The global spectrum of plant form and function

TLDR: Analysis of worldwide variation in six major traits critical to growth, survival and reproduction within the largest sample of vascular plant species ever compiled found that occupancy of six-dimensional trait space is strongly concentrated, indicating coordination and trade-offs.

Abstract: The authors found that the key elements of plant form and function, analysed at global scale, are largely concentrated into a two-dimensional plane indexed by the size of whole plants and organs on the one hand, and the construction costs for photosynthetic leaf area, on the other.