Annual Variability in Seed Production by Woody Plants and the Masting Concept: Reassessment of Principles and Relationship to Pollination and Seed Dispersal

Herrera, Carlos M.; Jordano, Pedro; Guitián, Javier; Traveset, Anna

doi:10.1086/286191

Cited by 384 publications

(147 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…As previously commented, carotenoids should be obtained from an animal's diet and in the case of birds both invertebrates and fruit are important sources of carotenoids. Both of these resources undergo significant annual and seasonal oscillations in abundance (Herrera et al, 1998;Jones et al, 2003) that may explain our results. Both the effects of year and season have been already reported in the case of the Great Tit Parus major, the only species in which seasonal and annual variation in plasma carotenoids has been studied to date (Isaksson et al, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 52%

Plasma carotenoid levels in passerines are related to infection by (some) parasites

2014

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Plumage coloration plays an important role in intra and inter-sexual competition in birds. Many of the yellow, orange, or red colors present in birds are carotenoid dependent. Carotenoids cannot be synthetized de novo by birds and consequently should be obtained through their diet, and access to carotenoids may differ between individuals and species. In addition to ornamentation, carotenoids are important for bird physiology and it has been proposed that a trade-off in their allocation to these two functions occurs. Under this scenario parasites may play a central role in maintaining the honesty of plumage as a signaling system by increasing the demands for carotenoids for infection or damage control and/or by reducing carotenoid absorption in the intestines. We analyzed the relationship between (1) carotenoid concentrations in plasma and (2) blood and intestinal parasite richness and abundance in 22 species of passerines sampled in spring. Loads of different groups of parasites were unrelated so conclusions drawn from examining a particular group of parasites cannot be extrapolated to the whole community of pathogens and parasites inhabiting a host. At intraspecific level plasma carotenoid concentration was negatively related to the richness of intestinal parasites and the abundance of some groups of intestinal parasites, at interspecific level plasma carotenoid concentration was negatively related with the abundance of intestinal parasites. No relationship at intra-nor interspecific level was found between carotenoids and blood parasites. The results suggest that intestinal parasites play an important role in the evolution and maintenance of carotenoid-derived sexually selected ornamentations probably through a negative impact on the uptake of carotenoids at the gut.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 52%

Plasma carotenoid levels in passerines are related to infection by (some) parasites

2014

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“…Some have argued that masting would be a disadvantageous trait in animal-dispersed plants because alternately swamping and then starving one's seed dispersers would probably result in less seed dispersal (e.g. Ims 1990;Herrera et al 1998;Kelly & Sork 2002). Plants should benefit by providing seed-dispersing mutualists with a constant and predictable food supply.…”

Section: Mastingmentioning

confidence: 99%

How plants manipulate the scatter-hoarding behaviour of seed-dispersing animals

Wall

2010

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

258

259

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Some plants that are dispersed by scatter-hoarding animals appear to have evolved the ability to manipulate the behaviour of those animals to increase the likelihood that seeds and nuts will be stored and that a portion of those items will not be recovered. Plants have achieved this in at least four ways. First, by producing large, nutritious seeds and nuts that are attractive to animals and that stimulate hoarding behaviour. Second, by imposing handling costs that cause animals to hoard rather than to eat items immediately. These handling costs can take one of two forms: physical barriers (e.g. hard seed coats) that take time to remove and secondary chemicals (e.g. tannins) that impose metabolic costs. Third, by masting, where a population of plants synchronizes reproductive effort, producing large nut crops at intervals of several years. Mast crops not only satiate seed predators, but also increase the amount of seed dispersal because scatter-hoarding animals are not easily satiated during caching (causing animals to store more food than they can consume) but are satiated during cache recovery. And fourth, by producing seeds that do not emit strong odours so that buried seeds are less likely to be discovered. These, and perhaps other, traits have increased the relative success of plant species with seeds dispersed by scatter-hoarding animals.

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“…Despite fluctuations in seed production, trees frequently exhibit a broad continuum of reproductive consistency (Herrera, Jordano, Guitian, & Traveset, 1998, Koenig & Knops, 1998. Kerkhoff and Ballantyne (2003) found invariant scaling properties in seed output for 28 tree species with 148 reproductive time series in Europe (Koenig & Knops, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Power Laws in Cone Production of Longleaf Pine across Its Native Range in the United States

Chen¹,

Guo²,

Brockway³

2017

SAR

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Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) forests in the southeastern United States are considered endangered ecosystems, because of their dramatic decrease in area since European colonization and poor rates of recovery related to episodic natural regeneration. Sporadic seed production constrains restoration efforts and complicates sustainable management of this species. Previous studies of other tree species found invariant scaling properties in seed output. Here, using long-term monitoring data for cone production at seven sites across the native range of longleaf pine, we tested the possible presence of two types of power laws. Findings indicate that (i) the frequency distribution of cone production at seven sites, from 1958 to 2014, follows power law relationships with high level of significance; (ii) although there is no general trend in the dynamics of scaling exponents among all sites, there are dynamics of scaling exponents at each site, with sudden changes in scaling exponents generally corresponding to the years of higher or lower cone production; and (iii) Taylor"s power laws explain cone production at different locations, but the scaling exponents vary among these. Results from this computational approach provide new insight into the irregular cone production of longleaf pine at spatial and temporal scales. Integrated ecosystem monitoring will be necessary to more fully understand future changes in cone production.

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Annual Variability in Seed Production by Woody Plants and the Masting Concept: Reassessment of Principles and Relationship to Pollination and Seed Dispersal

Cited by 384 publications

References 84 publications

Plasma carotenoid levels in passerines are related to infection by (some) parasites

Plasma carotenoid levels in passerines are related to infection by (some) parasites

How plants manipulate the scatter-hoarding behaviour of seed-dispersing animals

Power Laws in Cone Production of Longleaf Pine across Its Native Range in the United States

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