Patterns of mast fruiting of common beech, sessile and common oak, Norway spruce and Scots pine in Central and Northern Europe

TY - JOUR

T1 - Patterns of mast fruiting of common beech, sessile and common oak, Norway spruce and Scots pine in Central and Northern Europe

AU - Nussbaumer, Anita

AU - Waldner, Peter

AU - Etzold, Sophia

AU - Gessler, Arthur

AU - Benham, Sue

AU - Thomsen, Iben Margrete

AU - Jørgensen, Bruno Bilde

AU - Timmermann, Volkmar

AU - Verstraeten, Arne

AU - Sioen, Geert

AU - Rautio, Pasi

AU - Ukonmaanaho, Liisa

AU - Skudnik, Mitja

AU - Apuhtin, Vladislav

AU - Braun, Sabine

AU - Wauer, Alexandra

PY - 2016/3/1

Y1 - 2016/3/1

N2 - Occurrence of mast years, i.e. the synchronous production of vast amounts of fruits or seeds, has an important impact on forest ecosystems, their functioning and their services. We investigated the mast patterns of the forest tree species common beech, common and sessile oak, Norway spruce and Scots pine in Central and Northern Europe over the last two to three decades. We analysed data from the International Co-operative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP Forests) and additional Danish, German, Flemish and Swiss datasets.Within-plot synchrony of fructification intensity in individual trees was high in beech and spruce and lower in oak species and pine. Mast frequency increased in most regions for beech, whereas the other species showed mixed or no trends. Beech, oak species and spruce showed strong mast year (MY) synchrony, but pine did not. MY synchrony between species was only significant in Bavaria, in Switzerland and between beech, oak species and spruce in Denmark. The deciduous species showed bimodal normal masting, while the conifers had switching normal masting. Oak species and the conifers supported the large seed and the accessory costs hypotheses, and beech and spruce supported the economy of scale, predator satiation and resource allocation hypotheses.

AB - Occurrence of mast years, i.e. the synchronous production of vast amounts of fruits or seeds, has an important impact on forest ecosystems, their functioning and their services. We investigated the mast patterns of the forest tree species common beech, common and sessile oak, Norway spruce and Scots pine in Central and Northern Europe over the last two to three decades. We analysed data from the International Co-operative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP Forests) and additional Danish, German, Flemish and Swiss datasets.Within-plot synchrony of fructification intensity in individual trees was high in beech and spruce and lower in oak species and pine. Mast frequency increased in most regions for beech, whereas the other species showed mixed or no trends. Beech, oak species and spruce showed strong mast year (MY) synchrony, but pine did not. MY synchrony between species was only significant in Bavaria, in Switzerland and between beech, oak species and spruce in Denmark. The deciduous species showed bimodal normal masting, while the conifers had switching normal masting. Oak species and the conifers supported the large seed and the accessory costs hypotheses, and beech and spruce supported the economy of scale, predator satiation and resource allocation hypotheses.

KW - Accessory costs hypothesis

KW - Economy of scale hypothesis

KW - Large seed hypothesis

KW - Mast seeding

KW - Predator satiation hypothesis

KW - Resource allocation hypothesis

U2 - 10.1016/j.foreco.2015.12.033

DO - 10.1016/j.foreco.2015.12.033

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:84952881168

SN - 0378-1127

VL - 363

SP - 237

EP - 251

JO - Forest Ecology and Management

JF - Forest Ecology and Management

ER -