Faculty of Biology. Forest Biology Center, Institute of Environmental Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland.
Department of Genetics, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Kazimierz Wielki University, Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Ecol Lett. 2024 Sep;27(9):e14514. doi: 10.1111/ele.14514.
The efficient conversion of tissues into reproductive success is a crucial aspect affecting the evolution of life histories. Masting, the interannually variable and synchronous seed production in perennial plants, is a strategy that can enhance reproductive efficiency by mitigating seed predation and pollen limitation. However, evaluating benefits is insufficient to establish whether efficiency has improved, as such assessments neglect the associated costs of masting, particularly during the critical seed-to-seedling stage. We conducted a parentage analysis of seedlings and adults in a population of 209 Sorbus aucuparia trees, monitored over 23 years, providing pioneering documentation of the effects of masting on the fitness of individual trees beyond the seed stage. Our results show high costs of interannual variation that can be mitigated by high synchrony and reveal the existence of phenotypes that appear to reap the benefits of masting while avoiding its costs through regular reproduction.
组织高效地转化为生殖成功是影响生命史进化的一个关键方面。结实是多年生植物中隔年、可预测且同步的种子生产策略，它可以通过减轻种子捕食和花粉限制来提高繁殖效率。然而，仅评估收益不足以确定效率是否有所提高，因为这种评估忽略了结实的相关成本，尤其是在种子到幼苗的关键阶段。我们对一个 209 棵花楸树的种群进行了 23 年的监测，对幼苗和成年个体进行了亲子分析，这为结实对个体树木除种子阶段之外的适应度的影响提供了开创性的记录。我们的研究结果表明，高同步性可以减轻年际变化的高成本，并揭示了存在的表型，这些表型似乎通过有规律的繁殖来获得结实的好处，同时避免其成本。
