Species' traits and environmental conditions determine the abundance of tree species across the globe. The extent to which traits of dominant and rare tree species differ remains untested across a broad environmental range, limiting our understanding of how species traits and the environment shape forest functional composition. We use a global dataset of tree composition of >22,000 forest plots and 11 traits of 1663 tree species to ask how locally dominant and rare species differ in their trait values, and how these differences are driven by climatic gradients in temperature and water availability in forest biomes across the globe. We find three consistent trait differences between locally dominant and rare species across all biomes; dominant species are taller, have softer wood and higher loading on the multivariate stem strategy axis (related to narrow tracheids and thick bark). The difference between traits of dominant and rare species is more strongly driven by temperature compared to water availability, as temperature might affect a larger number of traits. Therefore, climate change driven global temperature rise may have a strong effect on trait differences between dominant and rare tree species and may lead to changes in species abundances and therefore strong community reassembly.

5 N Sukachev Institute of Forest FRC KSC Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Krasnoyarsk Russia

All Russian Institute of Continuous Education in Forestry Pushkino Russian Federation

AMAP Univ Montpellier CIRAD CNRS INRAE IRD Montpellier France

Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program Madre de Dios Peru

Bauman Moscow State Technical University Mytischi Russian Federation

Bavarian State Institute of Forestry Freising Germany

Biological Institute Tomsk State University Tomsk Russia

Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences Institute of Entomology Ceske Budejovice Czech Republic

Biology Department Centre for Structural and Functional Genomics Concordia University Montreal QC Canada

Botanical Garden of Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences Ural State Forest Engineering University Ekaterinburg Russia

CAVElab Computational and Applied Vegetation Ecology Department of Environment Ghent University Ghent Belgium

Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere Department of Biology Aarhus University Ny Munkegade Denmark

Center for Forest Ecology and Productivity Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow Russia

Center for Tropical Research Institute of the Environment and Sustainability UCLA Los Angeles CA USA

Centre for Agricultural Research in Suriname Paramaribo Suriname

Centre for Conservation Science The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Sandy UK

Centre for Forest Research Université du Québec à Montréal Montréal QC Canada

Centre for Invasion Biology Department of Mathematical Sciences Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch South Africa

Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro Environmental and Biological Sciences CITAB University of Trás os Montes and Alto Douro UTAD Vila Real Portugal

Centro Agricoltura Alimenti Ambiente University of Trento San Michele all'Adige Italy

Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Natureza Universidade Federal do Acre Rio Branco Acre Brazil

Centro de Modelación y Monitoreo de Ecosistemas Universidad Mayor Santiago Chile

Centro Multidisciplinar Universidade Federal do Acre Rio Branco Brazil

Chair for Forest Growth and Yield Science TUM School for Life Sciences Technical University of Munich Munich Germany

CIRAD Forêts et Sociétés Montpellier France

Cirad UMR EcoFoG Kourou French Guiana

Climate Fire and Carbon Cycle Sciences USDA Forest Service Durham NC USA

Colegio de Ciencias y Humanidades Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango Durango Mexico

Colegio de Profesionales Forestales de Cochabamba Cochabamba Bolivia

Compensation International S A Ci Progress GreenLife Bogotá D C Colombia

CTFS ForestGEO Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Balboa Panama

Departamento de Biología Universidad de la Serena La Serena Chile

Departamento de Ecologia Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte Natal Brazil

Departamento de Ecología y Recursos Naturales Facultad de Ciencias Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Mexico City Mexico

Departamento de Silvicultura y Conservación de la Naturaleza Universidad de Chile Santiago Chile

Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences and Engineering University of Lleida Lleida Spain

Department of Agricultural Food Environmental and Animal Sciences University of Udine Udine Italy

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Department of Agriculture Forestry and Bioresources Seoul National University Seoul South Korea

Department of Biological Sciences Boise State University Boise ID USA

Department of Biology Stanford University Stanford CA USA

Department of Biology University of Florence Florence Italy

Department of Biology University of Missouri St Louis St Louis MO USA

Department of Biology West Virginia University Morgantown WV USA

Department of Botany Dr Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya Sagar MP India

