No seed size–number trade-off in European beech: climate governs investment per seed
Summary Mast-seeding trees can vary seed output by orders of magnitude among years, but it remains unclear whether high seed production reduces per-seed investment, as predicted by fixed-budget allocation models. We quantified individual seed production with seed mass in European beech across 2792 trees and 123 populations spanning the species' range and quantified seed protein and lipid content in 35 populations. Seed mass increased with seed production, with seeds from high-seeding years being 14seeding years, providing no evidence for a seed size–number trade-off and instead supporting variable reproductive allocation. By contrast, protein content decreased by 31 whereas lipid content increased (by 14, indicating that nitrogen becomes constraining at high reproductive output while carbon-based provisioning is maintained. Climate further structured provisioning: seed mass and protein content were the lowest at climatic range margins, being 282 respectively, than at the center of the climatic range. European beech can increase seed output without reducing per-seed biomass, but that nitrogen limitation and climatic constraints may strengthen regeneration bottlenecks at both trailing and leading margins, especially as climate warming intensifies.
Details
| Number of pages | 1 |
|---|---|
| Volume | n/a |
| Magazine issue | n/a |
| Type | A1: Web of Science-article |
| Category | Research |
| Magazine | New Phytologist |
| Issns | 0028-646X |
| Publisher | Wiley-Blackwell |
| Language | English |
Bibtex
@misc{4e2a635a-fb7b-4de2-9a8a-f3917e8c40e2,
title = "No seed size–number trade-off in European beech: climate governs investment per seed",
abstract = "Summary Mast-seeding trees can vary seed output by orders of magnitude among years, but it remains unclear whether high seed production reduces per-seed investment, as predicted by fixed-budget allocation models. We quantified individual seed production with seed mass in European beech across 2792 trees and 123 populations spanning the species' range and quantified seed protein and lipid content in 35 populations. Seed mass increased with seed production, with seeds from high-seeding years being 14seeding years, providing no evidence for a seed size–number trade-off and instead supporting variable reproductive allocation. By contrast, protein content decreased by 31 whereas lipid content increased (by 14, indicating that nitrogen becomes constraining at high reproductive output while carbon-based provisioning is maintained. Climate further structured provisioning: seed mass and protein content were the lowest at climatic range margins, being 282 respectively, than at the center of the climatic range. European beech can increase seed output without reducing per-seed biomass, but that nitrogen limitation and climatic constraints may strengthen regeneration bottlenecks at both trailing and leading margins, especially as climate warming intensifies.",
author = "Katarzyna Kondrat and Patrycja Jerzyńska and Urszula Eichert and Jakub Szymkowiak and Andrew Hacket-Pain and Tomaž Adamič and Davide Ascoli and Maciej K. Barczyk and Giada Bertini and Maria Bogdańska and Raul Bonal and Thomas Caignard and Francesco Chianucci and Bruno De Cinti and Jovana Devetaković and Samuel Egan and Vera Fadrhonsova and Marcos Fernández-Martínez and Jessie J. Foest and Nikolaos M. Fyllas and Georg Gratzer and Roger Grau-Andrés and Qingmin Han and Jan Holik and Valentin Journé and Juliane Kaiser and Ewa Marzena Kalemba and Evangelia Korakaki and Georges Kunstler and Angelika Kölbl and Mikolaj Lula and Ernst van der Maaten and Marieke van der Maaten-Theunissen and Catherine Massonnet and Anđelina Gavranović Markić and Francesco Mezzavilla and Martina Mund and Anders Mårell and Thomas A. Nagel and Nikos Nanos and Anita Nussbaumer and Ciprian Palaghianu and Timo Pampuch and Ion Catalin Petritan and Any Mary Petritan and Lukas Petrulaitis and Vladan Popović and Catalin Constantin Roibu and Christodoulos Sazeides and Wolfgang Schmidt and Bernhard Schuldt and Steffen Schulz and Flavia Sicuriello and Gavriil Spyroglou and Juliane Stolz and Nickolay Tsvetanov and Stanislav Vacek and Zdeněk Vacek and Marie-Claude Venner and Samuel Venner and Arne Verstraeten and Janna Wambsganss and Robert Weigel and Angus Wilkinson and Martin Wilmking and Tzvetan Zlatanov and Povilas Žemaitis and Michał Bogdziewicz",
year = "2026",
month = may,
day = "16",
doi = "https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.71248",
language = "English",
publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",
address = "Belgium,
type = "Other"
}
Authors
Katarzyna KondratPatrycja Jerzyńska
Urszula Eichert
Jakub Szymkowiak
Andrew Hacket-Pain
Tomaž Adamič
Davide Ascoli
Maciej K. Barczyk
Giada Bertini
Maria Bogdańska
Raul Bonal
Thomas Caignard
Francesco Chianucci
Bruno De Cinti
Jovana Devetaković
Samuel Egan
Vera Fadrhonsova
Marcos Fernández-Martínez
Jessie J. Foest
Nikolaos M. Fyllas
Georg Gratzer
Roger Grau-Andrés
Qingmin Han
Jan Holik
Valentin Journé
Juliane Kaiser
Ewa Marzena Kalemba
Evangelia Korakaki
Georges Kunstler
Angelika Kölbl
Mikolaj Lula
Ernst van der Maaten
Marieke van der Maaten-Theunissen
Catherine Massonnet
Anđelina Gavranović Markić
Francesco Mezzavilla
Martina Mund
Anders Mårell
Thomas A. Nagel
Nikos Nanos
Anita Nussbaumer
Ciprian Palaghianu
Timo Pampuch
Ion Catalin Petritan
Any Mary Petritan
Lukas Petrulaitis
Vladan Popović
Catalin Constantin Roibu
Christodoulos Sazeides
Wolfgang Schmidt
Bernhard Schuldt
Steffen Schulz
Flavia Sicuriello
Gavriil Spyroglou
Juliane Stolz
Nickolay Tsvetanov
Stanislav Vacek
Zdeněk Vacek
Marie-Claude Venner
Samuel Venner
Arne Verstraeten
Janna Wambsganss
Robert Weigel
Angus Wilkinson
Martin Wilmking
Tzvetan Zlatanov
Povilas Žemaitis
Michał Bogdziewicz