Trees use reserves of non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) to help them survive and recover from stress periods. However, accumulation of reserves is at the expense of growth, resulting in a growth-storage trade-off. Tree species may pursue different storage strategies to optimise fitness in environments with differing degrees of stress, but it is not clear which storage strategies provide a competitive advantage in which environments.</p> <p>We use a forest gap model to explore competitive outcomes among idealised tree species with different combinations of two carbon storage-related traits: carbon utilisation rate (fast-slow spectrum) and switch time from growth to storage (risky-safe spectrum). We investigate the competitive success of alternative growth vs storage strategies in simplified environments which have a non-specific annual stress period. We vary stress intensity (the mean stress duration) and stress stochasticity (the variance of stress duration) to determine the effect of increased stress on composition outcomes.</p> <p>Community composition shifted from growth-prioritising strategies to storage-prioritising strategies with increasing stress intensity and stochasticity. The major driver of this shift in community composition was increased mortality, due to depletion of carbon reserves, in species with growth-prioritising strategies.</p> <p>Our results demonstrate that considering carbon storage strategies can provide new insights into tree survival and adaptation of tree communities to increasing stress caused by climate change.