Department of Botany Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia České Budějovice Czech Republic

Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences Pondicherry University Puducherry India

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Arizona Tucson AZ USA

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Connecticut Storrs CT USA

Department of Ecology and Sustainable Agriculture Agricultural High School of Polytechnic Institute of Viseu Portugal and Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro Environmental and Biological Sciences CITAB University of Trás os Montes and Alto Douro Vila Real Portugal

Department of Environment and Development Studies United International University Dhaka Bangladesh

Department of Environment and Geography University of York York UK

Department of Environmental Sciences Central University of Jharkhand Ranchi India

Department of Evolutionary Anthropology Duke University Durham NC USA

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

Department of Forest and Wood Science University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch South Africa

Department of Forest Engineering Universidade Regional de Blumenau Blumenau Santa Catarina Brazil

Department of Forest Resources University of Minnesota St Paul MN USA

Department of Forest Science Tokyo University of Agriculture Tokyo Japan

Department of Forest Sciences Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture University of São Paulo Piracicaba Brazil

Department of Forestry and Natural Resources Purdue University West Lafayette IN USA

Department of Genetics Evolution and Environment University College London London UK

Department of Geographical Sciences University of Maryland College Park MD USA

Department of Geography University College London London UK

Department of Geomatics Forest Research Institute Raszyn Poland

Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management University of Copenhagen Copenhagen Denmark

Department of Natural Sciences Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester UK

Department of Physical and Biological Sciences The College of Saint Rose Albany NY USA

Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences Colorado Mesa University Grand Junction CO USA

Department of Plant Biology Institute of Biology University of Campinas UNICAMP Campinas Brazil

Department of Plant Sciences and Conservation Research Institute University of Cambridge Cambridge UK

Department of Plant Sciences University of Oxford Oxford UK

Department of Plant Systematics University of Bayreuth Bayreuth Germany

Department of Spatial Regulation GIS and Forest Policy Institute of Forestry Belgrade Serbia

Department of Wetland Ecology Institute for Geography and Geoecology Karlsruhe Institute for Technology Karlsruhe Germany

Department of Wildlife Management College of African Wildlife Management Mweka Tanzania

Department of Zoology University of Oxford Oxford UK

Division of Forest and Forest Resources Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research Ås Norway

Division of Forest Resources Information Korea Forest Promotion Institute Seoul South Korea

Division of Forestry and Natural Resources West Virginia University Morgantown WV USA

Ecole de Foresterie et Ingénierie du Bois Université Nationale d'Agriculture Ketou Benin

Environmental and Life Sciences Faculty of Science Universiti Brunei Darussalam Gadong Brunei Darussalam

Environmental Studies and Research Center University of Campinas UNICAMP Campinas Brazil

Escuela Politécnica Superior de Ingeniería Campus Terra Universidad de Santiago de Compostela Lugo Spain

European Commission Joint Research Centre Ispra Italy

Facultad de Ciencias Forestales Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango Durango Mexico

Faculty of Biology Białowieża Geobotanical Station University of Warsaw Białowieża Poland

Faculty of Biology Geobotany University of Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau Germany

Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management Norwegian University of Life Sciences Ås Norway

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

Faculty of Forestry Qingdao Agricultural University Qingdao China

Faculty of Natural Resources Management Lakehead University Thunder Bay ON Canada

Faculty of Science and Technology Free University of Bolzano Bolzano Italy

Field Museum of Natural History Chicago IL USA

Flamingo Land Ltd Kirby Misperton UK

Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group Wageningen University and Research Wageningen The Netherlands

Forest Research Institute Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia Solsona Spain

Forestry Division Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome Italy

Forestry School Tecnológico de Costa Rica TEC Cartago Costa Rica

Forêts et Sociétés Univ Montpellier CIRAD Montpellier France

Fundacion ConVida Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia UNAD Medellin Colombia

Gembloux Agro Bio Tech University of Liege Liege Belgium

Geography College of Life and Environmental Sciences University of Exeter Exeter UK

