Global Urban Tree Species (GUTS): Revealing tree species diversity across the world’s urban areas

Diverse tree communities can bolster urban ecosystem resilience and provide vital ecosystem services. However, existing urban tree species datasets have limited geographic coverage and contain inadequate attributes. To address those gaps, we developed the Global Urban Tree Species (GUTS) dataset by integrating data from literature, biodiversity databases, and other open sources. The new dataset encompasses 159,845 occurrence records of 10,094 tree species in 8,349 cities and 139 countries. Among them, 109,879 records were confirmed from urban areas, representing 11.18% of global tree species diversity. The dataset has been validated using multiple methods. GUTS fills critical data gaps and provides a foundation for future research and management of global urban biodiversity.