Long-term annual seed production data of individual European beech (Fagus sylvatica) trees in the Netherlands

Cherine C. Jantzen , Marcel E. Visser 

Seed production of European beech (Fagus sylvatica) is highly variable between years and synchronised between individual trees (i.e., masting), creating years with high seed crops, separated by one or more years with little or no seed production. This pulsed reproduction has selective benefits for the trees, as it creates a cycle of predator satiation and starvation, and this way masting drives population dynamics of dependent species. Masting is sensitive to temperature, and thereby affected by climate change, making long-term data on annual seed production valuable for understanding changes in the masting patterns and their effects on seed consumers. This study presents a long-term dataset of 50 years containing annual, ground-plot beechnut counts for 81 individual trees in a study area of 111 ha in the Netherlands. Beechnut counts are categorized in sound, empty and predated nuts, complemented by gross and net weights of individual nuts, allowing for detailed analyses of masting patterns and annual variation in food abundance for seed predators.