PFTC Teaching Material

Published

October 11, 2026

The PFTC model

This book is the teaching material for the Plant Functional Trait Courses (PFTC). The courses is a hands-on end-to-end data life cylcle training in trait-based ecology. More about the courses themselves is on the course webpage.

Most ecology and field biology courses only cover part of the data life cycle (Figure 1).

Ecology & Field Courses Ecology & Field Courses Stats Courses Stats Courses Reports, Stats Reports, Stats PROCESS PROCESS SHARE SHARE RE-USE RE-USE CREATE CREATE Plan Plan Design Design Collect Collect Digitize Digitize Import Import Clean Clean Process Process Analyse Analyse Document Document Communicate Communicate Archive Archive Find & Reuse Find &Reuse DATA LIFE CYCLE
Figure 1: The data life cycle.

The PFTC model is teaches all parts of the data life cycle, from planning to data re-use (Figure 2). It adds three layers to the data life cycle: documentation, methods and technology, and community of practice.

CREATE CREATE Plan Design Collect PROCESS PROCESS Digitize Import Clean Process Analyse SHARE SHARE Document Communicate Archive RE-USE RE- USE Find & Reuse Method protocols Herbarium vouchers Raw data repository Well commented code Data dictionary Data paper Final data repository FAIR (?) data Contingency planning Systematic data collection Repro- ducible workflow Code based scripts Version control Open code Open science tools Student selection Real data real science responsibility Peer learning and certification Problem solving Collaboration skills Quality control Networking opportunities Dissemi- nation of Open Science Learning outcomes Data documentation Methods and technology Community of practice pre-course field course post- course
Figure 2: The PFTC model.

How to use the book

The chapters follow the course: pre-course, the field course, and post-course. Under each of those, the chapters are grouped by step: Plan, Design, Collect, and the steps that follow. The four larger groups on the wheel — Create, Process, Share, and Re-use — overlap those times, so they are not the sidebar groups. The PFTC model sits underneath that timeline. The inner ring is the scientific process, in four parts: Create, Process, Share, and Re-use. Around it, from the centre outward, are the documents, the methods, and the community.

A page that belongs to one of these carries a sign in the colour from the wheels. Some pages are not part of a category, and those have no sign.

Create Process Share Re-use Data documentation Methods and technology Community of practice

Funding

The Plant Functional Traits Courses acknowledge funding from the following sources:

The Norwegian Research Council ExperTS - Experiments, Traits, Synthesis: Using knowledge from global ecological experiments to validate, assess, and improve trait-based theory. INTPART project 287784 2019 – 2023. PI: Vigdis Vandvik and Brian Enquist

RECITE -Research and Education Partnership in Climate Change Impacts on Terrestrial Ecosystems. INTPART project 274831 2018 – 2022. PI: Vigdis Vandvik

Senter for internasjonalisering av utdanning TraitTrain - Comparing climate change impacts on High North vs. Alpine ecosystems through research and training in trait-based approaches. SIU project HNP-2015/10037 2016 – 2018 PI: Vigdis Vandvik

TransPlant - Research-based traning in experimental climate change plant ecology. UTF-2013/10074 2014 – 2016. PI: Vigdis Vandvik