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Abstract. Accurate assessment of leaf functional traits is crucial for a diverse range of applications from crop phenotyping to parameterizing global climate models. Leaf reflectance spectroscopy offers a promising avenue to advance ecological and agricultural research by complementing traditional, time-consuming gas exchange measurements. However, the development of robust hyperspectral models for predicting leaf photosynthetic capacity and associated traits from reflectance data has been hindered by limited data availability across species and environments. Here we introduce the Global Spectra-Trait Initiative (GSTI), a collaborative repository of paired leaf hyperspectral and gas exchange measurements from diverse ecosystems. The GSTI repository currently encompasses over 7500 observations from 397 species and 41 sites gathered from 36 published and unpublished studies, thereby offering a key resource for developing and validating hyperspectral models of leaf photosynthetic capacity. The GSTI database is developed on GitHub (https://github.com/plantphys/gsti, last access: 4 January 2026) and published to ESS-DIVE https://doi.org/10.15485/2530733, Lamour et al., 2025). It includes gas exchange data, derived photosynthetic parameters, and key leaf traits often associated with traditional gas exchange measurements such as leaf mass per area and leaf elemental composition. By providing a standardized repository for data sharing and analysis, we present a critical step towards creating hyperspectral models for predicting photosynthetic traits and associated leaf traits for terrestrial plants. 

Abstract Bark beetles and root weevils can impact forests through tree death on landscape scales. Recently, subterranean termites have been linked to these beetles via the presence of bluestain fungi (Ascomycota: Ophiostomataceae), which are vectored to trees by beetles. However, only a small subset of bluestain species have been examined. Here, we tested whether termite-bluestain association patterns in the field reflect termite feeding preference in laboratory choice trials. We documented the presence of four bluestain fungi (Leptographium procerum (W.B. Kendr.), L. terebrantis (Barras & Perry), Grosmannia huntii (Rob.-Jeffr.), and G. alacris (T.A. Duong, Z.W. de Beer & M.J. Wingf.) in the roots of 2,350 loblolly pine trees in the southeastern United States and whether termites were present or absent on these roots and paired this with laboratory choice feeding trials. Termites were found 2.5-fold on tree roots with at least one bluestain fungus present than tree roots without bluestain fungi. Although termites in this study and others were associated with L. procerum, L. terebrantis, and marginally G. huntii, termites only showed preferential feeding on wood inoculated with G. huntii in laboratory trials. This suggests that increased termite presence on wood with bluestain fungi may be driven by factors other than increased wood palatability. Termites could thus disproportionately affect wood turnover rates for specific pools (e.g., bark beetle and root weevil attacked trees) and in some cases (e.g., G. huntii) accelerate wood decomposition. This study supports the growing evidence that the association between subterranean termites and bluestain fungi is spatially and taxonomically widespread.