Received: 20 May 2022 Revised: 12 September 2022 Accepted: 16 September 2022 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3923 DATA PAPER RecruitNet: A global database of plant recruitment networks Miguel Verdú 1 | Jose L. Garrido 2,3 | Julio M. Alcantara 4,5 | Alicia Montesinos-Navarro 1 | Salomo n Aguilar | Marcelo A. Aizen 7 | 6 Ali A. Al-Namazi 8 | Mohamed Alifriqui 9 | David Allen 10 | 6,11 12 Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira | Cristina Armas | Jesús M. Bastida 13 | Tono Bellido 14 | Giuliano Bonanomi 15 | Gustavo B. Paterno 16 | 12 17 Herbert Briceño | Ricardo A. C. de Oliveira | Josefina G. Campoy 18 | Ghassen Chaieb 19 | Chengjin Chu 20 | Sarah E. Collins 1 | Richard Condit 21 | Elena Constantinou 22 | Cihan Ü. Degirmenci 23 | Leo Delalandre 24 | Milen Duarte 25 | Michel Faife 26 | Fatih Fazlioglu 27,28 | 29,30 31 Edwino S. Fernando | Joel Flores | Hilda Flores-Olvera 32 | Ecaterina Fodor 33 | Gislene Ganade 34 | María Begoña Garcia 35 | 1 7 36 Patricio García-Fayos | Sabrina S. Gavini | Marta Goberna | Lorena Go mez-Aparicio 37 | Enrique Gonza lez-Penda s 38 | Ana Gonza lez-Robles | Stephen P. Hubbell 4 6,39 _ | Kahraman Ipekdal 40 | María J. Jorquera 12 | Zaal Kikvidze 41 | Pınar Kütküt 23 | Alicia Ledo 42 | Sandra Lendínez 2 | Buhang Li 43 | Hanlun Liu 43 | Francisco Lloret 44 | Ramiro P. Lo pez-García 2 pez 45 | Álvaro Lo | Christopher J. Lortie 46 | Gianalberto Losapio 47 | James A. Lutz 48 | Arantzazu L. Luzuriaga 49 | liš 50 František Ma | Esteban Manrique 51 | Antonio J. Manzaneda 4 | Vinicius Marcilio-Silva 52 | Richard Michalet 19 | Rafael Molina-Venegas 53 | José Antonio Navarro-Cano 36 | Vojtech Novotny 54 | Jens M. Olesen 55 | Juan P. Ortiz-Brunel 56 | María Pajares-Murgo  4 | Nikolas Parissis 57 | ndez 38 Geoffrey Parker 58 | Antonio J. Perea 4 | Vidal Pérez-Herna | María Ángeles Pérez-Navarro 44 n | Nuria Pisto 12,59 | Elisa Pizarro-Carbonell 60 | n Prieto 12,61 Iva | Jorge Prieto-Rubio 2 Francisco I. Pugnaire 12 | | Nelson Ramírez 62 | Rubén Retuerto 18 | Pedro J. Rey 4,5 | Daniel A. Rodriguez Ginart 1 | Mariana Rodríguez-Sa nchez 63 | nchez-Martín 1 Ricardo Sa | Christian Schöb 49,64 | Çag atay Tavşanog lu 23 | For affiliations refer to page 3 This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. © 2022 The Authors. Ecology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Ecological Society of America. Ecology. 2023;104:e3923. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/r/ecy 1 of 5 https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3923 2 of 5 VERDÚ ET AL. Giorgi Tedoradze 65 | Amanda Tercero-Araque 4 | Katja Tielbörger 66 | _ Blaise Touzard 20 | Irem lu 24 | Sevda Turkis 67 | Tüfekciog Francisco M. Usero 12 | Nurbahar Usta 23 | Alfonso Valiente-Banuet 68,69 | Alexia Vargas-Colin 31 | Ioannis Vogiatzakis 22 | Regino Zamora 5,70 Correspondence Miguel Verdú Abstract Email: miguel.verdu@ext.uv.es Plant recruitment interactions (i.e., what recruits under what) shape the composition, diversity, and structure of plant communities. Despite the huge Funding information Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional, body of knowledge on the mechanisms underlying recruitment interactions Grant/Award Number: among species, we still know little about the structure of the recruitment ICTS-2017-08-CSIC-4; SUMHAL, Grant/Award Numbers: 418RT0555, networks emerging in ecological communities. Modeling and analyzing the 501100011033, community-level structure of plant recruitment interactions as a complex net- LIFEWATCH-2019-09-CSIC-13, MCIN/ work can provide relevant information on ecological and evolutionary pro- AEI/10.13039, PGC2018-100966-B-100, PID2020-113157GB-I00, POPE 2014-2020 cesses acting both at the species and ecosystem levels. We report a data set containing 143 plant recruitment networks in 23 countries across five conti- Handling Editor: William K. Michener nents, including temperate and tropical ecosystems. Each network identifies the species under which another species recruits. All networks report the num- ber of recruits (i.e., individuals) per species. The data set includes >850,000 recruiting individuals involved in 118,411 paired interactions among 3318 vas- cular plant species across the globe. The cover of canopy species and open ground is also provided. Three sampling protocols were used: (1) The Recruitment Network (RN) protocol (106 