Crowdsourced biodiversity data fills plant trait data gaps
Posted 3 Feb 2026
By James McCarthy
Type: News
Status: Confirmed
Notes: The study shows that combining vegetation survey plots, citizen science observations, trait measurements, and high‑resolution Earth observation data enables accurate global mapping of key plant functional traits at scales down to 1 km². By integrating these diverse data sources, the authors achieved strong predictive performance for many traits and improved accuracy in under‑sampled regions. The resulting trait maps offer broad spatial coverage that can support research on plant community properties, ecosystem functioning, global biogeochemical processes, and conservation. The work highlights the growing power of crowdsourced biodiversity data for advancing global trait modelling.
Lusk D, Wolf S, Svidzinska D, Dormann CF, Kattge J, Bruelheide H, Sabatini FM, Damasceno G, Moreno Martínez Á, Violle C, et al. 2026. Crowdsourced biodiversity monitoring fills gaps in global plant trait mapping. Nature Communications 17(1): 1203.
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