This data file (.xls) is composed of 5 sheets: The “Taxon labels”: Taxon code, full name, authority and status/type (Abiotic, Unassigned, Native, Cryptogenic, Non-Indigenous Species) The “Trait labels”: Trait modality and labels and correspondences. The “Taxon-by-Trait matrix”: Fuzzy coded scores for each trait modality and taxon The “Taxon-by-sample matrix”: Abundance data of retained taxa in samples The “Sample labels and description”: Site and experimental factors (Habitat, Age, Experimental Unit, Replicate, nested within site) corresponding to each sample. Sheets 4 and 5 are extracted from a published dataset, which cannot be shared at this stage of revision without revealing the name of several of the manuscript authors. This is done in respect with the journal guidelines about data storage.