RecruitNet: A global database of plant recruitment networks

Area of Science:

• Community Ecology
• Plant Ecology
• Network Analysis

Background:

• Plant recruitment interactions significantly influence community composition and diversity.
• Understanding the network structure of these interactions is crucial for ecological and evolutionary insights.
• Existing knowledge on recruitment mechanisms is extensive, but community-level network structures remain understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compile and present a comprehensive global dataset of plant recruitment networks.
• To enable research on the ecological, biogeographical, and evolutionary implications of plant recruitment interactions.
• To provide a foundation for analyzing the complex network structure of plant communities.

Main Methods:

• Data compilation from 143 plant recruitment networks across 23 countries and five continents.
• Inclusion of >850,000 recruiting individuals and 118,411 paired interactions among 3318 vascular plant species.
• Utilized three sampling protocols: Recruitment Network (RN), paired Canopy-Open (pCO), and Georeferenced Plot (GP).

Main Results:

• The dataset encompasses diverse temperate and tropical ecosystems.
• Networks include data on canopy species, open ground cover, and life habits of interacting species.
• Detailed metadata, including geographical coordinates and sampling methods, are provided for each network.

Conclusions:

• This database offers a valuable resource for testing ecological, biogeographical, and evolutionary hypotheses related to plant recruitment.
• The structured network data facilitates a deeper understanding of plant community assembly and dynamics.
• The dataset is openly available for scientific use, with a request to cite the data paper.