Does masting scale with plant size? High reproductive variability and low synchrony in small and unproductive individuals

Authors

Michał Bogdziewicz, Adam Mickiewicz University, PoznańFollow
Jakub Szymkowiak, Adam Mickiewicz University, PoznańFollow
Rafael Calama, INIA-CIFOR, Madrid
Elizabeth E. Crone, Tufts UniversityFollow
Josep M. Espelta, CREAF, CataloniaFollow
Peter Lesica, University of Montana, MissoulaFollow
Shealyn Marino, Wilkes UniversityFollow
Michael A. Steele, Wilkes UniversityFollow
Brigitte Tenhumberg, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Andrew Tyre, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Magdalena Żywiec, W. Szafer Institute of Botany, KrakówFollow
Dave Kelly, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New ZealandFollow

Date of this Version

2020

Document Type

Article

Citation

Published in Annals of Botany 126 (2020), pp. 971–979.

doi: 10.1093/aob/mcaa118

Comments

Copyright © 2020 by the authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. Used by permission..

Abstract

Background and Aims In a range of plant species, the distribution of individual mean fecundity is skewed and dominated by a few highly fecund individuals. Larger plants produce greater seed crops, but the exact nature of the relationship between size and reproductive patterns is poorly understood. This is especially clear in plants that reproduce by exhibiting synchronized quasi-periodic variation in fruit production, a process called masting.

Methods We investigated covariation of plant size and fecundity with individual-plant-level masting patterns and seed predation in 12 mast-seeding species: Pinus pinea, Astragalus scaphoides, Sorbus aucuparia, Quercus ilex, Q. humilis, Q. rubra, Q. alba, Q. montana, Chionochloa pallens, C. macra, Celmisia lyallii and Phormium tenax.

Key Results Fecundity was non-linearly related to masting patterns. Small and unproductive plants frequently failed to produce any seeds, which elevated their annual variation and decreased synchrony. Above a low fecundity threshold, plants had similar variability and synchrony, regardless of their size and productivity.

Conclusions Our study shows that within-species variation in masting patterns is correlated with variation in fecundity, which in turn is related to plant size. Low synchrony of low-fertility plants shows that the failure years were idiosyncratic to each small plant, which in turn implies that the small plants fail to reproduce because of plant-specific factors (e.g. internal resource limits). Thus, the behaviour of these sub-producers is apparently the result of trade-offs in resource allocation and environmental limits with which the small plants cannot cope. Plant size and especially fecundity and propensity for mast failure years play a major role in determining the variability and synchrony of reproduction in plants.