Spectral dataset of natural objects’ reflectance from the Southern cone of South America

This dataset currently contains the spectral reflectance of 500 natural objects, ranging from 400 to 1000 nm in 4 nm increments. These records correspond to plants (293 samples), animals (144 samples), and stones (63 samples). The objects were collected in the field, purchased at local fruit and vegetable markets, or borrowed from museum collections.The database is divided into three files corresponding to three main domains: Plants, Animals, and Stones. Each file has different data columns:• File name: File names were constructed as detailed in File name structure.txt. Briefly, they include the code for the corresponding secondary domain, followed by an underscore and three or four letters indicating the identity of the object, and finally, one to three letters indicating the human perceived color of the measured patch. (There are some exceptions to this protocol, see the File name structure.txt for details.)• Measurement date: We Included the date of data collection in day/month/year format.• Measurement angle: For iridescent colors, there were two measurement conditions according to the measurement angle, 0 or 45 degrees (see Methods for details).• Main domain: As mentioned, Plants, Animals, and Stones.• Secondary domain: In each of the main domains, we have categorized our objects into a number of secondary domains. For “Plants”, we included six: Barks (Ba), Flowers (Fl), Fruits (F), Leaves (L), Plant fruits (Fr), and Vegetables (V). We grouped the “Animals'” into three: Beetles (Be), Birds (B), and Butterflies (Bu). Finally, for the “Stones”, we have only one secondary domain (Stones, S).• Identity information:Object name: each object has a name assigned. For “Plants” and “Animals”, it refers to the taxonomic identity of the specimen (the less inclusive taxonomic identification available). For “Stones”, it refers to the identification of the object as a particular kind of rock or mineral.Family, genus, and species (only for plants and animals): for the samples of “Plants” and “Animals”, the available taxonomic information is provided. Cells for which we do not have information (some of the taxonomic categories could not be determined for some taxa) are indicated as N/D" (not determined). This information is not given for the “stones” main domain objects and we included the acronym “N/A” (not applicable).• Perceived patch color: Since many natural objects have more than one color discernible to humans, we indicated as a reference the color as perceived