Plant traits determine how individual plants cope with heterogeneous environments. Despite large variability in individual traits, trait coordination and trade-offs^1,2 result in some trait combinations being much more widespread than others, as revealed in the global spectrum of plant form and function (GSPFF³) and the root economics space (RES⁴) for aboveground and fine-root traits, respectively. Here we combine the traits that define both functional spaces. Our analysis confirms the major trends of the GSPFF and shows that the RES captures additional information. The four dimensions needed to explain the non-redundant information in the dataset can be summarized in an aboveground and a fine-root plane, corresponding to the GSPFF and the RES, respectively. Both planes display high levels of species aggregation, but the differentiation among growth forms, families and biomes is lower on the fine-root plane, which does not include any size-related trait, than on the aboveground plane. As a result, many species with similar fine-root syndromes display contrasting aboveground traits. This highlights the importance of including belowground organs to the GSPFF when exploring the interplay between different natural selection pressures and whole-plant trait integration.

植物性状决定了个体植物如何应对异质环境。尽管个体性状差异很大，但性状协调和权衡^1,2导致某些性状组合比其他性状组合更为广泛，正如植物形态和功能的全球谱 (GSFF ³ ) 和根经济空间 (RES ⁴）分别表示地上和细根性状。在这里，我们结合了定义两个功能空间的特征。我们的分析证实了 GSFF 的主要趋势，并表明 RES 捕获了更多信息。解释数据集中非冗余信息所需的四个维度可以概括为地上平面和细根平面，分别对应于 GSFF 和 RES。两个平面都显示出高水平的物种聚集，但在不包括任何大小相关性状的细根平面上，生长形式、科和生物群落之间的分化低于地上平面。因此，许多具有类似细根综合症的物种表现出截然不同的地上特征。