Table 1.

Description of plant functional types used in The Arctic plant aboveground biomass synthesis dataset.

Name	Brief description	Examples
Lichen	Fungus engaged in mutualistic symbiosis with photosynthesizing algae and/or cyanobacteria.	Reindeer lichen (Cladonia rangiferina), leafy lichen (Peltigera aphthosa), curled snow lichen (Flavocetraria cucullata)
Bryophyte	Non-vascular plants including mosses, liverworts, and hornworts.	Rusty bogmoss (Sphagnum fuscum), ribbed bogmoss (Aulacomnium palustre)
Herb	Vascular non-woody plants including sedges, grasses, and forbs.	Tussock cottongrass (Eriophorum vaginatum), water sedge (Carex aquatilis), alpine bluegrass (Poa alpina), horsetail (Equisetum arvense), fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium)
Shrub	Multi-stem vascular woody plants with deciduous or evergreen leaves.	Dwarf birch (Betula nana), Siberian alder (Alnus viridis), crowberry (Empetrum nigrum)
Tree	Single-stem vascular woody plants with deciduous or evergreen leaves.	White spruce (Picea glauca), Cajander larch (Larix cajanderi), Mountain birch (Betula pubescens)

Plant functional types were adapted from Chapin et al.⁴⁰. Although lichen biomass is predominantly fungal⁴¹ rather than algal or cyanobacterial, the symbiosis is included here as a plant functional type.