networks) focuses on interactions among established plants (“canopy species”) and plants in their early stages of recruitment (“recruit species”). A series of plots was delimited within a local- ity, and all the individuals recruiting and their canopy species were identified; (2) The paired Canopy-Open (pCO) protocol (26 networks) consists in locating a potential canopy plant and identifying recruiting individuals under the can- opy and in a nearby open space of the same area; (3) The Georeferenced plot (GP) protocol (11 networks) consists in using information from georeferenced individual plants in large plots to infer canopy-recruit interactions. Some net- works incorporate data for both herbs and woody species, whereas others focus exclusively on woody species. The location of each study site, geographi- cal coordinates, country, locality, responsible author, sampling dates, sampling method, and life habits of both canopy and recruit species are provided. This database will allow researchers to test ecological, biogeographical, and evolu- tionary hypotheses related to plant recruitment interactions. There are no copyright restrictions on the data set; please cite this data paper when using these data in publications. KEYWORDS ecological networks, facilitation, plant–plant interactions, recruitment, replacement ECOLOGY 3 of 5 23 A FF IL I AT I O N S Division of Ecology, Department of Biology, Hacettepe 1 Centro de Investigaciones Sobre Desertificacion (CIDE, University, Ankara, Turkey 24 CSIC-UV-GV), Moncada, Spain CEFE, University of Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, 2 Departamento de Microbiología del Suelo y Sistemas Montpellier, France 25 Simbi oticos, Estaci on Experimental del Zaidín Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad (IEB), Santiago, (EEZ-CSIC), Granada, Spain Chile 3 Estacion Biologica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC), Sevilla, 26 Jardín Botanico de Villa Clara, Facultad de Ciencias Spain Agropecuarias, Universidad Central ‘Marta Abreu’ de 4 Departamento de Biología Animal, Biología Vegetal y Las Villas, Santa Clara, Cuba 27 Ecología, Universidad de Jaén, Jaén, Spain Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department 5 Andalusian Institute for Earth System Research (IISTA), of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Ordu University, Granada, Spain Ordu, Turkey 6 28 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), Bayreuth University (Plant Ecology, University of Panama, Panama Bayreuth), Bayreuth, Germany 7 29 Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Institute of Biology, University of the Philippines, Medioambiente (INIBIOMA), Universidad Nacional del Diliman, Philippines 30 Comahue–CONICET, San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina Department of Forest Biological Sciences, University of 8 Life Sciences & Environment Research Institute, King the Philippines, Los Baños, Philippines 31 Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Instituto Potosino de Investigacion Científica y Riyadh, Saudi Arabia   Tecnologica, A.C., Division de Ciencias Ambientales, San 9 Laboratory of Ecology and Environment, Biology Luis Potosí, Mexico 32 Department, Faculty of Sciences Semlalia, Cadi Ayyad Departamento de Botanica, Instituto de Biología, University, Marrakech, Morocco Universidad Nacional Auto noma de México, Mexico 10 Department of Biology, Middlebury College, City, Mexico 33 Middlebury, Vermont, USA Faculty of Environmental Protection, Department of 11 Center for Conservation Ecology, Smithsonian National Forestry and Forest Engineering, University of Oradea, Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, Front Royal, Oradea, Romania 34 Virginia, USA Departamento de Ecología, Universidade Federal do 12 Estacion Experimental de Zonas Áridas, Consejo Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil 35 Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (EEZA-CSIC), Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (CSIC), Zaragoza, Spain 36 Almería, Spain Department of Environment and Agronomy, Centro 13 Estacion Experimental del Zaidín, Consejo Superior de Nacional Instituto de Investigaci on y Tecnología Investigaciones Científicas (EEZ-CSIC), Granada, Spain Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA-CSIC), Madrid, Spain 14 37 Servici Devesa-Albufera, Vivers Municipals de El