Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits—almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.

Agricultural landscapes are increasingly being managed with the aim of enhancing the provisioning of multiple ecosystem services and sustainability of production systems. However, agricultural management that maximizes provisioning ecosystem services can often reduce both regulating and maintenance services. We hypothesized that agroforestry reduces trade-offs between provisioning and regulating/maintenance services. We conducted a quantitative synthesis of studies carried out in sub-Saharan Africa focusing on crop yield (as an indicator of provisioning services), soil fertility, erosion control, and water regulation (as indicators of regulating/maintenance services). A total of 1106 observations were extracted from 126 peer-reviewed publications that fulfilled the selection criteria for meta-analysis of studies comparing agroforestry and non-agroforestry practices (hereafter control) in sub-Saharan Africa. Across ecological conditions, agroforestry significantly increased crop yield, total soil nitrogen, soil organic carbon, and available phosphorus compared to the control. Agroforestry practices also reduced runoff and soil loss and improved infiltration rates and soil moisture content. No significant differences were detected between the different ecological conditions, management regimes, and types of woody perennials for any of the ecosystem services. Main trade-offs included low available phosphorus and low soil moisture against higher crop yield. This is the first meta-analysis that shows that, on average, agroforestry systems in sub-Saharan Africa increase crop yield while maintaining delivery of regulating/maintenance ecosystem services. We also demonstrate how woody perennials have been managed in agricultural landscapes to provide multiple ecosystem services without sacrificing crop productivity. This is important in rural livelihoods where the range of ecosystem services conveys benefits in terms of food security and resilience to environmental shocks.

Africa’s need to double food production and feed the burgeoning human population, without compromising its natural resource base, has raised the momentum for sustainable agricultural intensification on the continent. Many studies describe agronomic practices that can increase productivity on existing agricultural land without damaging the environment and without increasing the agricultural carbon footprint. However, there is limited information on specific practices with the greatest potential to contribute to sustainable intensification on smallholder farms in sub-Saharan Africa, while simultaneously keeping the carbon footprint low. The objectives of this review were to (1) identify good agronomic practices with potential for contributing to sustainable intensification across sub-Saharan Africa, (2) synthesize available information on benefits and synergies from these technologies, and (3) discuss bottlenecks in their adoption in order to obtain insights that inform the formulation of supportive policies. Agroforestry, cereal-legume intercropping, conservation agriculture, doubled-up legume cropping, fertilizer micro-dosing, planting basins, and push-pull technology were identified as key agronomic innovations widely promoted in sub-Saharan Africa. We show that these innovations can build synergies and increase resource use efficiency while reducing agricultural carbon footprint. We outline the benefits, trade-offs, and limitations of these practices and discuss their potential role in strengthening food sovereignty and climate change adaptation and mitigation.

We test the hypothesis that agroforestry improves livelihoods and mitigates climate change in smallholder farming systems simultaneously. Data were collected using household surveys and standard biomass assessment approaches using locally relevant allometric equations. Summary statistics and regression analyses reveal linkages between on-farm carbon stocks and farm- and household characteristics. With an average of 4.07 ± 0.68 Mg C ha⁻¹ and Shannon diversity index of 3.06, farm carbon stocks were significantly associated with farm size (r = 0.453, p < 0.05), tree density (r = − 0.58, p = 0.05) and the average size of trees on farm (r = − 0.42, p = 0.05), but not by Shannon diversity index (r = 0.36, p = 0.080), species richness (r = − 0.044, p = 0.833) or the number of land use categories (r = − 0.192, p = 0.356). Timber was considered the most important use of on-farm trees before firewood and construction material. The results suggest that gaining self-sufficiency in firewood is the most important benefit with on-farm carbon accumulation. The focus on exotic species for timber production presents a considerable trade-off between livelihood options and environmental goals. Heterogeneity in local environmental conditions over very short distances, less than 12 km, significantly determine livelihood strategies and on-farm carbon stocks. These results ostensibly contradict that carbon storage in smallholder farms is determined by diversity of tree species, suggest that livelihood strategy can equally drive carbon storage and demonstrate the diversity of livelihood and environmental benefits derived from trees on farms.