Journé, Valentin, Szymkowiak, Jakub, Foest, Jessie, Hacket-Pain, Andrew, Kelly, Dave and Bogdziewicz, Michał
(2024)
Summer solstice orchestrates the subcontinental-scale synchrony of mast seeding.
Nature Plants, 10 (3).
pp. 367-373.
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Abstract
High interannual variation in seed production in perennial plants can be synchronized at subcontinental scales with wide consequences for ecosystem functioning, but how such synchrony is generated is unclear<sup>1-3</sup>. We investigated the factors contributing to masting synchrony in European beech (Fagus sylvatica), which extends to a geographic range of 2,000 km. Maximizing masting synchrony via spatial weather coordination, known as the Moran effect, requires a simultaneous response to weather conditions across distant populations. A celestial cue that occurs simultaneously across the entire hemisphere is the longest day (the summer solstice). We show that European beech abruptly opens its temperature-sensing window on the solstice, and hence widely separated populations all start responding to weather signals in the same week. This celestial 'starting gun' generates ecological events with high spatial synchrony across the continent.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Fagus, Seeds, Ecosystem, Weather, Seasons |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Science and Engineering > School of Environmental Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 12 Mar 2024 08:15 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Apr 2024 09:31 |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41477-024-01651-w |
| Related URLs: | |
| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3179259 |
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