About

Since 2007, TRY is a network of vegetation scientists and headed by Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, iDiv, and Future Earth providing free and open access to plant trait data collected by contributors worldwide. Plant traits - morphological, anatomical, biochemical, physiological or phenological features of individuals or their component organs or tissues - are a key to understanding and predicting the adaptation of ecosystems in the face of biodiversity loss and global change.

News

Data import for TRY version 7 finished

2025-07-25

New publication

2025-05-06

Mourning for Gerhard Bönisch

2024-05-17

Assembly of functional diversity in an oceanic island flora

2023-08-18

all news

Data use

This website provides an interactive view of the TRY database. Actual measurements can be requested at the TRY Data Portal. Most data in the TRY Database is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). You are free to share and adapt the material for any purpose, even commercially. We ask that you properly credit the original data sources. The corresponding references will be displayed at the search result page. TRY terms apply.

Terms and Conditions

Intellectual Property Guidelines for the TRY Plant Trait Database

Jena, 17.07.2018, to come into effect with TRY version 5.0, updated 03.11.2023

Status of data contributed to the TRY Database

Plant trait data in the TRY Database are public under the Creative Commons Attribution License ‘CC BY’ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). TRY accepts an embargo period of two years after these guidelines are in place or after the date new datasets are formally incorporated in the TRY Database. In justified cases (e.g. finalization of a PhD) the embargo period can be extended by two years (to a total of four years) by the TRY Steering Committee. After the end of the embargo period, these data will also become public under the Creative Commons Attribution License ‘CC BY’. An individual that directly contributes data to the TRY Database is called a custodian. A custodian may be a person who collected or aggregated the original data or may act as a representative of all individual contributors in a collective dataset or as a representative of an organization (such as RBG Kew) that collected or aggregated the data. The custodian will be informed each time her/his data are requested, unless she/he decides not to be informed. It will be the custodian’s responsibility to solve intellectual property rights and authorship rules within the group of contributors. TRY will not take responsibility for data mishandling on the part of the custodians. Intellectual property rights in the data remain with the data custodian. During the embargo period the custodian can restrict data availability and/or request involvement in publications, which are using these data. It is not allowed to redistribute restricted trait data received via TRY, unless expressly permitted by the respective data custodian(s). During the embargo period TRY offers two states of restricted data availability: (1) Restricted, with permission by default: these data are available without the need for specific permission in case of each individual data request. The TRY database management will inform the custodian. If permission is not withdrawn within two weeks, it will be assumed that the custodian has given permission to make these data available for the request in question. (2) Restricted, permission required in each case: Explicit permission is necessary in each case before the data can be made available. The TRY database management will inform the custodian, who has two weeks to provide the permission. Names of the datasets contributed to TRY, names of contributors, names of species and traits, definitions of traits, sampling location and date are public under the Creative Commons Attribution License ‘CC BY’.

Data Requests to the TRY Database

Individuals or groups of individuals that would like to use plant trait data via the TRY database submit a request via the TRY website (www.try-db.org/TryWeb/Prop0.php) with list of selected traits and species (or requested dataset). They are encouraged to provide title and brief information about their project (this does not need to be extensive, but should allow the custodians to understand the questions at hand, and TRY to gather statistics of the kinds of projects it serves). All custodians whose data are involved in the request will be informed, if they wish so. If the request asks for trait data under embargo the respective custodians will have two weeks to provide or withdraw permission (see paragraph on embargo above). The requested data will become available as soon as possible after the request has been submitted. In case of requests asking for public data only, this will in general be one or two working days after submission of the request. In case of requests asking for public and restricted data, this will be at least two weeks after submission of the request. These turnover times are indicative only and can be subject to delays under special circumstances. Title, short information about the request, names of the PI and Co-PIs and names of requested traits and species will be published on the TRY website.

