Unravelling the influence of annual weather conditions and Mediterranean habitat types on acorn production, availability and predation

Seed production and survival are critical steps in the life cycle of plants, and could become bottlenecks for plant regeneration in case of failure. During regeneration many factors, both abiotic and biotic, intervene and interact with each other. After dispersal, environmental variation affects the...

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Autores: Puig-Gironès, Roger, Muriana, Montse, Real, Joan, Sabaté i Jorba, Santi
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/219640
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/219640
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Disseminació de llavors
Mediterrània (Regió)
Roures
Dispersal of seeds
Mediterranean Region
Oaks
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spelling Unravelling the influence of annual weather conditions and Mediterranean habitat types on acorn production, availability and predationPuig-Gironès, RogerMuriana, MontseReal, JoanSabaté i Jorba, SantiDisseminació de llavorsMediterrània (Regió)RouresDispersal of seedsMediterranean RegionOaksSeed production and survival are critical steps in the life cycle of plants, and could become bottlenecks for plant regeneration in case of failure. During regeneration many factors, both abiotic and biotic, intervene and interact with each other. After dispersal, environmental variation affects the success of the plant population, so seedling recruitment can display spatial variability. However, few studies of seed production and availability cover a range of habitat conditions (e.g. mature, transitional and post-fire habitats), which makes it difficult to evaluate the potential of site-production relationships. We study how the heterogeneity of habitat structure and composition affects the phenology, production and availability of acorns, mainly holm oak, in a Mediterranean Natural Park. Our results show that meteorological variables determine the phenology of acorn fall. Habitat types present temporal mismatches in falls since, for example, shrublands required a longer period of time for all seeds to fall. Furthermore, habitats with greater tree density and low understory complexity had higher production but smaller acorns. Lower densities promote higher acorn volume (seedling size) as a consequence of less intraspecific competition and more reserves for germination. The proportion of viable acorns available on the ground also decreased substantially in winter, when the proportion of infested acorns increase because the selective consumption of sound acorns by predators. Acorns from mixed forests and shrublands had less pre-dispersal predation by arthropods and post-dispersal predation by wild boar as a result of oak isolation and understory complexity. Conversely, rodents are more abundant in shrublands, where they find a greater diversity of anti-predator refuges and large nutritious acorns available in autumn and winter. Understanding the reproductive constraints imposed by time and space allows us to infer the consequences of environmental changes on population recruitment and persistence. We thus show that habitats with a high density of oak trees, less plant diversity and understory cover had a greater prevalence of infested acorns, thereby reducing recruitment viability. These habitats also had more available acorns on the ground for seed predators. Therefore, habitat type is an important factor affecting acorn production and should be taken into account in future studies.Elsevier B.V.2023info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2445/219640Articles publicats en revistes (Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals)reponame:Dipòsit Digital de la UBinstname:Universidad de BarcelonaInglésReproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2023.121149Forest Ecology and Management, 2023, vol. 543, p. 1-15https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2023.121149cc-by-nc-nd (c) Puig-Gironès, Roger et al., 2023http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/2196402026-05-27T06:46:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Unravelling the influence of annual weather conditions and Mediterranean habitat types on acorn production, availability and predation
title Unravelling the influence of annual weather conditions and Mediterranean habitat types on acorn production, availability and predation
spellingShingle Unravelling the influence of annual weather conditions and Mediterranean habitat types on acorn production, availability and predation
Puig-Gironès, Roger
Disseminació de llavors
Mediterrània (Regió)
Roures
Dispersal of seeds
Mediterranean Region
Oaks
title_short Unravelling the influence of annual weather conditions and Mediterranean habitat types on acorn production, availability and predation
title_full Unravelling the influence of annual weather conditions and Mediterranean habitat types on acorn production, availability and predation
title_fullStr Unravelling the influence of annual weather conditions and Mediterranean habitat types on acorn production, availability and predation
title_full_unstemmed Unravelling the influence of annual weather conditions and Mediterranean habitat types on acorn production, availability and predation
title_sort Unravelling the influence of annual weather conditions and Mediterranean habitat types on acorn production, availability and predation
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Puig-Gironès, Roger
Muriana, Montse
Real, Joan
Sabaté i Jorba, Santi
author Puig-Gironès, Roger
author_facet Puig-Gironès, Roger
Muriana, Montse
Real, Joan
Sabaté i Jorba, Santi
author_role author
author2 Muriana, Montse
Real, Joan
Sabaté i Jorba, Santi
author2_role author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Disseminació de llavors
Mediterrània (Regió)
Roures
Dispersal of seeds
Mediterranean Region
Oaks
topic Disseminació de llavors
Mediterrània (Regió)
Roures
Dispersal of seeds
Mediterranean Region
Oaks
description Seed production and survival are critical steps in the life cycle of plants, and could become bottlenecks for plant regeneration in case of failure. During regeneration many factors, both abiotic and biotic, intervene and interact with each other. After dispersal, environmental variation affects the success of the plant population, so seedling recruitment can display spatial variability. However, few studies of seed production and availability cover a range of habitat conditions (e.g. mature, transitional and post-fire habitats), which makes it difficult to evaluate the potential of site-production relationships. We study how the heterogeneity of habitat structure and composition affects the phenology, production and availability of acorns, mainly holm oak, in a Mediterranean Natural Park. Our results show that meteorological variables determine the phenology of acorn fall. Habitat types present temporal mismatches in falls since, for example, shrublands required a longer period of time for all seeds to fall. Furthermore, habitats with greater tree density and low understory complexity had higher production but smaller acorns. Lower densities promote higher acorn volume (seedling size) as a consequence of less intraspecific competition and more reserves for germination. The proportion of viable acorns available on the ground also decreased substantially in winter, when the proportion of infested acorns increase because the selective consumption of sound acorns by predators. Acorns from mixed forests and shrublands had less pre-dispersal predation by arthropods and post-dispersal predation by wild boar as a result of oak isolation and understory complexity. Conversely, rodents are more abundant in shrublands, where they find a greater diversity of anti-predator refuges and large nutritious acorns available in autumn and winter. Understanding the reproductive constraints imposed by time and space allows us to infer the consequences of environmental changes on population recruitment and persistence. We thus show that habitats with a high density of oak trees, less plant diversity and understory cover had a greater prevalence of infested acorns, thereby reducing recruitment viability. These habitats also had more available acorns on the ground for seed predators. Therefore, habitat type is an important factor affecting acorn production and should be taken into account in future studies.
publishDate 2023
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2023
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/2445/219640
url https://hdl.handle.net/2445/219640
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Reproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2023.121149
Forest Ecology and Management, 2023, vol. 543, p. 1-15
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2023.121149
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv cc-by-nc-nd (c) Puig-Gironès, Roger et al., 2023
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv cc-by-nc-nd (c) Puig-Gironès, Roger et al., 2023
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier B.V.
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier B.V.
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Articles publicats en revistes (Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals)
reponame:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
instname:Universidad de Barcelona
instname_str Universidad de Barcelona
reponame_str Dipòsit Digital de la UB
collection Dipòsit Digital de la UB
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15.811543

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