TiP-Leaf: a dataset of leaf traits across vegetation types on the Tibetan Plateau

Functional trait databases are emerging as a crucial tool for a wide range of ecological studies, including next-generation vegetation modelling across the world. However, few large-scale studies have been reported on plant traits in the Tibetan Plateau (TP), the cradle of East Asian flora and fauna with specific alpine ecosystems, and no report on plant trait databases could be found. In this work, an extensive dataset of 11 leaf functional traits (TiP-Leaf), mainly for herbs and shrubs and a few trees on the TP, was compiled through field surveys. The TiP-Leaf dataset, which was compiled from 336 sites distributed mainly on the plateau surface and the northern margin of the TP across alpine and temperate vegetation regions and sampled from 2018 to 2021, contained 1692 morphological trait measurements of leaf thickness, leaf fresh weight, leaf dry weight, leaf dry-matter content, leaf water content, leaf area, specific leaf area and leaf mass per area and 1645 chemical element trait measurements of leaf carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus contents. Thus, 468 species that belong to 184 genera and 51 families were obtained and measured. In addition to leaf trait measurements, the geographic coordinates, bioclimate variables, disturbance intensities and vegetation types of each site were also recorded. The dataset could provide solid data support to effectively quantify the modern ecological features of alpine ecosystems, thereby further evaluating the response of alpine ecosystems to climate change and human disturbances and improving the next-generation vegetation model. The dataset, which is available from the National Tibetan Plateau Data Center (TPDC; Jin et al., 2022a; https://doi.org/10.11888/Terre.tpdc.272516), can make a great contribution to the regional and global plant trait databases.

Automated summary

This study compiled a database (TiP-Leaf) of leaf functional traits from the Tibetan Plateau, which contains data from 336 sites and 468 species. The dataset includes measurements of morphological and chemical element traits, as well as additional information such as geographic coordinates and vegetation types. This database can provide valuable support for quantifying the ecological features of alpine ecosystems and improving vegetation models.