Requirements for products that involve trait data received via the TRY Database

Any product that involves data under the Creative Commons Attribution License ‘CC BY’ must provide appropriate credit. Following the ‘Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles’ this involves citation of the data sources, and these data citations should ‘facilitate giving scholarly credit and normative and legal attribution to all contributors to the data’ (https://force11.org/info/joint-declaration-of-data-citation-principles-final/). Any product that involves trait data received via the TRY Database therefore needs to cite the references of the datasets as contributed to TRY and the standard reference of the TRY Database. In the context of peer-reviewed publications these citations should be accountable by indexing services like Google Scholar or the Science Citation Index (SCI). If data received during their embargo period have been used in analyses, the respective custodians need to be invited to contribute to the development of manuscript/s, if they had indicated this at the time of data request. In case of publications that rely on a significant amount of public plant trait data received via TRY, or if a research could not be completed without a specific dataset or would be notably compromised, it is strongly recommended to consider inviting the respective data custodian(s) and the TRY database management for collaboration and authorship. Sending invitations for co-authorship at early stages of manuscript preparation is strongly recommended, so valid suggestions by co-authors can be accommodated. Co-authorship should be offered to those who respond to this invitation and subsequent updates within a timely fashion with a significant contribution. The standard reference of the TRY Database is currently: Kattge, J, Bönisch, G, Díaz, S, et al. TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access. Glob Change Biol. 2020; 26: 119– 188. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14904

General comments

Any issues not contemplated in these guidelines will be considered by the Steering Committee of the TRY initiative (https://www.try-db.org/TryWeb/Board.php).

