The controlled spectrum of plant form and function

Abstract

Dimension reduction techniques with plant traits have suggested the existence of independent acquisitive-conservative spectra in leaves and roots across diverse plants. However, this finding may be due to third-variable effects that can alter the fundamental dimensionality of plant trait variation. Using a dimension reduction approach that controls for third-variable effects, we show that the acquisitive-conservative axis is not confined within an organ, but acts at the whole plant level.