German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle Jena Leipzig Leipzig Germany

GIP ECOFOR Paris France

Global Change Research Institute CAS Brno Czech Republic

Graduate School of Agriculture Kyoto University Kyoto Japan

Guyana Forestry Commission Georgetown French Guiana

Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment Western Sydney University Penrith NSW Australia

IFER Institute of Forest Ecosystem Research Jilove u Prahy Czech Republic

Info Flora Geneva Switzerland

INP HB UMRI Sciences Agronomiques et Procédés de Transformation Yamoussoukro Côte d'Ivoire

Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation Universiti Malaysia Sabah Kota Kinabalu Sabah Malaysia

Institute for World Forestry University of Hamburg Hamburg Germany

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

Institute of Botany The Czech Academy of Sciences 25243 Průhonice Czech Republic

Institute of Dendrology Polish Academy of Sciences Kórnik Poland

Institute of Forestry and Rural Engineering Estonian University of Life Sciences Tartu Estonia

Institute of Forestry Belgrade Serbia

Institute of Integrative Biology ETH Zurich Zurich Switzerland

Institute of Plant Sciences University of Bern Bern Switzerland

Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation Mbarara University of Sciences and Technology Mbarara Uganda

Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia Manaus Brazil

Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria Rio Gallegos Argentina

Interdisciplinary Program in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology Seoul National University Seoul South Korea

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis Laxenburg Austria

IRET Herbier National du Gabon Libreville Gabon

Isotope Bioscience Laboratory ISOFYS Ghent University Ghent Belgium

Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development Georgetown Guyana

Jardín Botánico de Medellín Medellín Colombia

Jardín Botánico de Missouri Oxapampa Peru

Key Laboratory of Tropical Biological Resources Ministry of Education School of Life and Pharmaceutical Sciences Hainan University Haikou China

Laboratório de Dendrologia e Silvicultura Tropical Centro de Formação em Ciências Agroflorestais Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahia Itabuna Brazil

LINCGlobal Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales CSIC Madrid Spain

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National Center for Agro Meteorology Seoul South Korea

National Forest Centre Forest Research Institute Zvolen Zvolen Slovakia

National Institute of Amazonian Research Manaus Brazil

Natural Resources Institute Finland Joensuu Finland

Natural Science Department Universidade Regional de Blumenau Blumenau Brazil

Naturalis Biodiversity Centre Leiden The Netherlands

Nicholas School of the Environment Duke University Durham NC USA

Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group Wageningen University P O Box 47 Wageningen The Netherlands

Plant Systematic and Ecology Laboratory Department of Biology Higher Teachers' Training College University of Yaoundé 1 Yaoundé Cameroon

Polish State Forests Coordination Center for Environmental Projects Warsaw Poland

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Poznań University of Life Sciences Department of Game Management and Forest Protection Poznań Poland

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Queensland Herbarium Department of Environment and Science Toowong QL Australia

Research and Innovation Center Fondazione Edmund Mach San Michele all'Adige Italy

Research Center of Forest Management Engineering of State Forestry and Grassland Administration Beijing Forestry University Beijing China

Research Institute for Agriculture and Life Sciences Seoul National University Seoul South Korea

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Edinburgh UK

School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences Queen Mary University of London London UK

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School of Forestry and Environmental Studies Yale University New Haven CT USA

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Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity Department of Biology Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark

Servicios Ecosistémicos y Cambio Climático Fundación Con Vida and Corporación COL TREE Medellín Colombia

Silviculture and Forest Ecology of the Temperate Zones University of Göttingen Göttingen Germany

Silviculture Research Institute Vietnamese Academy of Forest Sciences Hanoi Vietnam

Spatial Ecology and Conservation Laboratory Center for Latin American Studies University of Florida Gainesville FL USA

Spatial Ecology and Conservation Laboratory School of Forest Fisheries and Geomatics Sciences University of Florida Gainesville FL USA

Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava Suceava Romania

Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research WSL Birmensdorf Switzerland

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Wild Chimpanzee Foundation Liberia Office Monrovia Liberia

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