Effect of climate on traits of dominant and rare tree species in the world’s forests

Iris Hordijk (), Lourens Poorter, Jingjing Liang, Peter B. Reich, Sergio de-Miguel, Gert-Jan Nabuurs, Javier G. P. Gamarra, Han Y. H. Chen, Mo Zhou, Susan K. Wiser, Hans Pretzsch, Alain Paquette, Nicolas Picard, Bruno Hérault, Jean-Francois Bastin, Giorgio Alberti, Meinrad Abegg, Yves C. Adou Yao, Angelica M. Almeyda Zambrano, Braulio V. Alvarado, Esteban Alvarez-Davila, Patricia Alvarez-Loayza, Luciana F. Alves, Iêda Amaral, Christian Ammer, Clara Antón-Fernández, Alejandro Araujo-Murakami, Luzmila Arroyo, Valerio Avitabile, Gerardo A. Aymard C, Timothy Baker, Olaf Banki, Jorcely Barroso, Meredith L. Bastian, Luca Birigazzi, Philippe Birnbaum, Robert Bitariho, Pascal Boeckx, Frans Bongers, Olivier Bouriaud, Pedro H. S. Brancalion, Susanne Brandl, Francis Q. Brearley, Roel Brienen, Eben N. Broadbent, Helge Bruelheide, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Ricardo G. Cesar, Goran Cesljar, Robin L. Chazdon, Chelsea Chisholm, Emil Cienciala, Connie J. Clark, David B. Clark, Gabriel Colletta, David Coomes, Fernando Cornejo Valverde, Jose J. Corral-Rivas, Philip Crim, Jonathan Cumming, Selvadurai Dayanandan, André L. Gasper, Mathieu Decuyper, Géraldine Derroire, Ben DeVries, Ilija Djordjevic, Aurélie Dourdain, Jiri Dolezal, Nestor Laurier Engone Obiang, Brian Enquist, Teresa Eyre, Adandé Belarmain Fandohan, Tom M. Fayle, Leandro V. Ferreira, Ted R. Feldpausch, Leena Finér, Markus Fischer, Christine Fletcher, Lorenzo Frizzera, Damiano Gianelle, Henry B. Glick, David Harris, Andrew Hector, Andreas Hemp, John Herbohn, Annika Hillers, Eurídice N. Honorio Coronado, Cang Hui, Hyunkook Cho, Thomas Ibanez, Ilbin Jung, Nobuo Imai, Andrzej M. Jagodzinski, Bogdan Jaroszewicz, Vivian Johannsen, Carlos A. Joly, Tommaso Jucker, Viktor Karminov, Kuswata Kartawinata, Elizabeth Kearsley, David Kenfack, Deborah Kennard, Sebastian Kepfer-Rojas, Gunnar Keppel, Mohammed Latif Khan, Timothy Killeen, Hyun Seok Kim, Kanehiro Kitayama, Michael Köhl, Henn Korjus, Florian Kraxner, Diana Laarmann, Mait Lang, Simon Lewis, Huicui Lu, Natalia Lukina, Brian Maitner, Yadvinder Malhi, Eric Marcon, Beatriz Schwantes Marimon, Ben Hur Marimon-Junior, Andrew Robert Marshall, Emanuel Martin, Olga Martynenko, Jorge A. Meave, Omar Melo-Cruz, Casimiro Mendoza, Cory Merow, Stanislaw Miscicki, Abel Monteagudo Mendoza, Vanessa Moreno, Sharif A. Mukul, Philip Mundhenk, Maria G. Nava-Miranda, David Neill, Victor Neldner, Radovan Nevenic, Michael Ngugi, Pascal A. Niklaus, Jacek Oleksyn, Petr Ontikov, Edgar Ortiz-Malavasi, Yude Pan, Alexander Parada-Gutierrez, Elena Parfenova, Minjee Park, Marc Parren, Narayanaswamy Parthasarathy, Pablo L. Peri, Sebastian Pfautsch, Oliver L. Phillips, Maria Teresa Piedade, Daniel Piotto, Nigel C. A. Pitman, Martina Pollastrini, Irina Polo, Axel Dalberg Poulsen, John R. Poulsen, Freddy Ramirez Arevalo, Zorayda Restrepo-Correa, Mirco Rodeghiero, Samir Rolim, Anand Roopsind, Francesco Rovero, Ervan Rutishauser, Purabi Saikia, Christian Salas-Eljatib, Peter Schall, Dmitry Schepaschenko, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Bernhard Schmid, Jochen Schöngart, Eric B. Searle, Vladimír Seben, Federico Selvi, Josep M. Serra-Diaz, Douglas Sheil, Anatoly Shvidenko, Javier Silva-Espejo, Marcos Silveira, James Singh, Plinio Sist, Ferry Slik, Bonaventure Sonké, Alexandre F. Souza, Hans Steege, Krzysztof Stereńczak, Jens-Christian Svenning, Miroslav Svoboda, Ben Swanepoel, Natalia Targhetta, Nadja Tchebakova, Raquel Thomas, Elena Tikhonova, Peter Umunay, Vladimir Usoltsev, Renato Valencia, Fernando Valladares, Fons Plas, Tran Do, Michael E. Nuland, Rodolfo Vasquez Martinez, Hans Verbeeck, Helder Viana, Alexander C. Vibrans, Simone Vieira, Klaus Gadow, Hua-Feng Wang, James Watson, Gijsbert D. A. Werner, Florian Wittmann, Verginia Wortel, Roderick Zagt, Tomasz Zawila-Niedzwiecki, Chunyu Zhang, Xiuhai Zhao, Zhi-Xin Zhu, Irie Casimir Zo-Bi, Daniel S. Maynard and Thomas W. Crowther
