Masting by Eighteen New Zealand Plant Species: The Role of Temperature as a Synchronizing Cue

Schauber, Eric M.; Kelly, Dave; Turchin, Peter; Simon, Chris; Lee, William G.; Allen, Robert B.; Payton, I. J.; Wilson, Peter R.; Cowan, P. E.; Brockie, R. E.

doi:10.1890/0012-9658(2002)083[1214:mbenzp]2.0.co;2

Cited by 276 publications

(272 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…We used monitoring data from 1986 to 1999 at the study sites to calculate a multiple regression of A. scaphoides Xowering versus monthly, seasonal and annual precipitation. March precipitation was the best predictor of Xowering eVort (Table 1), consistent with the general pattern that weather conditions during bud initiation determine plant reproduction (Schauber et al 2002). March precipitation falls as a mixture of rain and snow in our study area.…”

Section: Supplemental Watering Experimentssupporting

confidence: 85%

“…Weather conditions, particularly during bud initiation and development, determine Xowering eVort across a wide range of plant species, and appear to act as a synchronizing cue for mast seeding (e.g., Schauber et al 2002 and references cited therein), although weather cues for some species remain elusive (e.g., Crawley and Long 1995;Kobro et al 2003;Hamann 2004). Kelly and Sork (2002) review many examples of the Wtness advantages of synchronous seed production, including reduced seed predation in mast years and increased pollination eYciency in high-Xowering years (see also Forsyth 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pollen and water limitation in Astragalus scaphoides, a plant that flowers in alternate years

Crone

Lesica

2006

Oecologia

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Mast seeding is common in plant populations, but its causes have rarely been tested experimentally. We tested mechanisms of alternate-year flowering and fruit set in an iteroparous, bee-pollinated, herbaceous plant, Astragalus scaphoides, in semi-arid sagebrush steppe. Patterns of reproduction from 1986 to 1999 indicated that spring precipitation was a cue for synchronous flowering, and that increased pollination in high-flowering years was a fitness advantage of synchrony. We tested these patterns by adding supplemental water and pollen to plants in high- and low-flowering sites and years. Supplemental water had no effect on flowering or seed set, so water is not a proximate cue for reproduction, though it could be important over longer (>3 year) time scales. Supplemental pollination increased fruit set in low- but not high-flowering years, indicating that synchronous flowering increases pollination success. Many shorter-term studies also report increased fruit set after pollen supplementation, but not after resource addition. This pattern may reflect the fact that plants can store and reallocate resources, but not pollen, across multiple years. For animal-pollinated herbs such as these, uniting theories about pollination ecology and mast seeding may promote an understanding of the mechanisms that determine patterns of reproduction over time.

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Section: Supplemental Watering Experimentssupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pollen and water limitation in Astragalus scaphoides, a plant that flowers in alternate years

Crone

Lesica

2006

Oecologia

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“…Weather conditions have been suggested to synchronize the masting behaviour of plant populations, even involving different plant species over large geographic areas (Dahl and Strandhede 1996;Kelly 1994). Schauber et al (2002) showed that the mast seeding of 17 species of ecologically varied New Zealand plant species is highly synchronized, and that this synchrony is related to summer temperatures during critical periods of floral bud formation and differentiation. They suggest that this could be due to hormonal regulation affecting floral initiation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Masting by Betula-species; applying the resource budget model to north European data sets

et al. 2004

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Masting, the intermittent production of large crops of flowers by a plant population, is a common feature among trees in boreal and temperate forests. The pollen of many broadleaved trees causes allergic diseases, which are major causes of increasing health-care costs in industrialised countries. As the prevalence and severity of allergic diseases are connected with the concentrations of airborne pollen, an universal model predicting the intensity of the coming flowering would be a valuable tool for pollen information services, and ultimately for allergic people and allergologists. We investigated whether a resource budget model created in Japan explains the fluctuations in the annual pollen sums of Betula-species in north European data sets (10-12 years at 4 sites, 20 years at 10 sites). Using the shorter data sets, the model explained 76-92% of the annual fluctuations at five study sites. Using the 20-year data set, the percentage for southern Finland was much lower, only 48%, compared with the 85% of the 12-year data set. The annual pollen sums have been higher during the 1990s than in the 1980s, which may explain the ineffectiveness of the model, while applied to the 20-year data set. Our results support the resource budget model: the masting of birch species is regulated by weather factors together with the system of resource allocation among years. The model can serve pollen information service. However, only the 10 most recent years should be used to avoid interference from trends in changing vegetation and/or climate.

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“…This phenomenon has been reported across a broad range of long-lived plants including grass and tree species (e.g., Chionochloa spp., Phormium spp., Picea spp., Quercus spp.) and in all types of forest ecosystems (Herrera et al 1998;Kelly et al 2000;Koenig and Knops 2000;Schauber et al 2002;Suzuki et al 2005;Lazaro et al 2006;Mduma et al 2007). Many studies have shown that masting is caused by an interaction between abiotic and biotic factors (Mduma et al 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, low productivity per se appears to favor higher variability in masting species (Kelly and Sork 2002). Environmental conditions such as temperature, rainfall and/or altitude, are likely to be involved as synchronizing cues at the local scale (Schauber et al 2002;Mduma et al 2007;Lamontagne and Boutin 2007). Furthermore, climate could act both as a proximate and ultimate explanation of masting, i.e., flowering only in response to a particular sequence of climate signals could be tied to fitness and thus selected.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of climate on masting in the European larch and on its specific seed predators

et al. 2008

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Masting is the intermittent production of large seed crops by a population of plants. Two main hypotheses have been proposed to explain masting. Variations in seed crop may result from stochastic climate factors (temperature, rainfall, etc.), and/or masting may be a plant evolutionary strategy to avoid specific seed predators. To determine the effect of climate on the annual pattern of cone production in the European larch (Larix decidua), we analyzed larch cone production from 1975 to 2005 at 20 sites in the French Alps, ranging from 1,300 to 2,100 m a.s.l. (on average 17 years per site were sampled). We examined the effects of mast seeding on the predation of larch cones by the dominant specific pre-dispersal seed predators, cone fly Strobilomyia spp. Larch cone production varied across the years and was spatially synchronized throughout the region. We constructed two models to explain seed production, one for sites at low (<1,800 m) and one for sites at high (> or =1,800 m) altitudes, using partial least squares (PLS) regressions to detect across a large number of climate indices (306) the factors which best explain cone production. Monthly indices were more accurate descriptors than 4-month period indices. The predation rate was lower in high cone production years that followed low production years, supporting the predator satiation hypothesis. However, variable cone production explained only a small part of predation rates (45 and 25% at low and high altitudes, respectively). Predation was also directly affected by climate conditions. PLS regressions taking into account both cone production and climate factors accounted for as much as 68 and 82% of the predation rate variation at low and high altitudes, respectively. This study contributes to a better understanding of how climate factors differently affect the members of an interacting community.

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Masting by Eighteen New Zealand Plant Species: The Role of Temperature as a Synchronizing Cue

Cited by 276 publications

References 62 publications

Pollen and water limitation in Astragalus scaphoides, a plant that flowers in alternate years

Pollen and water limitation in Astragalus scaphoides, a plant that flowers in alternate years

Masting by Betula-species; applying the resource budget model to north European data sets

The effect of climate on masting in the European larch and on its specific seed predators

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