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Limits to reproduction and seed size-number trade-offs that shape forest dominance and future recovery.

Tong QiuRobert AndrusMarie-Claire Aravena AcuñaDavide AscoliYves BergeronRoberta BerrettiDaniel BerveillerMichał BogdziewiczThomas BoivinRaul BonalDon C BraggThomas CaignardRafael CalamaJesus Julio CamareroChia-Hao Chang-YangNatalie L CleavittBenoit CourbaudFrancois CourbetThomas CurtAdrian J DasEvangelia DaskalakouHendrik DaviNicolas DelpierreSylvain DelzonMichael C DietzeSergio Donoso CalderonLaurent DormontJosep Maria EspeltaTimothy J FaheyWilliam Farfan-RiosCatherine A GehringGregory S GilbertGeorg GratzerCathryn H GreenbergQinfeng GuoAndrew Hacket-PainArndt HampeQingmin HanJanneke Hille Ris LambersKazuhiko HoshizakiInés IbáñezJill F JohnstoneValentin JournéDaisuke KabeyaChristopher L KilnerThomas KitzbergerJohannes M H KnopsRichard K KobeGeorges KunstlerJonathan G A LageardJalene M LaMontagneMateusz LedwonFrancois LefevreTheodor LeiningerJean-Marc LimousinJames A LutzDiana MaciasEliot J B McIntireChristopher M MooreEmily V MoranRenzo MottaJonathan A MyersThomas A NagelKyotaro NoguchiJean-Marc OurcivalRobert R ParmenterIan S PearseIgnacio M Perez-RamosLukasz PiechnikJohn PoulsenRenata Poulton-KamakuraMiranda D RedmondChantal D ReidKyle C RodmanFrancisco Rodriguez-SanchezJavier D SanguinettiC Lane ScherWilliam H SchlesingerHarald Schmidt Van MarleBarbara SegetShubhi SharmaMiles SilmanMichael A SteeleNathan L StephensonJacob N StraubI Fang SunSamantha SuttonJennifer J SwensonMargaret SwiftPeter A ThomasMaría UriarteGiorgio VacchianoThomas T VeblenAmy V WhippleThomas G WhithamAndreas P WionBoyd WrightS Joseph WrightKai ZhuJess K ZimmermanRoman ZlotinMagdalena ZywiecJames S Clark
Published in: Nature communications (2022)
The relationships that control seed production in trees are fundamental to understanding the evolution of forest species and their capacity to recover from increasing losses to drought, fire, and harvest. A synthesis of fecundity data from 714 species worldwide allowed us to examine hypotheses that are central to quantifying reproduction, a foundation for assessing fitness in forest trees. Four major findings emerged. First, seed production is not constrained by a strict trade-off between seed size and numbers. Instead, seed numbers vary over ten orders of magnitude, with species that invest in large seeds producing more seeds than expected from the 1:1 trade-off. Second, gymnosperms have lower seed production than angiosperms, potentially due to their extra investments in protective woody cones. Third, nutrient-demanding species, indicated by high foliar phosphorus concentrations, have low seed production. Finally, sensitivity of individual species to soil fertility varies widely, limiting the response of community seed production to fertility gradients. In combination, these findings can inform models of forest response that need to incorporate reproductive potential.
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