Tail-dependence of masting synchrony results in continent-wide seed scarcity

This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. The published version of this Preprint is available: https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14474. This is version 2 of this Preprint.

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Authors

Jakub Szymkowiak, Jessie Foest, Andrew Hacket-Pain, Valentin Journe, Davide Ascoli, Michał Bogdziewicz

Abstract

Spatial synchrony may be tail-dependent, meaning it is stronger for peaks rather than troughs, or vice versa. High interannual variation in seed production in perennial plants, called masting, can be synchronized at subcontinental scales, triggering extensive resource pulses or famines. We used data from 99 populations of European beech (\emph{Fagus sylvatica}) to examine whether masting synchrony differs between mast peaks and years of seed scarcity. Our results revealed that seed scarcity occurs simultaneously across the majority of the species range, extending to populations separated by distances up to 1800 km. Mast peaks were spatially synchronized at distances up to 1000 km and synchrony was geographically concentrated in northeastern Europe. Extensive synchrony in the masting lower tail means that famines caused by beech seed scarcity are amplified by their extensive spatial synchrony, with diverse consequences for food web functioning and climate change biology.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.32942/X2ZG85

Subjects

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences

Keywords

Moran effect, mast seeding, geography of synchrony, pulsed resources, plant reproduction, seed production, spatial synchrony, tail-dependent synchrony

Dates

Published: 2024-06-06 19:22

Last Updated: 2024-07-23 18:34

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License

CC BY Attribution 4.0 International

Additional Metadata

Language:
English

Conflict of interest statement:
None

Data and Code Availability Statement:
The data and R code used in this study have been deposited in the Open Science Framework (\href{}{OSF}): \url{https://osf.io/vny4b/?view_only=5e233556ebed48e79fa89ef3ec002544}.