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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.

Adaptation to changing conditions is one of the strategies plants may use to survive in the face of climate change. We aimed to determine whether plants' leaf morphological and physiological traits/gas exchange variables have changed in response to recent, anthropogenic climate change. We grew seedlings from resurrected historic seeds from ex‐situ seed banks and paired modern seeds in a common‐garden experiment. Species pairs were collected from regions that had undergone differing levels of climate change using an emerging framework—Climate Contrast Resurrection Ecology, allowing us to hypothesise that regions with greater changes in climate (including temperature, precipitation, climate variability and climatic extremes) would be greater trait responses in leaf morphology and physiology over time. Our study found that in regions where there were greater changes in climate, there were greater changes in average leaf area, leaf margin complexity, leaf thickness and leaf intrinsic water use efficiency. Changes in leaf roundness, photosynthetic rate, stomatal density and the leaf economic strategy of our species were not correlated with changes in climate. Our results show that leaves do have the ability to respond to changes in climate, however, there are greater inherited responses in morphological leaf traits than in physiological traits/variables and greater responses to extreme measures of climate than gradual changes in climatic means. It is vital for accurate predictions of species' responses to impending climate change to ensure that future climate change ecology studies utilise knowledge about the difference in both leaf trait and gas exchange responses and the climate variables that they respond to. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seed science is a vital field of research that contributes to many areas of knowledge in fundamental ecology and evolution, as well as in applied areas of food production, and the conservation and restoration of native plants. A large amount of novel information, technologies and processes in seed science research are being produced and developed by early to middle career researchers (EMCRs) in academic, government and private science sectors. This breadth and novelty of research by EMCRs was evident at the second Australasian Seed Science Conference held online in September 2021. EMCRs represented almost one-third of the presenting delegates at the conference and covered research in areas including functional seed trait relationships, responses of seed traits and germination to environmental change, managing seeds in ex-situ seed and germplasm collections and using seeds as food sources. As future environmental, social and economic challenges arise, EMCR seed scientists will be at the forefront of emerging fundamental ecological and evolutionary seed science knowledge, as well as the development of technologies and processes for the conservation of native species, the utilisation of seeds in agriculture and food production, and many new ideas yet to be discovered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shifts in flowering phenology have been studied in detail in the northern hemisphere and are a key plant response to climate change. However, there are relatively fewer data on species' phenological shifts in the southern hemisphere.We combined historic field data, data from herbarium specimens dating back to 1842 and modern field data for 37 Australian species to determine whether species were flowering earlier in the year than they had in the past. We also combined our results with data compiled in the southern and northern hemispheres, respectively, to determine whether southern hemisphere species are showing fewer advances in flowering phenology through time.Across our study species, we found that 12 species had undergone significant shifts in flowering time, with four species advancing their flowering and eight species delaying their flowering. The remaining 25 species showed no significant shifts in their flowering phenology. These findings are important because delays or lack of shifts in flowering phenology can lead to mismatches in trophic interactions between plants and pollinators or seed dispersers, which can have substantial impacts on ecosystem functioning and primary productivity. Combining our field results with data compiled from the literature showed that only 58.5% of southern hemisphere species were advancing their flowering time, compared with 81.6% of species that were advancing their flowering time in the northern hemisphere. Our study provides further evidence that it is not adequate for ecologists to assume that southern hemisphere ecosystems will respond to future climate change in the same way as ecosystems north of the Equator.Synthesis. Field data and data from the literature indicate that southern hemisphere species are showing fewer advances in their flowering phenology through time, especially in comparison to northern hemisphere species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Publishing preprints is quickly becoming commonplace in ecology and evolutionary biology. Preprints can facilitate the rapid sharing of scientific knowledge establishing precedence and enabling feedback from the research community before peer review. Yet, significant barriers to preprint use exist, including language barriers, a lack of understanding about the benefits of preprints and a lack of diversity in the types of research outputs accepted (e.g. reports). Community-driven preprint initiatives can allow a research community to come together to break down these barriers to improve equity and coverage of global knowledge. Here, we explore the first preprints uploaded to EcoEvoRxiv ( n = 1216), a community-driven preprint server for ecologists and evolutionary biologists, to characterize preprint use in ecology, evolution and conservation. Our perspective piece highlights some of the unique initiatives that EcoEvoRxiv has taken to break down barriers to scientific publishing by exploring the composition of articles, how gender and career stage influence preprint use, whether preprints are associated with greater open science practices (e.g. code and data sharing) and tracking preprint publication outcomes. Our analysis identifies areas that we still need to improve upon but highlights how community-driven initiatives, such as EcoEvoRxiv , can play a crucial role in shaping publishing practices in biology.