# Phenotypic trait variation measured on European genetic trials of Fagus sylvatica L.

T. Matthew Robson, Marta Benito Garzon, Oliver Brendel, Alexis Ducousso, Bruno Fady, . Beechcost E52 Database Consortium

► To cite this version:

T. Matthew Robson, Marta Benito Garzon, Oliver Brendel, Alexis Ducousso, Bruno Fady, et al. Phenotypic trait variation measured on European genetic trials of Fagus sylvatica L.. Scientific Data, 2018, 5, pp.1-7. 10.1038/sdata.2018.149. hal-02627965

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# Data Descriptor: Phenotypic trait variation measured on European genetic trials of *Fagus sylvatica* L

Received: 27 November 2017

Accepted: 30 May 2018

Published: 31 July 2018

T. Matthew Robson<fnref n="1" />*, Marta Benito Garzón²* and BeechCOSTe52 database consortium#

We present *BeechCOSTe52*; a database of European beech (*Fagus sylvatica*) phenotypic measurements for several traits related to fitness measured in genetic trials planted across Europe. The dataset was compiled and harmonized during the COST-Action E52 (2006–2010), and subsequently cross-validated to ensure consistency of measurement data among trials and provenances. Phenotypic traits (height, diameter at breast height, basal diameter, mortality, phenology of spring bud burst and autumn-leaf discoloration) were recorded in 38 trial sites where 217 provenances covering the entire distribution of European beech were established in two consecutive series (1993/95 and 1996/98). The recorded data refer to 862,095 measurements of the same trees aged from 2 to 15 years old over multiple years. This dataset captures the considerable genetic and phenotypic intra-specific variation present in European beech and should be of interest to researchers from several disciplines including quantitative genetics, ecology, biogeography, macroecology, adaptive management of forests and bioeconomy.

<table><tr><td>Design Type(s)</td><td>time series design</td></tr><tr><td>Measurement Type(s)</td><td>phenotype characterization</td></tr><tr><td>Technology Type(s)</td><td>measurement device</td></tr><tr><td>Factor Type(s)</td><td>geographic location • temporal_interval • age</td></tr><tr><td>Sample Characteristic(s)</td><td>Fagus sylvatica • Germany • Kingdom of Spain • Slovak Republic • Kingdom of Denmark • French Republic • Italy • Czech Republic • Poland • Romania • Sweden • Luxembourg • Republic of Ireland • United Kingdom • Belgium • Kingdom of the Netherlands • Slovenia • Croatia</td></tr></table>

<footnote n="1">¹Viikki Plant Science Centre (ViPS), Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, P.O. Box 65, 00014, Finland. ²UMR 1202 Biodiversité Gènes & Communautés, INRA, Université Bordeaux, Bâtiment B2llée G St Hilaire, CS 50023, 33615 Pessac Cedex, France. *These authors contributed equally to this work. Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to T.M.R. (email: matthew.robson@helsinki.fi) or to G.M.B. (email: marta.benito-garzon@inra.fr).</footnote>

<footnote>*A full list of members appears in the Author Contributions.</footnote>
## Background & Summary

Currently climate change threatens to outpace forest migration, making trees' survival dependent on their intrinsic potential to adapt and acclimatise to new climatic conditions. Judging the extent of trees' capacity to cope successfully with new conditions requires knowledge of their tolerance limits; something that is hard to study and to-date cannot be estimated with confidence for many tree species. The long life-span of forest trees means that we might expect to see a lag in their local adaptation to climate; it also makes experiments requiring comparisons across multiple generations difficult. Genetic trials planted for commercial purposes over recent decades probably hold the greatest potential to provide those data that will allow us to understand adaptive processes and the acclimation of trees to new climates. While analyses of individual trials comparing several provenances can inform us of those differences among populations that are shaped by genetics, only information gleaned from multiple trials covering an entire species range allow us to assess the relative importance of genetics and phenotypic plasticity, and how the two interact, for species survival under a changing climate¹⁻⁴.

European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) is an important tree species for forestry and culturally. It covers roughly 14-million ha of forested land, ranging from Mediterranean to temperate ecosystems (http://www.euforgen.org). This wide ecological amplitude makes beech a good reference species for large-scale studies of plastic and adaptive responses in its fitness-related traits to climate change over its full distribution range.

