The AusTraits plant dictionary.

Traits with intuitive names, a clear scope and explicit description are essential for all trait databases. The lack of unified, comprehensive, and machine-readable plant trait definitions limits the utility of trait databases, including reanalysis of data from a single database, or analyses that integrate data across multiple databases. Both can only occur if researchers are confident the trait concepts are consistent within and across sources.

Polyploidy but Not Range Size Is Associated With Seed and Seedling Traits That Affect Performance of Species.

Ploidy and species range size or threat status have been linked to variation in phenotypic and phenological seed and seedling traits, including seed size, germination rate (speed) and seedling stature. There is surprisingly little known about the ecological outcomes of relationships between ploidy, key plant traits and the drivers of range size. Here we determined whether ploidy and range size in , a genus of shrubs that includes many threatened species, are associated with variation in seed and seedling traits that might limit the regeneration performance of obligate seeders in fire-prone systems.

Implications of the 2019-2020 megafires for the biogeography and conservation of Australian vegetation.

Australia's 2019-2020 'Black Summer' bushfires burnt more than 8 million hectares of vegetation across the south-east of the continent, an event unprecedented in the last 200 years. Here we report the impacts of these fires on vascular plant species and communities. Using a map of the fires generated from remotely sensed hotspot data we show that, across 11 Australian bioregions, 17 major native vegetation groups were severely burnt, and up to 67-83% of globally significant rainforests and eucalypt forests and woodlands.

Managing uncertainty in movement knowledge for environmental decisions.

Species' movements affect their response to environmental change but movement knowledge is often highly uncertain. We now have well-established methods to integrate movement knowledge into conservation practice but still lack a framework to deal with uncertainty in movement knowledge for environmental decisions. We provide a framework that distinguishes two dimensions of species' movement that are heavily influenced by uncertainty: about movement and of movement to environmental decisions.

Temperature variability drives within-species variation in germination strategy and establishment characteristics of an alpine herb.

Plant establishment and subsequent persistence are strongly influenced by germination strategy, especially in temporally and spatially heterogeneous environments. Germination strategy determines the plant's ability to synchronise germination timing and seedling emergence to a favourable growing season and thus variation in germination strategy within species may be key to persistence under more extreme and variable future climates. However, the determinants of variation in germination strategy are not well resolved.

A research agenda for seed-trait functional ecology.

Trait-based approaches have improved our understanding of plant evolution, community assembly and ecosystem functioning. A major challenge for the upcoming decades is to understand the functions and evolution of early life-history traits, across levels of organization and ecological strategies. Although a variety of seed traits are critical for dispersal, persistence, germination timing and seedling establishment, only seed mass has been considered systematically.

Guidelines for Using Movement Science to Inform Biodiversity Policy.

Substantial advances have been made in our understanding of the movement of species, including processes such as dispersal and migration. This knowledge has the potential to improve decisions about biodiversity policy and management, but it can be difficult for decision makers to readily access and integrate the growing body of movement science. This is, in part, due to a lack of synthesis of information that is sufficiently contextualized for a policy audience.