Table 5.

Structure of the methods table, containing details on methods with which data were collected, including time frame and source.

key	value
dataset_id	Primary identifier for each study contributed into AusTraits; most often these are scientific papers, books, or online resources. By default should be name of first author and year of publication, e.g. ‘Falster_2005’.
trait_name	Name of trait sampled. Allowable values specified in the table ‘traits’.
methods	A textual description of the methods used to collect the trait data. Whenever available, methods are taken near-verbatim from referenced source. Methods can include descriptions such as ‘measured on botanical collections’, ‘data from the literature’, or a detailed description of the field or lab methods used to collect the data.
year_collected_start	The year data collection commenced.
year_collected_end	The year data collection was completed.
description	A 1–2 sentence description of the purpose of the study.
collection_type	A field to indicate where the majority of plants on which traits were measured were collected - in the ‘field’, ‘lab’, ‘glasshouse’, ‘botanical collection’, or ‘literature’. The latter should only be used when the data were sourced from the literature and the collection type is unknown.
sample_age_class	A field to indicate if the study was completed on ‘adult’ or ‘juvenile’ plants.
sampling_strategy	A written description of how study sites were selected and how study individuals were selected. When available, this information is copied verbatim from a published manuscript. For botanical collections, this field ideally indicates which records were ‘sampled’ to measure a specific trait.
source_primary_citation	Citation for primary source. This detail is generated from the primary source in the metadata.
source_primary_key	Citation key for primary source in ‘sources’. The key is typically of format ‘Surname_year’.
source_secondary_citation	Citations for secondary source. This detail is generated from the secondary source in the metadata.
source_secondary_key	Citation key for secondary source in ‘sources’. The key is typically of format ‘Surname_year’.