Assemble
Bring together field data, literature tables, floras, taxonomic descriptions, and researcher-contributed datasets.
Open trait data for Australian plants
Explore AusTraits
Trait data for Australia's flora, harmonised and ready for ecological research, biodiversity infrastructure, and conservation decision-making.
AusTraits release
v7.0.0
Traits
Taxa
Sources
Linked trait records
taxonomy, methods, context, sources
TaxonEucalyptus pilularis
Traitleaf area
Valueharmonised
Sourcelinked metadata
Versioned DOI with archived releases
500+
plant traits
34,000+
plant taxa
300+
data sources
CC-BY 4.0
open data licence
FAIR
metadata-rich resource
Curated science infrastructure
Built to make trait data reusable
AusTraits synthesises plant trait data from field campaigns, published literature, taxonomic monographs, and individual taxon descriptions. The database integrates contributions from functional plant biology, plant physiology, plant taxonomy, conservation biology, and related disciplines.
Entries are linked to detailed metadata, harmonised against trait definitions, and checked for consistency. The AusTraits data paper was published in Scientific Data: 10.1038/s41597-021-01006-6.
How the platform works
From scattered observations to reliable infrastructure
AusTraits keeps the workflow visible: original sources are preserved, trait concepts are standardised, and releases are archived so analyses can be repeated later.
Harmonise
Align names, trait definitions, units, methods, value types, and metadata into a relational database.
Publish
Release versioned data, documentation, R tooling, and linked biodiversity outputs for reuse.
Explore the resource
Access AusTraits in the form you need
Start with the route that matches how you want to use the resource: download a full release, work programmatically, follow a tutorial, or connect through linked biodiversity platforms.
Dataset releases
Download compiled AusTraits releases from Zenodo under an open CC-BY 4.0 licence.
R interface
Download, join, filter, explore, and visualise AusTraits data in analysis workflows.
Tutorials
Follow worked examples for exploring and analysing data using project tooling.
ALA integration
Access taxon-level trait summaries through Atlas of Living Australia pages.
Traceable by design
Every record keeps its context
AusTraits is a relational, metadata-rich resource. Trait values, taxonomic concepts, methods, sources, and contextual information are kept explicit so users can trace and evaluate the data they use.
Tools and outputs
An ecosystem for harmonised trait data
AusTraits is supported by open tools and reusable outputs that help researchers build, access, align, and interpret harmonised trait databases.
Plant Dictionary
A formal vocabulary for trait concepts, definitions, allowed values, units, and links.
Derived data products
From raw records to reusable summaries
AusTraits includes extracted trait values from taxonomic descriptions, including hundreds of thousands of values across key traits. The methods are described in Coleman et al. 2023.
AusTraits has also gap-filled near-complete trait tables for core traits such as life history, plant growth form, and woodiness.
Taxonomic descriptions
570,000 values
Core gap-filled traits
Near-complete tables
Future summaries
Species and location outputs
Ongoing infrastructure
Building blocks for Australian plant science
Data contributions
New and legacy datasets from researchers, archives, reference books, and taxonomic monographs.
Contribute dataTrait coverage
Expanding coverage for disturbance response, climate vulnerability, reproduction, and conservation.
Synthetic summaries
Species and species-by-location trait summaries for applied research and environmental assessment.
Reusable workflows
Support for other communities creating harmonised trait databases with traits.build.
Use AusTraits
Reliable trait data for research, conservation, and infrastructure
Download the latest release, work through the R package, or contribute data to improve coverage for the Australian flora.