Fruit production

The study was done in a subalpine old-growth spruce forest in Babia Góra National Park in the Western Carpathians (southern Poland). We established a 27-hectare plot representing subalpine spruce forest on the north slope of the Babia Góra massif. From 2000 to 2015, all reproductive trees (n = 242-367) were searched for fruits at the beginning of September

Supporting Information from Relatives reproduce in synchrony: kinship and individual condition shape intraspecific variation in masting phenotype

Masting, synchronous and interannually variable seed production, is frequently called a reproductive strategy. Yet, it is unclear whether the reproductive behaviour of individuals has a heritable component. To address this, we used 22 years of annual fruit production data from 110 Sorbus aucuparia L. trees to examine the contributions of genetic factors to the reproductive phenotype of individuals, while controlling for environmental variation. Trees sharing close genetic relationships and experiencing similar habitat conditions exhibited similar levels of reproductive synchrony. Trees of comparable sizes displayed similar levels of year-to-year variation in fruiting, with relatedness contributing to this variation. External factors, such as shading, influenced the time intervals between years with abundant fruit production. The effects of genetic relatedness on the synchrony of reproduction among trees and on interannual variation provide long-awaited evidence that the masting phenotype is heritable, and can respond to natural selection