Saler, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Valencia, Spain Sevilla, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas 15 Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of (IRNAS-CSIC), Sevilla, Spain Naples Federico II, Portici, Italy 38 Departamento de Investigaciones Botanicas, Centro de 16 Biodiversity, Macroecology & Biogeography, University Investigaciones y Servicios Ambientales, ECOVIDA, of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany Pinar del Río, Cuba 17 39 Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal do Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Parana, Setor de Ciências Biol ogicas, Curitiba, Brazil University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA 18 40 Departamento de Biología Funcional (Ecología), Faculty of Agriculture, Ahi Evran University, Kirsehir, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Turkey 41 Compostela, Spain Institute of Botany, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, 19 University of Bordeaux, UMR CNRS 5805 EPOC, Georgia 42 Pessac, France Freelance Scientist, Huesca, Spain 20 43 State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Ecology, Department of Ecology, State Key Laboratory of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen 21 University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, University, Guangzhou, China 44 California, USA CREAF, U. Ecologia, Department of Biología Animal, 22 Faculty of Pure & Applied Sciences, Open University of Biología Vegetal i Ecologia, Universitat Autònoma Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Valles, Spain 4 of 5 VERDÚ ET AL. 45 68 Carrera de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Puras y Departamento de Ecología de la Biodiversidad, Naturales, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA), Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Aut onoma La Paz, Bolivia de México, Mexico City, Mexico 46 69 Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad, Universidad Ontario, Canada Nacional Autonoma de México, México City, Mexico 47 70 Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, University of Department of Ecology, University of Granada, Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland Granada, Spain 48 Utah State University, Wildland Resources, Logan, Utah, USA CONFLICT OF INTEREST 49 Department of Biology and Geology, Rey Juan Carlos The authors declare no conflict of interest. University, M ostoles, Spain 50 Faculty of Forestry, Technical University in Zvolen, DA TA AVAI LA BI LI TY S T ATE ME NT Zvolen, Slovakia The complete data set is available as Supporting 51 Real Jardín Botanico, CSIC, Madrid, Spain Information and is also available in Zenodo at https:// 52 Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6567608. University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA 53 Department of Life Sciences, Universidad de Alcala, ORCID GLOCEE - Global Change Ecology and Evolution Group, Miguel Verdú https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9778-7692 Alcala de Henares, Spain Jose L. Garrido https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6859-4234 54 Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, Julio M. Alcantara https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8003- Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic 7844 55 Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Alicia Montesinos-Navarro https://orcid.org/0000-0003- Denmark 4656-0321 56 Departamento de Botanica y Zoología, Centro Ali A. Al-Namazi https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2767- Universitario de Ciencias Biol ogicas y Agropecuarias, 4366 Universidad de Guadalajara, Zapopan, Mexico David Allen https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0712-9603 57 Department of Agricultural Development, Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira https://orcid.org/0000- Management of Plant Production, Plant Protection 0001-8461-9713 and Environment, Democritus University of Thrace, Cristina Armas https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0356-8075 Orestiada, Greece Jesús M. Bastida https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8680-1401 58 Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Gustavo B. Paterno https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9719- Edgewater, Maryland, USA 