Here, we present a consolidated set of phenotypic data from genetic trials of Fagus sylvatica across Europe compiled by the COST Action E52 (2006–2010). There have been several efforts to make use of phenotypic data from forestry trials of various species at the European level e.g. to compile metadata and to produce standardised protocols (http://www.trees4future.eu/ and http://www.trees4future.eu/transnational-accesses/treebreedex.html). However, raw data is seldom published, and initiatives to compile old genetic trials tend only to be promoted at the national level; e.g. GENFORED in Spain (www.genfored.es) and PLANTACOMP in France⁵. The BeechCOSTe52 dataset (Data Citation 1) provides a high density map of phenotypic data from 38 genetic trials across Europe, even including trials established outside the range of the species. The wide coverage provided by this dataset makes it a singular resource that can help us to understand the entire gradient of climatic tolerance of European beech (Fig. 1). Likewise, the origin of the 217 provenances planted covers the entire range of the species distribution, which is important for understanding the overall adaptive capacity and the tolerance limits of the species (Fig. 1).

Genetic trials have historically been used in forestry to test which reproductive material to select (http://www.euforgen.org), but the utility of genetic trials in general and of this database in particular go beyond this traditional use⁶. The most immediate use of the BeechCOSTe52 database is in understanding of trade-offs between traits from an ecological perspective. Comparable trials over a larger geographical areas covering the range limits of a species can be helpful in assessing local adaptation in populations of trees that have grown nearby during the recent past. They can also be useful for testing the fitness of range-edge populations or those derived from isolated refuges during the last glaciation, which may hold valuable traits that can confer fitness benefits under particular circumstances. Over small geographical areas, the effects of local environmental conditions and past management can be tested and pave the way to guide new innovative management practises involving assisted gene flow and the translocation of populations to compensate lower productivity with higher survival when mitigating climate change and the socio-economic consequences of planting exotic versus local provenances.

A complete network of genetic trials is also of interest for the conservation of genetic resources, in particular those from marginal populations which can hold higher genetic variation than those populations at the core of a distribution⁷. Finally, we hope that this database will encourage researchers and foresters to compile and publish genetic trial data of other species, since databases such as this are an invaluable resource helping us understand the capacity of forests to adapt and acclimatise to climate change.

## Methods

### Tree plantation in genetic trials

The international series of genetic trials presented in the BeechCOSTe52 database were established in two different series (years sown/trial planted: 1993/95 and 1996/98) to study genetic variation of European beech across its distribution range⁸. The planning of the international series of beech trials was principally coordinated by researchers from the Institute of Forest Genetics in Grosshansdorf, Germany, including Mirko Liesebach, Georg von Wuehlisch and Hans Muhs, in liaison with the international trial-site holders, and supported by the Concerted Action of the Commission of the European Communities (AAAIR3 Programme, Grant No. CT94-2091). Previous plantations of genetic trials of beech exist but mostly with local provenances, which precludes the study of genetic variation across the species range. The trials were planted in three complete blocks, each block containing all of the provenances planted at each trial site. In total 150 seedlings (two-year old) of each provenance were planted in randomised groups of 50 seedlings within each block, using a spacing of 1-x-2 m. Border rows of a local provenance were used to reduce edge effects. More details of the planning, design and planting of the provenance trials are given in a document presented at the IUFRO meetings on beech⁸.
<figure><img src="image_2.png" /></figure>

**Figure 1.** Location of the genetic trials and provenances tested across Europe. The distribution of *Fagus sylvatica* is reproduced in grey from EUFORGEN http://www.euforgen.org/distribution-maps/. Plotted symbols represent trials established in 1995 (green solid circles) and 1998 (blue solid circles) and the respective provenances tested in series from 1995 (green empty circles) and 1998 (blue empty circles). Only locations and provenances for which phenotypic traits have been measured are represented.

## Phenotypic traits measurement

Phenotypic trait measurements included tree height, basal diameter, diameter at breast height, mortality, bud burst phenology in spring and autumn leaf senescence, and in some cases the causes of damage related to mortality. Trait data was collected on an individual-trees basis in consecutive years following plantation, including measurements from 2-to-15 year-old trees, thus providing information through different ontogenic stages. We give an example of how the database can be plotted and further analysed according to trait and ontogenic stage (Fig. 2).

