The photosynthetic pathway of plants is a fundamental trait that influences terrestrial environments from the local to global level. The distribution of different photosynthetic pathways in Australia is expected to undergo a substantial shift due to climate change and rising atmospheric CO₂; however, tracking change is hindered by a lack of data on the pathways of species, as well as their distribution and relative cover within plant communities. Here we present the photosynthetic pathways for 2428 species recorded across 541 plots surveyed by Australia’s Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) between 2011 and 2017. This dataset was created to facilitate research exploring trends in vegetation change across Australia. Species were assigned a photosynthetic pathway using published literature and stable carbon isotope analysis of bulk tissue. The photosynthetic pathway of species can be extracted from the dataset individually, or used in conjunction with vegetation surveys to study the occurrence and abundance of pathways across the continent. This dataset will be updated as TERN’s plot network expands and new information becomes available.

植物的光合作用途径是影响从局部到全球水平的陆地环境的基本特征。由于气候变化和大气CO ₂上升，预计澳大利亚不同光合作用途径的分布将发生重大变化；然而，由于缺乏有关物种路径及其在植物群落内的分布和相对覆盖范围的数据，追踪变化受到阻碍。在这里，我们展示了 2011 年至 2017 年间澳大利亚陆地生态系统研究网络 (TERN) 调查的 541 个地块中记录的 2428 个物种的光合作用路径。创建该数据集是为了促进探索澳大利亚植被变化趋势的研究。使用已发表的文献和大块组织的稳定碳同位素分析为物种分配光合作用途径。物种的光合作用路径可以单独从数据集中提取，也可以与植被调查结合使用，以研究整个大陆路径的出现和丰富度。该数据集将随着 TERN 绘图网络的扩展和新信息的出现而更新。