Additional contact information
Iris Hordijk: ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)
Lourens Poorter: Wageningen University and Research
Jingjing Liang: Purdue University
Peter B. Reich: University of Minnesota
Sergio de-Miguel: University of Lleida
Gert-Jan Nabuurs: Wageningen University and Research
Javier G. P. Gamarra: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Han Y. H. Chen: Lakehead University
Mo Zhou: Purdue University
Susan K. Wiser: Manaaki Whenua–Landcare Research
Hans Pretzsch: Technical University of Munich
Alain Paquette: Université du Québec à Montréal
Nicolas Picard: GIP ECOFOR
Bruno Hérault: Forêts et Sociétés
Jean-Francois Bastin: University of Liege
Giorgio Alberti: Free University of Bolzano
Meinrad Abegg: WSL
Yves C. Adou Yao: University Félix Houphouët-Boigny
Angelica M. Almeyda Zambrano: University of Florida
Braulio V. Alvarado: Tecnológico de Costa Rica TEC
Esteban Alvarez-Davila: UNAD
Patricia Alvarez-Loayza: Field Museum of Natural History
Luciana F. Alves: UCLA
Iêda Amaral: National Institute of Amazonian Research
Christian Ammer: University of Göttingen
Clara Antón-Fernández: Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO)
Alejandro Araujo-Murakami: Museo de Historia natural Noel kempff Mercado
Luzmila Arroyo: Museo de Historia natural Noel kempff Mercado
Valerio Avitabile: Joint Research Centre
Gerardo A. Aymard C: Herbario Universitario (PORT)
Timothy Baker: University of Leeds
Olaf Banki: Naturalis Biodiversity Centre
Jorcely Barroso: Universidade Federal do Acre
Meredith L. Bastian: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Luca Birigazzi: United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change
Philippe Birnbaum: IRD
Robert Bitariho: Mbarara University of Sciences and Technology
Pascal Boeckx: Ghent University
Frans Bongers: Wageningen University and Research
Olivier Bouriaud: Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava
Pedro H. S. Brancalion: University of São Paulo
Susanne Brandl: Bavarian State Institute of Forestry
Francis Q. Brearley: Manchester Metropolitan University
Roel Brienen: University of Leeds
Eben N. Broadbent: University of Florida
Helge Bruelheide: Halle-
Roberto Cazzolla Gatti: Tomsk State University
Ricardo G. Cesar: University of São Paulo
Goran Cesljar: Institute of Forestry
Robin L. Chazdon: University of Connecticut
Chelsea Chisholm: ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)
Emil Cienciala: IFER - Institute of Forest Ecosystem Research
Connie J. Clark: Duke University
David B. Clark: University of Missouri-St Louis
Gabriel Colletta: Universidade Estadual de Campinas
David Coomes: University of Cambridge
Fernando Cornejo Valverde: Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program
Jose J. Corral-Rivas: Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango
Philip Crim: The College of Saint Rose
Jonathan Cumming: West Virginia University
Selvadurai Dayanandan: Concordia University
André L. Gasper: Universidade Regional de Blumenau
Mathieu Decuyper: Wageningen University and Research
Géraldine Derroire: Université de la Guyane)
Ben DeVries: University of Maryland
Ilija Djordjevic: Institute of Forestry
Aurélie Dourdain: Université de la Guyane)
Jiri Dolezal: The Czech Academy of Sciences
Nestor Laurier Engone Obiang: Herbier National du Gabon (CENAREST)
Brian Enquist: University of Arizona
Teresa Eyre: Department of Environment and Science
Adandé Belarmain Fandohan: Université Nationale d’Agriculture
Tom M. Fayle: Queen Mary University of London