## Data compilation

A succession of national and international projects have allowed the collection of data from the trial sites (Additional Information.zip, Data Citation 1 and 1st Meeting⁹). In 2004, various preliminary databases of individual French, German and Italian provenances were gathered during the DYNABEECH project (Additional Information.zip, Data Citation 1).

Later on, a European Concerted Research Action designated as COST Action E52 "Evaluation of Beech Genetic Resources for Sustainable Forestry" came into force in 2006, running until 2010, in order to consolidate and interpret the data collected from the two series of beech trials set up in 1995 and 1998, and to bring together the participants from countries that were managing trials to pool their expertise. The stated aim of the COST Action was "to make predictions of the future distribution range of beech forest ecosystems under the assumption of certain scenarios of climate change, based on the analysis of the reaction pattern of European beech populations".

An introductory COST Action E52 Working Group and Management Committee meeting took place in Zvolen (Slovakia 2006), with plenary meetings during the subsequent three years as well as various Working Group meetings¹⁰. Some partial analyses were done during this period, considering one¹¹⁻¹⁸ or several trials¹⁹⁻²³.

One striking quality of the BeechCOSTe52 database presented here is that it has been made possible through the coordinated effort of researchers and foresters from many countries across Europe, who have managed and maintained the trial sites over an extended period of time and have altruistically contributed to the efforts of data collection and coordination over a long time period. The compilation of the phenotypic information from all the genetic trials included in the BeechCOSTe52 database only refers to trials and provenances in which traits have been measured repeatedly (Table 1). The database includes 862,095 trait records measured in 38 trial sites and a total of 217 provenances varying from 13 to 101 among trial sites. We kept only traits measured in at least six trial sites to assure a good coverage of the distribution of the species. Measurements are heterogeneously repeated over years and trees, from 1995 to 2008.
<figure><img src="image_3.png" /><figcaption>**Figure 2.** Tree height averaged by genetic trial and provenance tested, plotted at their corresponding location across Europe. (a) Tree height (cm) averaged by trial site (maximum tree height 400 cm) and by (b) provenance (tree height ranged from 100 to 300 cm) of 9 years old trees in both series (seedlings were planted at two years of age). The distribution of *Fagus sylvatica* is reproduced in grey from EUFORGEN http://www.euforgen.org/distribution-maps/. Plotted symbols represent tree height in a size and colour scale running from 100 cm (small red circles) to 400 cm (big blue circles) high.</figcaption></figure>

## Code availability

R code to merge phenotypic trait measurements, geographical coordinates of the trials and geographical coordinates of the provenance locations is included (merge-trial-prov-coords่าย individual measurements. R). Mapping phenotypic traits by provenances and trials as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 can be reproduced using the following scripts: Hplot.R & Plot_Trial-Prov_locations.R. Likewise, individual data by trial and trait can be extracted from the global database using the specific script Subset_by trial.R and Subset_by trait.R, respectively.

## Data Records

The database is structured in three independent files that can be merged using the code identifier for the provenance and the code combining the trial and provenance codes ("Trial" and "ID_ProvCode", respectively). These data files together with the metadata descriptor document are available at Zenodo data repository (BeechCOSTe52_metadata descriptor.docx, Data Citation 1). The first file contains individual measurements of phenotypic traits (Fagus sylvatica.csv, Data Citation 1): height, basal diameter, diameter at breast height, mortality, spring phenology, autumn leaf phenology, and associated damage causing to tree mortality. The second file contains the description of the trials including their geographical locations (Trials_coors.csv, Data Citation 1) and the third file describes the locations of the seed sources (Prov_coors.csv, Data Citation 1).

