TraitDivNet fieldwork in China

In October, our workgroup member Jing Yang conducted TraitDivNet fieldwork in the tropical rainforests of Xishuangbanna, southwest China. The goal was to collect above- and belowground trait data from species-rich forests that remain underrepresented in global trait datasets. During the field campaign, samples were collected from 14 plots with the help of local colleagues - Lu-Xiang Lin from the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (Chinese Academy of Sciences), four students (Weihan Su, Yuhan Zhao, Hongtao Ning, and Ge Jiu), one technician (Jiu Ma), and four local field workers. Together they measured fine-root and leaf traits for many species, which will contribute to ongoing TraitDivNet efforts to better understand plant functional diversity across the globe.