The study by Reich, Walters, and Ellsworth investigates the convergence in plant functioning across diverse biomes, ranging from tropical forests to alpine tundra and deserts. Despite significant differences in climate, soils, and evolutionary history, the researchers found similar interspecific relationships among leaf structure and function and plant growth. For 280 plant species from two global data sets, they observed that potential carbon gain (photosynthesis) and carbon loss (respiration) increase in similar proportions with decreasing leaf life-span, increasing leaf nitrogen concentration, and increasing leaf surface area-to-mass ratio. These relationships also held for individual plant productivity and leaf productivity in vegetation canopies. The findings suggest that there is a universal tradeoff surface for plant traits, indicating that nature's selective forces constrain the collective traits of species. The study has significant implications for global-scale modeling of vegetation-atmosphere CO2 exchange and provides a foundation for developing accurate, general models of vegetation productivity, distribution, and dynamics.The study by Reich, Walters, and Ellsworth investigates the convergence in plant functioning across diverse biomes, ranging from tropical forests to alpine tundra and deserts. Despite significant differences in climate, soils, and evolutionary history, the researchers found similar interspecific relationships among leaf structure and function and plant growth. For 280 plant species from two global data sets, they observed that potential carbon gain (photosynthesis) and carbon loss (respiration) increase in similar proportions with decreasing leaf life-span, increasing leaf nitrogen concentration, and increasing leaf surface area-to-mass ratio. These relationships also held for individual plant productivity and leaf productivity in vegetation canopies. The findings suggest that there is a universal tradeoff surface for plant traits, indicating that nature's selective forces constrain the collective traits of species. The study has significant implications for global-scale modeling of vegetation-atmosphere CO2 exchange and provides a foundation for developing accurate, general models of vegetation productivity, distribution, and dynamics.