Complete standard reference: Kattge, J., G. Bönisch, S. Díaz, S. Lavorel, I. C. Prentice, P. Leadley, S. Tautenhahn, G. D. A. Werner, T. Aakala, M. Abedi, A. T. R. Acosta, G. C. Adamidis, K. Adamson, M. Aiba, C. H. Albert, J. M. Alcántara, C. Alcázar C, I. Aleixo, H. Ali, B. Amiaud, C. Ammer, M. M. Amoroso, M. Anand, C. Anderson, N. Anten, J. Antos, D. M. G. Apgaua, T.-L. Ashman, D. H. Asmara, G. P. Asner, M. Aspinwall, O. Atkin, I. Aubin, L. Baastrup-Spohr, K. Bahalkeh, M. Bahn, T. Baker, W. J. Baker, J. P. Bakker, D. Baldocchi, J. Baltzer, A. Banerjee, A. Baranger, J. Barlow, D. R. Barneche, Z. Baruch, D. Bastianelli, J. Battles, W. Bauerle, M. Bauters, E. Bazzato, M. Beckmann, H. Beeckman, C. Beierkuhnlein, R. Bekker, G. Belfry, M. Belluau, M. Beloiu, R. Benavides, L. Benomar, M. L. Berdugo-Lattke, E. Berenguer, R. Bergamin, J. Bergmann, M. Bergmann Carlucci, L. Berner, M. Bernhardt-Römermann, C. Bigler, A. D. Bjorkman, C. Blackman, C. Blanco, B. Blonder, D. Blumenthal, K. T. Bocanegra-González, P. Boeckx, S. Bohlman, K. Böhning- Gaese, L. Boisvert-Marsh, W. Bond, B. Bond-Lamberty, A. Boom, C. C. F. Boonman, K. Bordin, E. H. Boughton, V. Boukili, D. M. J. S. Bowman, S. Bravo, M. R. Brendel, M. R. Broadley, K. A. Brown, H. Bruelheide, F. Brumnich, H. H. Bruun, D. Bruy, S. W. Buchanan, S. F. Bucher, N. Buchmann, R. Buitenwerf, D. E. Bunker, J. Bürger, S. Burrascano, D. F. R. P. Burslem, B. J. Butterfield, C. Byun, M. Marques, M. C. Scalon, M. Caccianiga, M. Cadotte, M. Cailleret, J. Camac, J. J. Camarero, C. Campany, G. Campetella, J. A. Campos, L. Cano-Arboleda, R. Canullo, M. Carbognani, F. Carvalho, F. Casanoves, B. Castagneyrol, J. A. Catford, J. Cavender-Bares, B. E. L. Cerabolini, M. Cervellini, E. Chacón-Madrigal, K. Chapin, F. S. Chapin, S. Chelli, S.-C. Chen, A. Chen, P. Cherubini, F. Chianucci, B. Choat, K.-S. Chung, M. Chytrý, D. Ciccarelli, L. Coll, C. G. Collins, L. Conti, D. Coomes, J. H. C. Cornelissen, W. K. Cornwell, P. Corona, M. Coyea, J. Craine, D. Craven, J. P. G. M. Cromsigt, A. Csecserits, K. Cufar, M. Cuntz, A. C. da Silva, K. M. Dahlin, M. Dainese, I. Dalke, M. Dalle Fratte, A. T. Dang-Le, J. Danihelka, M. Dannoura, S. Dawson, A. J. de Beer, A. De Frutos, J. R. De Long, B. Dechant, S. Delagrange, N. Delpierre, G. Derroire, A. S. Dias, M. H. Diaz-Toribio, P. G. Dimitrakopoulos, M. Dobrowolski, D. Doktor, P. Dřevojan, N. Dong, J. Dransfield, S. Dressler, L. Duarte, E. Ducouret, S. Dullinger, W. Durka, R. Duursma, O. Dymova, A. E- Vojtkó, R. L. Eckstein, H. Ejtehadi, J. Elser, T. Emilio, K. Engemann, M. B. Erfanian, A. Erfmeier, A. Esquivel-Muelbert, G. Esser, M. Estiarte, T. F. Domingues, W. F. Fagan, J. Fagúndez, D. S. Falster, Y. Fan, J. Fang, E. Farris, F. Fazlioglu, Y. Feng, F. Fernandez-Mendez, C. Ferrara, J. Ferreira, A. Fidelis, B. Finegan, J. Firn, T. J. Flowers, D. F. B. Flynn, V. Fontana, E. Forey, C. Forgiarini, L. François, M. Frangipani, D. Frank, C. Frenette-Dussault, G. T. Freschet, E. L. Fry, N. M. Fyllas, G. G. Mazzochini, S. Gachet, R. Gallagher, G. Ganade, F. Ganga, P. García-Palacios, V. Gargaglione, E. Garnier, J. L. Garrido, A. L. de Gasper, G. Gea-Izquierdo, D. Gibson, A. N. Gillison, A. Giroldo, M.-C. Glasenhardt, S. Gleason, M. Gliesch, E. Goldberg, B. Göldel, E. Gonzalez-Akre, J. L. Gonzalez-Andujar, A. González-Melo, A. González-Robles, B. J. Graae, E. Granda, S. Graves, W. A. Green, T. Gregor, N. Gross, G. R. Guerin, A. Günther, A. G. Gutiérrez, L. Haddock, A. Haines, J. Hall, A. Hambuckers, W. Han, S. P. Harrison, W. Hattingh, J. E. Hawes, T. He, P. He, J. M. Heberling, A. Helm, S. Hempel, J. Hentschel, B. Hérault, A.