1.Traditionally, trait‐based studies have explored single‐trait‐fitness relationships. However, this approximation in the study of fitness components is often too simplistic, given that fitness is determined by the interplay of multiple traits, which could even lead to multiple functional strategies with comparable fitness (i.e. alternative designs). 2.Here we suggest that an analytical framework using boosted regression trees (BRT) can prove more informative to test hypotheses on trait combinations compared to standard linear models. We use two...