Functional traits of woody plants at green spaces in Bogotá, Colombia

Abstract

Plant functional traits can be used to test resource use strategies, and they provide information about species responses to environmental conditions and their incidence on ecosystem functioning. The databases of functional traits still have information gaps, due to the great diversity of native and exotic woody plant in the green spaces of Bogotá, Colombia. We include five functional traits (wood density, maximum height, leaf area, specific leaf area and dry matter content) of 508 individuals belonging to 101 species, distributed into 44 taxonomic families. The measurement of functional traits was made in the more abundant tree and shrub species determined from the database of Bogotá Urban Trees (SIGAU in Spanish), and according to the vegetation sampling on two rural micro-basins and on the Bogotá Eastern Forest Protective Forest Reserve. This sampling used plots of 50 m2 (shrublands) and 100 m2 (native forests and forest plantations). The database presented here includes 3556 trait records of 68 native and 33 exotic species, and its information will allow to compare results of other studies, and to optimize resources, by facilitating access to these data. This database also complements national and global functional trait databases, important tools in ecological studies.

Keywords

• arbolado urbano
• área foliar específica
• cerros orientales
• densidad de madera
• plantación forestal