Worldwide “Open Access” Tree Functional Attributes and Ecological Database

There are several global databases of plant functional attributes and traits, but they have restricted access. ICRAF’s Tree functional attributes and ecological databases are open to all users, but cover only part of users' needs. The common answer to the trade-off between “public good” data access and the proprietary nature of data owned by partners is to provide “metadata” or allow access to summarized forms of the primary dataset. New efforts are under way to broaden the information content and bring the platform and structure up to date with current technical opportunities. Three types of basic data are at the basis of it: 1) properties and attributes of trees, usually at species level, that include geographic distribution, ecological requirements, growth rates, utility and value chain information, 2) geographic locations where trees are known to occur, 3) plot-level inventory data of co-occurrence of trees in (modified) forest, agroforest or simple agroforestry settings. By linking databases of these three types, a range of user questions can be answered about “right tree in right place for clear reasons”. We have started to bring together all data available in ICRAF-Indonesia and its close partners onto a platform that we hope can attract wider use; the platform itself, within the constraints of the overall architecture, is open to further additions by a user community. We seek input on the selection and definition of tree functional attributes that should be captured for the database, and the way these can be linked to standardized analysis of plot-level or occurrence data and/or linked to models of tree growth and performance under current or future climatic conditions.