FloraFlux: Automated plant identification for understanding ecosystem functioning across global flux tower sites

Understanding why ecosystems respond differently to environmental drivers, and how vegetation mediates land–atmosphere fluxes of matter and energy, remains a central challenge in ecosystem functioning research. Lacking information on biodiversity—spanning species composition, plant functional traits, bioindication, understory vegetation, and vegetation dynamics— may have prevented significant progress here. FloraFlux enables the collection of this complementary “biodiversity layer” to unlock new opportunities for interpreting and modelling ecosystem fluxes and functions across flux tower sites.

FloraFlux is a community-driven initiative to collect plant species occurrence data at eddy covariance flux sites worldwide. Integrated as a flux tower–specific project into the Flora Incognita app for automated plant identification, FloraFlux enables participants to document and share spatially and temporally explicit plant species occurrence information within tower footprints seamlessly with only a smartphone. Participation is simple and inclusive, requires no botanical expertise, and supports open data sharing within the flux tower community. 

Data processing pipelines linking FloraFlux observations to existing biodiversity and ecosystem research infrastructures are already in place, including: (1) pan-European bio-indication systems such as EIVE for local climate and soil conditions, (2) the European Disturbance Indicator Values for disturbance and management, and (3) the global plant trait data from the TRY Plant Trait Database.

The first FloraFlux field season in 2025 already yielded >1,500 plant observations from >30 flux tower sites in Europe. ~40 participants contributed data, and > 50 newsletter subscribers prove the feasibility and acceptance of this collaborative effort. A Shiny web application will provide a map and site-level summaries of plant traits and bio-indicators (QR code on poster).

We are starting to explore key questions, such as:

• How can plant functional traits and bio-indicator values help us understand ecosystem functional properties and spatial variation in fluxes?
  
  
• How do ecosystems with different biodiversity and local site conditions respond to environmental drivers such as drought, pests, or management interventions?
  
  
• What is the role of understory and herb-layer vegetation in modulating flux variability?
  
  
• How does functional diversity influence ecosystem resilience, for example in terms of recovery after drought or extreme events?
  
  
• How can integrating species-level traits and bio-indicators complement or refine traditional plant functional type classifications?

First exploratory analyses show a strong relationship between maximum NEP and plant indicator values for soil nitrogen (R² = 0.45, rising to >0.9 when including further traits and bio-indicators) derived from species observations. These initial findings underscore the potential of FloraFlux to contribute the “missing biodiversity link” to long-term flux research and strengthen the scientific and societal value of networks such as ICOS or FLUXNET.

All flux tower teams worldwide are invited to the 2026 FloraFlux season. Join us with your smartphone at the poster for assistance. More participants and observations enhance our collective understanding of biodiversity’s role in ecosystem functioning.

Join FloraFlux and contribute to biodiversity–ecosystem functioning research effortlessly!