3037 59 Programa de Po s-graduação em Ecologia, Universidade Josefina G. Campoy https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7300- Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1173 60 Asociacion Aprisco, Torrej on el Rubio, Spain Richard Condit https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4191-1495 61 Department of Biodiversity and Environmental Leo Delalandre https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2875-4587 Management, Ecology Area, Faculty of Biological and Milen Duarte https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4784-9880 Environmental Sciences, University of Leon, Le on, Spain Fatih Fazlioglu https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4723-3640 62 Universidad Central de Venezuela, Facultad de Hilda Flores-Olvera https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3262- Ciencias, Instituto Biología Experimental, Centro 9570 Botanica Tropical, Caracas, Venezuela María Begoña Garcia https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4231- 63 Posgrado en Ciencias Biol ogicas, Instituto de Biología, 6006 Universidad Nacional Auto noma de México, Mexico Patricio García-Fayos https://orcid.org/0000-0003- City, Mexico 3449-5075 64 Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH, Zurich, Sabrina S. Gavini https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8138- Switzerland 8155 65 Department of Plant Systematics and Geography, Lorena Gomez-Aparicio https://orcid.org/0000-0001- Institute of Botany, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia 5122-3579 66 University of Tübingen, Institute of Evolution and Enrique Gonz as https://orcid.org/0000-0001- alez-Pend Ecology, Plant Ecology Group, Tübingen, Germany 5058-7733 67 Faculty of Education, Department of Mathematics and _ Kahraman Ipekdal https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9968- Science Education, Ordu University, Ordu, Turkey 3013 ECOLOGY 5 of 5 Zaal Kikvidze https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5007-4484 Francisco I. Pugnaire https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1227- Alicia Ledo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3967-6994 6827 Hanlun Liu https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9424-4940 Nelson Ramírez https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6385-3866 Álvaro Lopez-García https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8267- Pedro J. Rey https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5550-0393 3572 Ricardo Sanchez-Martín https://orcid.org/0000-0001- Christopher J. Lortie https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4291- 5272-3276 7023 Christian Schöb https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4472-2286 Gianalberto Losapio https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7589- Amanda Tercero-Araque https://orcid.org/0000-0002- 8706 7255-5844 James A. Lutz https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2560-0710 Francisco M. Usero https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4648- Arantzazu L. Luzuriaga https://orcid.org/0000-0001- 4202 5023-7813 Nurbahar Usta https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9265-2780 František Mališ https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2760-6988 Richard Michalet https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6617- SU PP O R TI N G I N F O RMA TI O N 4789 Additional supporting information can be found online Rafael Molina-Venegas https://orcid.org/0000-0001- in the Supporting Information section at the end of this 5801-0736 article. José Antonio Navarro-Cano https://orcid.org/0000- 0001-8091-1063 How to cite this article: Verdú, Miguel, Jose Juan P. Ortiz-Brunel https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0695- L. Garrido, Julio M. Alcantara, 8143 Alicia Montesinos-Navarro, Salomon Aguilar, Vidal Pérez-Hern andez https://orcid.org/0000-0001- Marcelo A. Aizen, Ali A. Al-Namazi, et al. 2023. 6793-296X “RecruitNet: A Global Database of Plant Nuria Piston https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4946-9945 Recruitment Networks.” Ecology 104(2): e3923. an Prieto https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5549-1132 Iv https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3923 Jorge Prieto-Rubio https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5600- 5113