-M. Hereş, K. Herz, M. Heuertz, T. Hickler, P. Hietz, P. Higuchi, A. L. Hipp, A. Hirons, M. Hock, J. A. Hogan, K. Holl, O. Honnay, D. Hornstein, E. Hou, N. Hough-Snee, K. A. Hovstad, T. Ichie, B. Igić, E. Illa, M. Isaac, M. Ishihara, L. Ivanov, L. Ivanova, C. M. Iversen, J. Izquierdo, R. B. Jackson, B. Jackson, H. Jactel, A. M. Jagodzinski, U. Jandt, S. Jansen, T. Jenkins, A. Jentsch, J. R. P. Jespersen, G.-F. Jiang, J. L. Johansen, D. Johnson, E. J. Jokela, C. A. Joly, G. J. Jordan, G. S. Joseph, D. Junaedi, R. R. Junker, E. Justes, R. Kabzems, J. Kane, Z. Kaplan, T. Kattenborn, L. Kavelenova, E. Kearsley, A. Kempel, T. Kenzo, A. Kerkhoff, M. I. Khalil, N. L. Kinlock, W. D. Kissling, K. Kitajima, T. Kitzberger, R. Kjøller, T. Klein, M. Kleyer, J. Klimešová, J. Klipel, B. Kloeppel, S. Klotz, J. M. H. Knops, T. Kohyama, F. Koike, J. Kollmann, B. Komac, K. Komatsu, C. König, N. J. B. Kraft, K. Kramer, H. Kreft, I. Kühn, D. Kumarathunge, J. Kuppler, H. Kurokawa, Y. Kurosawa, S. Kuyah, J.-P. Laclau, B. Lafleur, E. Lallai, E. Lamb, A. Lamprecht, D. J. Larkin, D. Laughlin, Y. Le Bagousse-Pinguet, G. le Maire, P. C. le Roux, E. le Roux, T. Lee, F. Lens, S. L. Lewis, B. Lhotsky, Y. Li, X. Li, J. W. Lichstein, M. Liebergesell, J. Y. Lim, Y.-S. Lin, J. C. Linares, C. Liu, D. Liu, U. Liu, S. Livingstone, J. Llusià, M. Lohbeck, Á. López-García, G. Lopez-Gonzalez, Z. Lososová, F. Louault, B. A. Lukács, P. Lukeš, Y. Luo, M. Lussu, S. Ma, C. Maciel Rabelo Pereira, M. Mack, V. Maire, A. Mäkelä, H. Mäkinen, A. C. M. Malhado, A. Mallik, P. Manning, S. Manzoni, Z. Marchetti, L. Marchino, V. Marcilio-Silva, E. Marcon, M. Marignani, L. Markesteijn, A. Martin, C. Martínez-Garza, J. Martínez- Vilalta, T. Mašková, K. Mason, N. Mason, T. J. Massad, J. Masse, I. Mayrose, J. McCarthy, M. L. McCormack, K. McCulloh, I. R. McFadden, B. J. McGill, M. Y. McPartland, J. S. Medeiros, B. Medlyn, P. Meerts, Z. Mehrabi, P. Meir, F. P. L. Melo, M. Mencuccini, C. Meredieu, J. Messier, I. Mészáros, J. Metsaranta, S. T. Michaletz, C. Michelaki, S. Migalina, R. Milla, J. E. D. Miller, V. Minden, R. Ming, K. Mokany, A. T. Moles, A. Molnár V, J. Molofsky, M. Molz, R. A. Montgomery, A. Monty, L. Moravcová, A. Moreno-Martínez, M. Moretti, A. S. Mori, S. Mori, D. Morris, J. Morrison, L. Mucina, S. Mueller, C. D. Muir, S. C. Müller, F. Munoz, I. H. Myers-Smith, R. W. Myster, M. Nagano, S. Naidu, A. Narayanan, B. Natesan, L. Negoita, A. S. Nelson, E. L. Neuschulz, J. Ni, G. Niedrist, J. Nieto, Ü. Niinemets, R. Nolan, H. Nottebrock, Y. Nouvellon, A. Novakovskiy, The Nutrient Network, K. O. Nystuen, A. O Grady, K. O Hara, A. O Reilly-Nugent, S. Oakley, W. Oberhuber, T. Ohtsuka, R. Oliveira, K. Öllerer, M. E. Olson, V. Onipchenko, Y. Onoda, R. E. Onstein, J. C. Ordonez, N. Osada, I. Ostonen, G. Ottaviani, S. Otto, G. E. Overbeck, W. A. Ozinga, A. T. Pahl, C. E. T. Paine, R. J. Pakeman, A. C. Papageorgiou, E. Parfionova, M. Pärtel, M. Patacca, S. Paula, J. Paule, H. Pauli, J. G. Pausas, B. Peco, J. Penuelas, A. Perea, P. L. Peri, A. C. Petisco-Souza, A. Petraglia, A. M. Petritan, O. L. Phillips, S. Pierce, V. D. Pillar, J. Pisek, A. Pomogaybin, H. Poorter, A. Portsmuth, P. Poschlod, C. Potvin, D. Pounds, A. S. Powell, S. A. Power, A. Prinzing, G. Puglielli, P. Pyšek, V. Raevel, A. Rammig, J. Ransijn, C. A. Ray, P. B. Reich, M. Reichstein, D. E. B. Reid, M. Réjou-Méchain, V. R. de