Cerrado plant traits (CPT): a database of functional traits across vegetation types in a global biodiversity hotspot
Lara Amaral-Garcia, Carlos A Ordóñez-Parra, Kayna Agostini, Luiz G Barbosa-Dias, Alessandra Fidelis, Pietro K Maruyama, Natália F Medeiros, Norma Senna, Davi R Rossatto, Pablo H A Melo, Dayana F Abdalla, Ludmilla M S Aguiar, Viviane O Almeida, Maria Júlia Oliveira Alves, Marsal D Amorim, Lidyanne Y S Aona, André J Arruda, André D Azevedo Neto, Caio S Ballarin, Milton Barbosa, Ricardo L L Berbara, Eduardo Van den Berg, Pedro Bergamo Bergamo, Paulo N Bernardino, Aline B Bombo, Cleusa Bona, Renan Borgiani, Denilson R V Branco, Adriano A Brito-Darosci, Maria G G Camargo, Liliane S Camargos, Mariana L Campagnoli, Bruna H Campos, João C F Cardoso, Marcos B Carlucci, João V P Carreri, Isabella F Carvalho, Vanessa Carvalho, Mário G B Cava, Gregório Ceccantini, Constance Chassagne, Ana Luisa A Chaves, Marco A Chiminazzo, Alexander V Christianini, Marcus V Cianciaruso, Rosane G Collevatti, Helder N Consolaro, Grênivel M Costa, Bruno B Cozin, Claudineia P Cruz, Luís F Daibes, Mariana Dairel, Andra C Dalbeto, Gabriella Damasceno, Vinicius L Dantas, Roberta L C Dayrell, Gabriela Dezotti, Luiz Eduardo Dias, Ugo Mendes Diniz, Sara Stefani Domingos, Beatriz S dos Santos, Edson Ferreira Duarte, Giselda Durigan, Diego Fernando Escobar, Renato D'Elia Feliciano, Geraldo W Fernandes, Bruno H S Ferreira, Heleno D Ferreira, Maurílio A Figueiredo, Hudson G V Fontenele, Augusto C Franco, Camila T R Freire, Letícia C Garcia, Raquel Gasparini, Irene Gélvez-Zúñiga, Ingrid N Gomes, Lhoraynne P Gomes, Marina Efigenia Gonçalves, Maria Tereza Grombone-Guaratini, Murilo M Guimarães, Alessandro Dias Halfeld, Marina Hirota, Laís L Jacconi, Raissa I L Jardim, João Carlos F Melo Júnior, Vera L G Klein, Rosana Marta Kolb, Alessandra R Kozovits, Soizig Le Stradic, Priscilla de Paula Loiola, Sabrina Lopes, Renata A Maia, Leandro Maracahipes, Vanessa Mariano, Rafaela C Marinho, Aline R Martins, Amanda Eburneo Martins, Gustavo Martins Mattos, Nayara M J Melo, Clesnan Mendes-Rodrigues, Maria Cristina T. B. Messias, Pablo B Meyer, Heloisa S Miranda, Moemy G Moraes, L Patricia C. Morellato, Maria I C Moreno, Gabriel S T Motta, Diego R Nascimento, Andreza V Neri, Eduardo Nery, Anselmo Nogueira, Gabrelle R Novello, Paulo E Oliveira, Rafael S Oliveira, Carolina S Oliveira, Dario C Paiva, Eduardo Gusmão Pereira, Luis Perugini, Simon Pierce, Natashi A L Pilon, Luiz Felipe S Pinheiro, Vânia R Pivello, Marco A Pizo, Carlos H B Prado, Luana S Prochazka, Javier G Puntieri, André Rech, Jessica N Reis, Henrique C Rennó, Jonathan W F Ribeiro, Cassy Anne Rodrigues, Bruno L Rosa, Rayete Sary-Eldin G. Rosa, Diana S Sampaio, Julio Cesar Santiago, Núbia S C Santos, Camila S Santos, Karine M Santos, Marina C Scalon, Cibele C Silva, Larissa G F Silva, Fernanda Vasconcelos Barros, Mateus C Silva, Natalia C Soares, João Paulo Souza, Camila S Souza, Roberta P Souza, Bethina Stein, Lucas B S Tameirão, Aristônio Magalhães Teles, Francismeire J Telles, Elisa Thébault, Renata Trevizan, Betânia C Vargas, Thais Vasconcelos, Gabriel R Vedovello, Maria das Dores M. Veloso, Geane C E Viegas, Kamilla Ingred Castelan Vieira, Gabriela R Vilela, Marina Wolowski, Vagner Zanzarini, Heloiza L Zirondi, Talita Marques Zupo, Daniel Negreiros, Fernando A O SilveiraAbstract
Background
Trait-based ecology has become central for understanding plant form, function and ecosystem processes, but progress has been hampered by biased representation in trait databases. As such, global trait syntheses remain strongly biased towards temperate forest biomes. Tropical savannas are the most extensive, biodiverse and disturbance-driven ecosystems worldwide, yet are poorly represented in functional trait databases, limiting ecological inference and applied decision-making.
Scope
Here, we introduce the Cerrado Plant Traits (CPT), an open-access initiative compiling and standardising plant functional trait data for the Brazilian Cerrado, the world’s most biodiverse tropical savanna. CPT integrates trait information for all major plant organs (whole-plant, root, shoot, leaf, flower, fruit and seed) across vegetation types in the Cerrado, drawing on a collaborative and inclusive research network. The current version of CPT compiles data from 148 datasets, totalling 113,859 curated trait records for 2,134 taxonomically verified species across 150 families. Trait records span pristine, degraded and restored environments and capture both interspecific and intraspecific variation. Whole-plant and leaf traits dominate the current dataset, while belowground and reproductive traits remain comparatively underrepresented, highlighting key priorities for future research.
Conclusions
By substantially increasing the representation of savanna species in global trait repositories, CPT enables tests of ecological hypotheses across multiple levels of organization, analyses of trait–environment relationships across fire, soil and climatic gradients, and robust comparisons across forest–savanna transitions. Beyond its scientific value, CPT provides a practical, standardised resource to support conservation planning, restoration programs and evidence-based policy in a biodiversity hotspot facing accelerating land-use and climate pressures.