Leandro V. Ferreira: Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Coordenação de Ciências da Terra e Ecologia
Ted R. Feldpausch: University of Exeter
Leena Finér: Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke)
Markus Fischer: University of Bern
Christine Fletcher: Forest Research Institute Malaysia
Lorenzo Frizzera: Fondazione Edmund Mach
Damiano Gianelle: Fondazione Edmund Mach
Henry B. Glick: Yale University
David Harris: Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Andrew Hector: University of Oxford
Andreas Hemp: University of Bayreuth
John Herbohn: University of the Sunshine Coast
Annika Hillers: The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Eurídice N. Honorio Coronado: University of St Andrews
Cang Hui: Stellenbosch University
Hyunkook Cho: Korea Forest Promotion Institute
Thomas Ibanez: IRD
Ilbin Jung: Korea Forest Promotion Institute
Nobuo Imai: Tokyo University of Agriculture
Andrzej M. Jagodzinski: Polish Academy of Sciences
Bogdan Jaroszewicz: University of Warsaw
Vivian Johannsen: University of Copenhagen
Carlos A. Joly: UNICAMP
Tommaso Jucker: University of Bristol
Viktor Karminov: Bauman Moscow State Technical University
Kuswata Kartawinata: Field Museum of Natural History
Elizabeth Kearsley: Ghent University
David Kenfack: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Deborah Kennard: Colorado Mesa University
Sebastian Kepfer-Rojas: University of Copenhagen
Gunnar Keppel: University of South Australia
Mohammed Latif Khan: Dr Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya (A Central University)
Timothy Killeen: Museo de Historia natural Noel kempff Mercado
Hyun Seok Kim: Seoul National University
Kanehiro Kitayama: Kyoto University
Michael Köhl: University of Hamburg
Henn Korjus: Estonian University of Life Sciences
Florian Kraxner: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Diana Laarmann: Estonian University of Life Sciences
Mait Lang: Estonian University of Life Sciences
Simon Lewis: University of Leeds
Huicui Lu: Qingdao Agricultural University
Natalia Lukina: Russian Academy of Sciences
Brian Maitner: The Santa Fe Institute
Yadvinder Malhi: University of Oxford
Eric Marcon: AgroParisTech
Beatriz Schwantes Marimon: Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso
Ben Hur Marimon-Junior: Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso
Andrew Robert Marshall: University of the Sunshine Coast
Emanuel Martin: College of African Wildlife Management
Olga Martynenko: All-Russian Institute of Continuous Education in Forestry
Jorge A. Meave: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Omar Melo-Cruz: Universidad del Tolima
Casimiro Mendoza: Colegio de Profesionales Forestales de Cochabamba
Cory Merow: University of Connecticut
Stanislaw Miscicki: Dendrometry and Forest Economics
Abel Monteagudo Mendoza: Jardín Botánico de Missouri
Vanessa Moreno: University of São Paulo
Sharif A. Mukul: University of the Sunshine Coast
Philip Mundhenk: University of Hamburg
Maria G. Nava-Miranda: Colegio de Ciencias y Humanidades. Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango
David Neill: Universidad Estatal Amazónica
Victor Neldner: Department of Environment and Science
Radovan Nevenic: Institute of Forestry
Michael Ngugi: Department of Environment and Science
Pascal A. Niklaus: University of Zürich
Jacek Oleksyn: Tokyo University of Agriculture
Petr Ontikov: Bauman Moscow State Technical University
Edgar Ortiz-Malavasi: Tecnológico de Costa Rica TEC
Yude Pan: USDA Forest Service
Alexander Parada-Gutierrez: Museo de Historia natural Noel kempff Mercado
Elena Parfenova: Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Minjee Park: Purdue University
Marc Parren: Wageningen University & Research
Narayanaswamy Parthasarathy: Pondicherry University