## Technical Validation

The database has been checked for consistency at different stages by various researchers. During the COST Action E52 (2006 to 2010) raw data were submitted by each country and harmonized in electronic format for the first time. Results from the individual trial sites were sent to Georg von Wuehlisch until 2008. In 2008 and 2009 this information was assimilated into electronic form and standardised by Diana Barba and T. Matthew Robson. At that time, it was decided to have one database by genetic trial, harmonised among trials and checked for consistency. The geographical locations, names and identities of trial sites and provenances were rechecked, and the management and biogeographical history of provenances considered. In a workshop (19th-23rd January 2009) the data evaluation working group met in Valsain, Spain, where the database was checked for completeness and consistency of data collected by the members of the COST Action E52. Then, members of the COST Action E52 had one year to present their findings prior to the 2010 final Cost Action E52 meeting in Burgos, where various studies of the provenance trials were presented, and later published in the Proceedings of the Meeting21 (Additional Information.zip, Data Citation 1).
<table><thead><tr><th>TRIAL CODE</th><th>TRIAL NAME (COUNTRY)</th><th>PROV</th><th>Height</th><th>DBH</th><th>BasalD</th><th>Mort</th><th>SP</th><th>AP</th><th>D</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>BU1901</td><td>Schädtbek (DE)</td><td>100</td><td>45,727</td><td>32,830</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>4,396</td><td>7,095</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU1902</td><td>Wesel (DE)</td><td>101</td><td>6,036</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU1904</td><td>Burguete, Navarra (ES)</td><td>100</td><td>10,520</td><td>0</td><td>10,521</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU1905</td><td>Vrchdobroč (SK)</td><td>97</td><td>4,096</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>8,308</td><td>1,951</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU1908</td><td>Otterup (DK)</td><td>49</td><td>19,937</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>2,935</td><td>0</td><td>12,310</td></tr><tr><td>BU1909</td><td>F.d. Lyons (FR)</td><td>50</td><td>17,309</td><td>4,413</td><td>0</td><td>7,232</td><td>16,850</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU1910</td><td>Brasimone (IT)</td><td>49</td><td>4,059</td><td>4,056</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU1913</td><td>Loehlitz (DE)</td><td>48</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>7,200</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU1914</td><td>Pelhrimov (CZ)</td><td>49</td><td>5,667</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>7,350</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>5,625</td></tr><tr><td>BU1915</td><td>Oleszyce (PL)</td><td>49</td><td>21,667</td><td>24,584</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>9,511</td><td>4,171</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU1917</td><td>Brašov (RO)</td><td>44</td><td>6,892</td><td>1,240</td><td>1,273</td><td>0</td><td>10,421</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU1921</td><td>Ranna (SE)</td><td>36</td><td>4,789</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>5,400</td><td>1,413</td><td>0</td><td>21,600</td></tr><tr><td>BU1922</td><td>Louchelt (LU)</td><td>49</td><td>11,271</td><td>1,543</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>3,795</td><td>0</td><td>2,349</td></tr><tr><td>BU1923</td><td>Baia Mare (RO)</td><td>26</td><td>4,679</td><td>777</td><td>1,560</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU2001</td><td>Schädtbek(DE)</td><td>46</td><td>14,385</td><td>4,639</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>11,148</td><td>0</td><td>11,100</td></tr><tr><td>BU2002</td><td>Gädebehn (DE)</td><td>17</td><td>4,009</td><td>811</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU2004</td><td>Laragh (IE)</td><td>34</td><td>3,652</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>3,103</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU2005</td><td>Little Wittenham (UK)</td><td>25</td><td>1,060</td><td>986</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>8,863</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU2006</td><td>Harre (BE)</td><td>34</td><td>2,907</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU2007</td><td>Bosenbach (DE)</td><td>21</td><td>10,074</td><td>3,059</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU2008</td><td>Oostereng (NL)</td><td>31</td><td>6,791</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>6,745</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU2009</td><td>Lisbjerg (DK)</td><td>34</td><td>5,738</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>4,054</td><td>5,362</td><td>0</td><td>1,226</td></tr><tr><td>BU2010</td><td>Trolleholm (SE)</td><td>33</td><td>3,690</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>4,851</td><td>2,914</td><td>0</td><td>64</td></tr><tr><td>BU2011</td><td>Nedlitz-1 (DE)</td><td>33</td><td>4,068</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU2012</td><td>Straža (SI)</td><td>39</td><td>26,570</td><td>5,718</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>8,845</td><td>0</td><td>2,140</td></tr><tr><td>BU2014</td><td>Unieszow (PL)</td><td>34</td><td>1,084</td><td>313</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>2,807</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU2016</td><td>Kutina (HR)</td><td>19</td><td>13,246</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU2017</td><td>Alunis (RO)</td><td>32</td><td>1,890</td><td>1,773</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU2018</td><td>Poiana Fl (RO)</td><td>32</td><td>2,880</td><td>926</td><td>960</td><td>0</td><td>10,607</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU2019</td><td>Jíloviště (CZ)</td><td>31</td><td>5,252</td><td>1,271</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>8,646</td><td>2,893</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU2020</td><td>Tále, Mláčik (SK)</td><td>32</td><td>12,846</td><td>2,346</td><td>3,093</td><td>0</td><td>65,080</td><td>6,231</td><td>6,231</td></tr><tr><td>BU2021</td><td>Valle de Mena (ES)</td><td>33</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>1,940</td><td>3,598</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU2022</td><td>Liliental (DE)</td><td>20</td><td>4,026</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>1,500</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>1,500</td></tr><tr><td>BU2023</td><td>Hahnengrün (DE)</td><td>30</td><td>14,047</td><td>6,598</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>20,994</td><td>12,040</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU2024</td><td>Pazuengos, La Rioja (ES)</td><td>29</td><td>3,641</td><td>0</td><td>3,644</td><td>4,330</td><td>3,679</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU2025</td><td>Nedlitz-2 (DE)</td><td>13</td><td>4,731</td><td>1,057</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU2026</td><td>Louschelt (LU)</td><td>28</td><td>11,213</td><td>2,198</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>BU2028</td><td>Rantzau (DE)</td><td>18</td><td>2,035</td><td>555</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>TOTAL =</td><td></td><td>217</td><td>333,677</td><td>101,693</td><td>21,051</td><td>43,857</td><td>220,020</td><td>77,652</td><td>64,145</td></tr></tbody></table>

