Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Matters Arising
  • Published:

Reply to: Nutrient scarcity cannot cause mast seeding

Nature Plants volume 6, pages 763–765 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

The Original Article was published on 22 June 2020

replying to D. Kelly Nature Plants https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-020-0702-7 (2020)

In his recent communication on our original paper1,2, D. Kelly, claiming that nutrient scarcity cannot select for masting behaviour in plants, initiated a fruitful discussion on traditionally settled hypotheses about the evolution of reproductive behaviour in plants. In his commentary, Kelly raises support for a contrasting hypothesis explaining our observation that temporally variable seed production is more pronounced under nutrient scarcity, namely that nutrient scarcity does not directly cause seed production variability but instead increases variability induced by economies of scale (EOS). The commentary hinges mainly on the argument that an EOS is necessary to select for highly variable seed production. It also points out that there are no mechanisms by which nutrient scarcity would select for that particular trait over generations. In reply to the stimulating comment, we (1) propose a mechanism by which nutrient scarcity may select for highly variable seed production, with weather patterns inducing masting synchrony across populations; and (2) further discuss why wind pollination and predator satiation, the EOS suggested by Kelly, cannot be the only selective pressures that select for highly variable reproduction.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Scheme showing the hypothesized mechanism by which nutrient scarcity may act as a selective pressure of variable reproduction.
Fig. 2: Four examples of interannually variable sexual reproduction.

References

  1. Fernández-Martínez, M. et al. Nutrient scarcity as a selective pressure for mast seeding. Nat. Plants 5, 1222–1228 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Kelly, D. Nutrient scarcity cannot cause mast seeding. Nat. Plants https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-020-0702-7 (2020).

  3. Fernández-Martínez, M. et al. Nutrient-rich plants emit a less intense blend of volatile isoprenoids. New Phytol. 220, 773–784 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Peñuelas, J. et al. The bioelements, the elementome, and the biogeochemical niche. Ecology 100, e02652 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Fernández-Martínez, M., Vicca, S., Janssens, I. A., Espelta, J. M. & Peñuelas, J. The role of nutrients, productivity and climate in determining tree fruit production in European forests. New Phytol. 213, 669–679 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Reekie, E. G. & Bazzaz, F. A. Reproductive effort in plants. II Does carbon reflect the allocation of other resources? Am. Nat. 129, 897–906 (1987).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Redmond, M. D., Davis, T. S., Ferrenberg, S. M. & Wion, A. P. Resource allocation trade-offs in a mast-seeding conifer: piñon pine prioritizes reproduction over defense. AoB Plants 11, 1–11 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Pearse, I. S., Koenig, W. D. & Kelly, D. Mechanisms of mast seeding: resources, weather, cues, and selection. New Phytol. 212, 546–562 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Wright, I. J. et al. The worldwide leaf economics spectrum. Nature 428, 821–827 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Cardinale, B. J. et al. Biodiversity loss and its impact on humanity. Nature 489, 326–326 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Fernández-Martínez, M., Bogdziewicz, M., Espelta, J. M. & Peñuelas, J. Nature beyond linearity: meteorological variability and Jensen’s inequality can explain mast seeding behavior. Front. Ecol. Evol. 5, 1–8 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Fernández-Martínez, M., Garbulsky, M., Peñuelas, J., Peguero, G. & Espelta, J. M. Temporal trends in the enhanced vegetation index and spring weather predict seed production in Mediterranean oaks. Plant Ecol. 216, 1061–1072 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Fernández-Martínez, M. et al. Towards a moss sclerophylly continuum: evolutionary history, water chemistry and climate control traits of hygrophytic mosses. Funct. Ecol. 33, 2273–2289 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Rydgren, K. & Økland, R. H. Sex distribution and sporophyte frequency in a population of the clonal moss Hylocomium splendens. J. Bryol. 24, 207–214 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Martínez de Aragón, J., Riera, P., Giergiczny, M. & Colinas, C. Value of wild mushroom picking as an environmental service. Policy Econ. 13, 419–424 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Groot Bruinderink, G. W. T. A., Hazebroek, E. & Van Der Voot, H. Diet and condition of wild boar, Sus scrofu scrofu, without supplementary feeding. J. Zool. 233, 631–648 (1994).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Group PLECO (Plants and Ecosystems), Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

    M. Fernández-Martínez & I. A. Janssens

  2. Global Ecology Unit, CREAF-CSIC-UAB, Barcelona, Spain

    J. Sardans & J. Peñuelas

  3. CREAF, Barcelona, Spain

    J. Sardans, J. M. Espelta & J. Peñuelas

  4. Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    F. Sayol

  5. Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Gothenburg, Sweden

    F. Sayol

  6. Department of Biological Sciences, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, USA

    J. M. LaMontagne

  7. Department of Systematic Zoology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland

    M. Bogdziewicz

  8. Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean, National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ISAFOM), Perugia, Italy

    A. Collalti

  9. Department of Innovation in Biological, Agro-food and Forest Systems, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy

    A. Collalti

  10. Department of Geography and Planning, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    A. Hacket-Pain

  11. DISAA, Università di Milano, Milan, Italy

    G. Vacchiano

Authors
  1. M. Fernández-Martínez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. J. Sardans
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. F. Sayol
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. J. M. LaMontagne
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. M. Bogdziewicz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. A. Collalti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. A. Hacket-Pain
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. G. Vacchiano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. J. M. Espelta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. J. Peñuelas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. I. A. Janssens
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

M.F.-M., J.S., J.P., J.M.E., J.P. and I.A.J. conceived the paper. All authors contributed equally to writing the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. Fernández-Martínez.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fernández-Martínez, M., Sardans, J., Sayol, F. et al. Reply to: Nutrient scarcity cannot cause mast seeding. Nat. Plants 6, 763–765 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-020-0703-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-020-0703-6

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing