Acorn non-dormancy disrupts Janzen-Connell effects on temperate white oaks

Abstract

Although the Janzen-Connell model recognizes high level of predation as the main factor influencing propagule survival close to parent trees, acorns of white oak species germinate immediately after seed fall and might serve as a mechanism to escape this predation. In this study, we investigated the seedling establishment, growth, mortality and recruitment of two co-occurring oak species Quercus variabilis and Q. aliena as a function of distances to conspecific adults, to examine if Janzen-Connell