**Table 1.** Summary table showing the information contained in the dataset by trial site. The summary information refers to trait measurements in one or several years and can include several trait measurements per tree. PROV = number of provenances planted. Height = number of height measurements. DBH = number of diameter at breast height measurements. BasalD = number of basal diameter measurements. Mort = number of dead trees. SP = number of bud burst measurements. AP = number of records of autumn leaf discolouration. D = number of damage measurements. Zero values indicate no data available.

The studies reported that the data gathered expose high variability in fitness-related traits such a height, both among provenances and among trials²⁴. Likewise, there was large variation in the timing of bud burst and leaf flush in spring, when data collected using different scales among sites were harmonised and considered both in terms of day-of-the-year and degree-hours of forcing prior to bud burst²⁵.

Finally, in 2017, the originally-compiled trial-site database was checked again for consistency of entries and fields in R by Marta Benito Garzón prior to harmonization of all the trial sites into the single
phenotypic database presented here. Outliers and errors in the database were checked by calculating
descriptive statistics of quantitative traits for each trial averaged by provenance.

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Data Citations

1. Robson, T. M. et al. Zenodo https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1240931 (2018).

Acknowledgements

The establishment of the trial series was supported by the Concerted Action of the Commission of the
European Communities (AAAIR3 Programme, Grant No. CT94-2091). The compilation and
harmonization of the database was supported by the COST Action E52 (2006-2010). We are very
grateful to all the technicians and researchers that measured trials over years in the field. The final
compilation was funded by the Investments for the Future IDEX Bordeaux (ANR-10-IDEX-03-02).

