TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe

Description

Here, we present TraitCH, a comprehensive dataset of functional traits spanning over 71,874 species (≥ 1 functional trait) across 17 major taxonomic groups: Apocrita (2,278), Arachnida (3,728), Coleoptera (8,565), Ephemeroptera/Plecoptera/Trichoptera (1,349), Lepidoptera (3,757), Odonata (234), Orthoptera (1,283), Bryobiotina (2,285), Fungi (12,469), Lichen (2,435), Mollusca (7,493), Pisces (838), Amphibia (151), Aves (1,356), Mammalia (522), Reptilia (298), and Tracheophyta (22,833).

Compiled from 43 published and unpublished sources, TraitCH provides a robust representation of total species richness and composition for Switzerland and Europe.

Data

• TraitCH raw version (outputs/raw_traits)
• TraitCH imputed version (outputs/missRanger_imputed_traits) -- "S_MEAN." files are the model averaged
• TraitCH evaluation (outputs/missRanger_evaluations)
• TraitCH medata (traits_metadata.xlsx)

Contains also:

• Comprehensive European species checklist (~210,000) for 17 taxonomic groups: (1) Apocrita, (2) Arachnida (Araneae & Opiliones), (3) Coleoptera, (4) Ephemeroptera/Plecoptera/Trichoptera, (5) Lepidoptera, (6) Odonata, (7) Orthoptera, (8) Bryobiotina, (9) Fungi (Swiss checklist only), (10) Lichen (Swiss checklist only), (11) Mollusca (Gasteropoda & Bivalvia), (12) Pisces (Freshwater), (13) Amphibia, (14) Aves, (15) Mammalia, (16) Reptilia, (17) Tracheophyta

Methods & pipeline

Run R from the folder (select --> open_r.bat or open_r_maclinus.sh) From there, run R scripts to reproduce pipelines:

• Tch0_compile_sp_traits.R: main data compilation
• Tch1_traits_imputation.R: imputation pipelines
• Tch2_format_tables.R: format data to clean version
• Tch3_compile_IUCN.R: pipelines to create the diversity IUCN maps
• Tch4_plot_figures.R: how to plot Fig. 1 & 4
• Tch5_plot_IUCN_eu.R: how to plot Fig. 2

Citation

Chauvier-Mendes, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A., Rambold, G., Stofer, S., Graf, N., Gross, A., Blaser, S., Roberts, S. P. M., Potts, S. G., Casanelles-Abella, J., Moretti, M., Nobis, M. P., Theurillat, J.-P., Hofmann, H., Hartwig, A.-M., Claude, F., Saucy, G., and Altermatt, F. (2026). TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe, Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-754, in review, 2026.