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Species introduced through human-related activities beyond their native range, termed alien species, have various impacts worldwide. The IUCN Environmental Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (EICAT) is a global standard to assess negative impacts of alien species on native biodiversity. Alien species can also positively affect biodiversity (for instance, through food and habitat provisioning or dispersal facilitation) but there is currently no standardized and evidence-based system to classify positive impacts. We fill this gap by proposing EICAT+, which uses 5 semiquantitative scenarios to categorize the magnitude of positive impacts, and describes underlying mechanisms. EICAT+ can be applied to all alien taxa at different spatial and organizational scales. The application of EICAT+ expands our understanding of the consequences of biological invasions and can inform conservation decisions. 

Abstract Here we provide the ‘Global Spectrum of Plant Form and Function Dataset’, containing species mean values for six vascular plant traits. Together, these traits –plant height, stem specific density, leaf area, leaf mass per area, leaf nitrogen content per dry mass, and diaspore (seed or spore) mass – define the primary axes of variation in plant form and function. The dataset is based on ca. 1 million trait records received via the TRY database (representing ca. 2,500 original publications) and additional unpublished data. It provides 92,159 species mean values for the six traits, covering 46,047 species. The data are complemented by higher-level taxonomic classification and six categorical traits (woodiness, growth form, succulence, adaptation to terrestrial or aquatic habitats, nutrition type and leaf type). Data quality management is based on a probabilistic approach combined with comprehensive validation against expert knowledge and external information. Intense data acquisition and thorough quality control produced the largest and, to our knowledge, most accurate compilation of empirically observed vascular plant species mean traits to date. 

Abstract. Advancing our understanding of Earth system dynamics (ESD) depends on thedevelopment of models and other analytical tools that apply physical,biological, and chemical data. This ambition to increase understanding anddevelop models of ESD based on site observations was the stimulus forcreating the networks of Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER), Critical ZoneObservatories (CZOs), and others. We organized a survey, the results of whichidentified pressing gaps in data availability from these networks, inparticular for the future development and evaluation of models that representESD processes, and provide insights for improvement in both data collectionand model integration.

From this survey overview of data applications in the context of LTER andCZO research, we identified three challenges: (1) widen application ofterrestrial observation network data in Earth system modelling,(2) develop integrated Earth system models that incorporate processrepresentation and data of multiple disciplines, and (3) identifycomplementarity in measured variables and spatial extent, and promotingsynergies in the existing observational networks. These challenges lead toperspectives and recommendations for an improved dialogue between theobservation networks and the ESD modelling community, including co-locationof sites in the existing networks and further formalizing theserecommendations among these communities. Developing these synergies willenable cross-site and cross-network comparison and synthesis studies, whichwill help produce insights around organizing principles, classifications,and general rules of coupling processes with environmental conditions.