Plant functional traits are fundamental to ecosystem dynamics and Earth system processes, but their global characterization is limited by available field surveys and trait measurements. Recent expansions in biodiversity data aggregation-including vegetation surveys, citizen science observations, and trait measurements-offer new opportunities to overcome these constraints. Here we demonstrate that combining these diverse data sources with high-resolution Earth observation data enables accurate modeling of key plant traits at up to 1 km2 resolution. Our approach achieves correlations up to 0.63 (15 of 31 traits exceeding 0.50) and improved spatial transferability, effectively bridging gaps in under-sampled regions. By capturing a broad range of traits with high spatial coverage, these maps can enhance understanding of plant community properties and ecosystem functioning, while serving as tools for modeling global biogeochemical processes and informing conservation efforts. Our framework highlights the power of crowdsourced biodiversity data in addressing longstanding extrapolation challenges in global plant trait modeling, with continued advancements in data collection and remote sensing poised to further refine trait-based understanding of the biosphere.

Biodiversity Macroecology and Biogeography University of Göttingen Göttingen Germany

Biology Education Dokuz Eylül University Buca Izmir Turkey

BIOME Lab Department of Biological Geological and Environmental Sciences Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna Bologna Italy

Botany and Microbiology Department College of Science King Saud University Riyadh Saudi Arabia

CEFE CNRS EPHE IRD University of Montpellier Montpellier France

Centre for Environmental and Climate Science Lund University Lund Sweden

Centre for Research and Conservation Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp Antwerp Belgium

Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Cambio Global Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Madrid Spain

Chair of Sensor based Geoinformatics University of Freiburg Freiburg Germany

College of Grassland Science Inner Mongolia Agricultural University Hohhot China

Departamento de Biología Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Madrid Spain

Departamento de Botânica SCB Universidade Federal do Paraná Curitiba Brazil

Department of Biology University of Oxford Oxford UK

Department of Biometry and Environmental System Analysis University of Freiburg Freiburg Germany

Department of Botany and Zoology Faculty of Science Masaryk University Brno Czechia

Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zurich Zurich Switzerland

Department of Forestry Mizoram University Aizawl India

Department of Geography and Environmental Studies Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch South Africa

Department of Plant Biology Michigan State University East Lansing MI USA

Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Prague Czechia

Faculty of Geotechnical Engineering University of Zagreb Zagreb Croatia

Faculty of Resource Management HAWK University of Applied Sciences and Arts Göttingen Germany

Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia České Budějovice Czechia

German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle Jena Leipzig Leipzig Germany

ICFRE Himalayan Forest Research Institute Shimla Himachal Pradesh India

Iluka Chair in Vegetation Science and Biogeography Harry Butler Institute Murdoch University Perth WA Australia

Image Signal Processing Group Image Processing Laboratory University of Valencia Paterna Spain

Institute for Global Change Biology and School for Environment and Sustainability University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI USA

Institute of Agroecology and Plant Production Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences Wrocław Poland

Institute of Biology Geobotany and Botanical Garden Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg Halle Germany

Institute of Botany Faculty of Biology Jagiellonian University Kraków Poland

Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences Trebon Czechia

Institute of Natural Resource Sciences Wädenswil Switzerland

Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas CONICET Mendoza Argentina

Instituto de Ecología y Ciencias Ambientales Facultad de Ciencias Universidad de la República Montevideo Uruguay

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology Daejeon South Korea

Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research Lincoln New Zealand

Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry Jena Germany

Palmengarten der Stadt Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main Germany

Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group Environmental Sciences Department Wageningen University and Research Wageningen The Netherlands

Plant Ecology Laboratory UNEMAT Nova Xavantina MT Brazil

Program in Ecology Evolution and Behavior Michigan State University East Lansing MI USA

Remote Sensing Centre for Earth System Research Leipzig University Leipzig Germany

Sapienza University of Rome Rome Italy

UMR CNRS 7058 Ecologie et Dynamique des Systèmes Anthropisés Université de Picardie Jules Verne Amiens France

Universidade Regional de Blumenau Blumenau Brazil

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