Dios, S. Ribeiro, S. Richardson, K. Riibak, M. C. Rillig, F. Riviera, E. M. R. Robert, S. Roberts, B. Robroek, A. Roddy, A. V. Rodrigues, A. Rogers, E. Rollinson, V. Rolo, C. Römermann, D. Ronzhina, C. Roscher, J. A. Rosell, M. F. Rosenfield, C. Rossi, D. B. Roy, S. Royer-Tardif, N. Rüger, R. Ruiz- Peinado, S. B. Rumpf, G. M. Rusch, M. Ryo, L. Sack, A. Saldaña, B. Salgado-Negret, R. Salguero-Gomez, I. Santa-Regina, A. C. Santacruz-García, J. Santos, J. Sardans, B. Schamp, M. Scherer- Lorenzen, M. Schleuning, B. Schmid, M. Schmidt, S. Schmitt, J. V. Schneider, S. D. Schowanek, J. Schrader, F. Schrodt, B. Schuldt, F. Schurr, G. Selaya Garvizu, M. Semchenko, C. Seymour, J. C. Sfair, J. M. Sharpe, C. S. Sheppard, S. Sheremetiev, S. Shiodera, B. Shipley, T. A. Shovon, A. Siebenkäs, C. Sierra, V. Silva, M. Silva, T. Sitzia, H. Sjöman, M. Slot, N. G. Smith, D. Sodhi, P. Soltis, D. Soltis, B. Somers, G. Sonnier, M. V. Sørensen, E. E. Sosinski Jr, N. A. Soudzilovskaia, A. F. Souza, M. Spasojevic, M. G. Sperandii, A. B. Stan, J. Stegen, K. Steinbauer, J. G. Stephan, F. Sterck, D. B. Stojanovic, T. Strydom, M. L. Suarez, J.-C. Svenning, I. Svitková, M. Svitok, M. Svoboda, E. Swaine, N. Swenson, M. Tabarelli, K. Takagi, U. Tappeiner, R. Tarifa, S. Tauugourdeau, C. Tavsanoglu, M. te Beest, L. Tedersoo, N. Thiffault, D. Thom, E. Thomas, K. Thompson, P. E. Thornton, W. Thuiller, L. Tichý, D. Tissue, M. G. Tjoelker, D. Y. P. Tng, J. Tobias, P. Török, T. Tarin, J. M. Torres-Ruiz, B. Tóthmérész, M. Treurnicht, V. Trivellone, F. Trolliet, V. Trotsiuk, J. L. Tsakalos, I. Tsiripidis, N. Tysklind, T. Umehara, V. Usoltsev, M. Vadeboncoeur, J. Vaezi, F. Valladares, J. Vamosi, P. M. van Bodegom, M. van Breugel, E. Van Cleemput, M. van de Weg, S. van der Merwe, F. van der Plas, M. T. van der Sande, M. van Kleunen, K. Van Meerbeek, M. Vanderwel, K. A. Vanselow, A. Vårhammar, L. Varone, M. Y. Vasquez Valderrama, K. Vassilev, M. Vellend, E. J. Veneklaas, H. Verbeeck, K. Verheyen, A. Vibrans, I. Vieira, J. Villacís, C. Violle, P. Vivek, K. Wagner, M. Waldram, A. Waldron, A. P. Walker, M. Waller, G. Walther, H. Wang, F. Wang, W. Wang, H. Watkins, J. Watkins, U. Weber, J. T. Weedon, L. Wei, P. Weigelt, E. Weiher, A. W. Wells, C. Wellstein, E. Wenk, M. Westoby, A. Westwood, P. J. White, M. Whitten, M. Williams, D. E. Winkler, K. Winter, C. Womack, I. J. Wright, S. J. Wright, J. Wright, B. X. Pinho, F. Ximenes, T. Yamada, K. Yamaji, R. Yanai, N. Yankov, B. Yguel, K. J. Zanini, A. E. Zanne, D. Zelený, Y.-P. Zhao, J. Zheng, J. Zheng, K. Ziemińska, C. R. Zirbel, G. Zizka, I. C. Zo-Bi, G. Zotz and C. Wirth (2020) TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access. Global Change Biology 26: 119 – 188. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14904

Contact

We encourage everyone to send us an email to get help or to give us your valuable feedback.

If you’ve found this web site useful or would like to send any comment on the TRY initiative please e-mail. We’d like to know how the TRY website is being used. If you have cited the TRY initiative in a publication, please send us that reference. This will help to document that the TRY initiative has value, and will help if / when we look for additional funding.

• Jens Kattge: jkattge-at-bgc-jena.mpg.de (project coordination, content and science, database management)
• Sandra Díaz: sandra.diaz-at-unc.edu.ar (content and science)

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