Author Contributions

T.M.R. compiled and checked the original trial by trial data. T.M.R. and M.B.G. compiled all the
individual information from each trial to a single database, checked the data and were largely responsible
for writing the manuscript. The other authors (BeechCOSTe52 database consortium) provided the single
trial information, contributed to harmonising and formatting the data at an early stage and participated
in writing the final manuscript.
## BeechCOSTe52 database consortium

Ricardo Alia Miranda³, Diana Barba Egido³, Saša Bogdan⁴, Attila Borovics⁵, Gregor Božič⁶, Oliver Brendel⁷, Jo Clark⁸, Sven M.G. De Vries⁹, Ivan I Delehan¹⁰, Alexis Ducousso¹¹, Bruno Fady¹², John Fennessy¹³, Manfred Forstreuter¹⁴, Josef Frydl¹⁵, Thomas Geburek¹⁶, Dušan Gömöry¹⁷, Maria Hauke-Kowalska¹⁸, Gerhard Huber¹⁹, Juan-Ignacio Ibañez²⁰, Lucia Ioniță²¹, Mladen Ivankovič²², Jon Kehlet Hansen²³, Anikó Kóczán- Horváth²⁴, Hojka Kraigher⁶, Steve Lee²⁵, Mirko Liesebach²⁶, Csaba Mátyás²⁴, Patrick Mertens²⁷, Hans-Jakob Muhs²⁶, Petr Novotný¹⁵, Gheorghe Parnuța²¹, Ladislav Paule¹⁷, Alvaro Picardo²⁸, Ervin Rasztovics⁵, Martin Rogge²⁹, Lars-Göran Stener³⁰, Małgorzata Sulkowska³¹, Otmar Urban³², Georg Von Wuehlisch²⁶, Giovanni G Vendramin³³, Cristina Vettori³³ & Wojciech Wesoły¹⁸

³Instituto Nacional de Investigacion y Tecnologia Agraria y Alimentaria, INIA, Madrid, Spain. ⁴University of Zagreb, Faculty of Forestry, Zagreb, Croatia. ⁵Hungarian Forest Research Institute, Sárvár, Hungary. ⁶Slovenian Forestry Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia. ⁷UMR EEF, INRA, Université de Lorraine, F-54280 Champenoux, France. ⁸Earth Trust, Little Wittenham, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4QZ, UK. ⁹Alterra Environmental Research, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen, The Netherlands. ¹⁰Ukrainian State University of Forestry and Wood Technology, Faculty of Forestry, Lviv, Ukraine. ¹¹BIOGECO, INRA, Université de Bordeaux, 33610 Cestas, France. ¹²URFM, INRA, Domaine St. Paul 84914, Avignon, France. ¹³COFORD-National Council for Forest Research and Development, Dublin, Ireland. ¹⁴FU Berlin BW, Germany. ¹⁵Forestry and Game Management Research Institute, Strnady 136, 25202, Jilovišč. Czech Republic. ¹⁶Federal Forest Research Centre, Vienna, Austria. ¹⁷Faculty of Forestry, Technical University in Zvolen, 96053 Zvolen, Slovakia. ¹⁸Poznań University of Life Sciences, Department of Forest Silviculture, Poznan, Poland. ¹⁹Bavarian Office for Forest Seeding and Planting (ASP), Teisendorf, Germany. ²⁰Forest Service, La Rioja, Logroño, Spain. ²¹Academy of Agriculture and Silviculture, Bucharest, Romania. ²²Croatian Forest Research Institute, Division of Genetics, Forest Tree Breeding and seed husbandry, Jastrebarsko, Croatia. ²³University of Copenhagen, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Section for Forest, Nature and Biomass, Copenhagen, Denmark. ²⁴University Sopron, Inst. Env. and Geo Sci, Sopron pob 132, Hungary. ²⁵Forest Research, Northern Research Station, Roslin, Midlothian, UK. ²⁶Thünen Institute of Forest Genetics, Grosshansdorf, Germany. ²⁷Station de Recherches Forestières, Gembloux, Belgium. ²⁸Directorate of Environment, Junta de Castilla y León, Valladolid, Spain. ²⁹Landesbetrieb Wald und Holz NRW, Arnsberg, Germany. ³⁰The Forestry Research Institute of Sweden, Ekebo, Sweden. ³¹Forest Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland. ³²CZECHGLOBE Global Change Research Institute CAS, Brno, Czech Republic. ³³Institute of Biosciences and BioResources, National Research Council, Florence, Italy.

## Additional Information

**Competing interests:** The authors declare no competing interests.

**How to cite this article:** Robson, T. M. *et al.* Phenotypic trait variation measured on European genetic trials of *Fagus sylvatica* L. *Sci. Data* 5:180149 doi: 10.1038/sdata.2018.149 (2018).

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