Pablo L. Peri: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnicas (CONICET)
Sebastian Pfautsch: Western Sydney University
Oliver L. Phillips: University of Leeds
Maria Teresa Piedade: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
Daniel Piotto: Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahia
Nigel C. A. Pitman: Field Museum of Natural History
Martina Pollastrini: University of Firenze
Irina Polo: Jardín Botánico de Medellín
Axel Dalberg Poulsen: Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
John R. Poulsen: Duke University
Freddy Ramirez Arevalo: Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana
Zorayda Restrepo-Correa: Fundación Con Vida & Corporación COL-TREE
Mirco Rodeghiero: University of Trento
Samir Rolim: Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahia
Anand Roopsind: Boise State University
Francesco Rovero: University of Florence
Ervan Rutishauser: Info Flora
Purabi Saikia: Central University of Jharkhand
Christian Salas-Eljatib: Universidad Mayor
Peter Schall: University of Göttingen
Dmitry Schepaschenko: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Michael Scherer-Lorenzen: University of Freiburg
Bernhard Schmid: University of Zürich
Jochen Schöngart: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
Eric B. Searle: Université du Québec à Montréal
Vladimír Seben: Forest Research Institute Zvolen
Federico Selvi: University of Firenze
Josep M. Serra-Diaz: Silva
Douglas Sheil: Wageningen University and Research
Anatoly Shvidenko: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Javier Silva-Espejo: Universidad de la Serena
Marcos Silveira: Universidade Federal do Acre
James Singh: Guyana Forestry Commission
Plinio Sist: Forêts et Sociétés
Ferry Slik: Universiti Brunei Darussalam
Bonaventure Sonké: University of Yaoundé I
Alexandre F. Souza: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte
Hans Steege: Naturalis Biodiversity Centre
Krzysztof Stereńczak: Forest Research Institute
Jens-Christian Svenning: Aarhus University
Miroslav Svoboda: Czech University of Life Sciences
Ben Swanepoel: Wildlife Conservation Society
Natalia Targhetta: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
Nadja Tchebakova: Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Raquel Thomas: Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development (IIC)
Elena Tikhonova: University of Oxford
Peter Umunay: Yale University
Vladimir Usoltsev: Ural State Forest Engineering University
Renato Valencia: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador
Fernando Valladares: CSIC
Fons Plas: Wageningen University
Tran Do: Vietnamese Academy of Forest Sciences
Michael E. Nuland: Stanford University
Rodolfo Vasquez Martinez: Dendrometry and Forest Economics
Hans Verbeeck: Ghent University
Helder Viana: UTAD
Alexander C. Vibrans: Global Change Research Institute CAS
Simone Vieira: UNICAMP
Klaus Gadow: University of Stellenbosch
Hua-Feng Wang: Hainan University
James Watson: West Virginia University
Gijsbert D. A. Werner: University of Oxford
Florian Wittmann: Karlsruhe Institute for Technology
Verginia Wortel: Centre for Agricultural Research in Suriname (CELOS)
Roderick Zagt: Tropenbos International
Tomasz Zawila-Niedzwiecki: Coordination Center for Environmental Projects
Chunyu Zhang: Beijing Forestry University
Xiuhai Zhao: Beijing Forestry University
Zhi-Xin Zhu: Hainan University
Irie Casimir Zo-Bi: UMRI Sciences Agronomiques et Procédés de Transformation
Daniel S. Maynard: ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)
Thomas W. Crowther: ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract 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.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59754-7

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