to TRY that may involve his/her data (if so chosen).

To make your data in TRY findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (see FAIR Data Principles) we need some additional information about your dataset(s) and the traits:

Dataset:

• Dataset owner: Name and affiliation of the dataset owner (custodian; and if possible a deputy). The dataset owner will be contacted or informed (if so wished) each time his/her data are requested from TRY and can check the data use online in the Datset Custodian Center.
• Dataset name: This name will be used for the dataset in the context of TRY.
• Dataset reference: If the dataset has already been published or used in a publication. This reference will be cited, if the data are being reused via TRY.

Trait Data:

• Names of the traits
• Short description of each trait
• Units (if appropriate)

Taxonomy:

• Binomial nomenclature: genus, species epithet, authority (if known)

Auxilliary Data:

• Geo-references (Latitude, Longitude, Elevation, if applicable)
• Date and time of sampling or measurement (if applicable)
• Soil information (if applicable)
• Exposition of plants during growth
  • If data are from the natural environment: geo-reference, site and soil information (if available)
  • If data are from experimental growth conditions: a short description of exposition facility, temperature, light, soil substrate, nutrition etc.
• Developmental state of plants (mature / juvenile)
• Health status of the plants (healthy / non-healthy)
• Information about measurements (e.g. methods, conditions during measurements, if appropriate)
• In the case of leaf traits:
  • Physiological leaf age
    • Young / Youthful / Mature / Old / Senscent (according to Bowman and Box 1983)
    • Evergreen leaves: also add leaf age in years (current, 1, 2, etc)
  • Canopy position / light environment (sunlit, shade)

There are no special requirements for the format of data contribution. Trait data are accepted in any way as long as they are explicitly related to plant species. The preferred format is MS Excel with species information, traits and auxiliary data in columns and observations in rows.

Example for most appreciated format of data contribution.

If you would like to learn more about the data sharing policy within TRY, please contact us!