Mast years flood forests with synchronized seed booms
Oaks, beeches, and many conifers do not seed evenly each year. In mast years they dump enormous crops together, then may rest with scant production for seasons afterward.
The pulse overwhelms seed predators so a higher fraction of seeds escapes and germinates. Weather cues and internal energy stores help synchronize neighbors across a landscape.
Boom-and-bust seeding is a forest strategy written in time. Mast years rewrite food webs for rodents, birds, and the next generation of trees in one heavy autumn.
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