AusTraits, a curated plant trait database for the Australian flora.

We introduce the AusTraits database - a compilation of values of plant traits for taxa in the Australian flora (hereafter AusTraits). AusTraits synthesises data on 448 traits across 28,640 taxa from field campaigns, published literature, taxonomic monographs, and individual taxon descriptions. Traits vary in scope from physiological measures of performance (e.g. photosynthetic gas exchange, water-use efficiency) to morphological attributes (e.g. leaf area, seed mass, plant height) which link to aspects of ecological variation. AusTraits contains curated and harmonised individual- and species-level measurements coupled to, where available, contextual information on site properties and experimental conditions. This article provides information on version 3.0.2 of AusTraits which contains data for 997,808 trait-by-taxon combinations. We envision AusTraits as an ongoing collaborative initiative for easily archiving and sharing trait data, which also provides a template for other national or regional initiatives globally to fill persistent gaps in trait knowledge.

Turnover of southern cypresses in the post-Gondwanan world: extinction, transoceanic dispersal, adaptation and rediversification.

Cupressaceae subfamily Callitroideae has been an important exemplar for vicariance biogeography, but its history is more than just disjunctions resulting from continental drift. We combine fossil and molecular data to better assess its extinction and, sometimes, rediversification after past global change. Key fossils were reassessed and their phylogenetic placement for calibration was determined using trait mapping and Bayes Factors. Five vicariance hypotheses were tested by comparing molecular divergence times with the timing of tectonic rifting. The role of adaptation to fire (serotiny) in its spread across a drying Australia was tested for Callitris. Our findings suggest that three transoceanic disjunctions within the Callitroideae probably arose from long-distance dispersal. A signature of extinction, centred on the end-Eocene global climatic chilling and drying, is evident in lineages-through-time plots and in the fossil record. Callitris, the most diverse extant callitroid genus, suffered extinctions but surviving lineages adapted and re-radiated into dry, fire-prone biomes that expanded in the Neogene. Serotiny, a key adaptation to fire, likely evolved in Callitris coincident with the biome shift. Both extinction and adaptive shifts have probably played major roles in this chronicle of turnover and renewal, but better understanding of biogeographical history requires improved taxonomy of fossils.