No seed size–number trade‐off in European beech: climate governs investment per seed

Summary Mast‐seeding trees can vary seed output by orders of magnitude among years, but it remains unclear whether high seed production reduces per‐seed investment, as predicted by fixed‐budget allocation models. We quantified individual seed production with seed mass in European beech across 2792 trees and 123 populations spanning the species' range and quantified seed protein and lipid content in 35 populations. Seed mass increased with seed production, with seeds from high‐seeding years being 14% heavier than those from low‐seeding years, providing no evidence for a seed size–number trade‐off and instead supporting variable reproductive allocation. By contrast, protein content decreased by 31% with increasing seed production, whereas lipid content increased (by 14%), indicating that nitrogen becomes constraining at high reproductive output while carbon‐based provisioning is maintained. Climate further structured provisioning: seed mass and protein content were the lowest at climatic range margins, being 28% and 32% lower, respectively, than at the center of the climatic range. European beech can increase seed output without reducing per‐seed biomass, but that nitrogen limitation and climatic constraints may strengthen regeneration bottlenecks at both trailing and leading margins, especially as climate warming intensifies.

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Publication Details

Journal
New Phytologist
Published
2026-05-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.71248
Primary Topic
Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies
Type
article
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article

No seed size–number trade‐off in European beech: climate governs investment per seed

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New Phytologist
Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies
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No seed size–number trade‐off in European beech: climate governs investment per seed

Ion Cătălin Petrițan, Juliane Kaiser, Janna Wambsganss, Gavriil Spyroglou, Georg Gratzer, Vladan Popović, Povilas Žemaitis, Evangelia Korakaki, Michał Bogdziewicz, Stanislav Vacek, Cătălin Constantin Roibu, Francesco Mezzavilla, Urszula Eichert, Jakub Szymkowiak, Francesco Chianucci, Flavia Sicuriello, Valentin Journé, Martin Wilmking, Katarzyna Kondrat, Nikos Nanos, Thomas Caignard, Anders Mårell, Nickolay Tsvetanov, Tomaž Adamič, Zdeněk Vacek, Any Mary Petriţan, Mikolaj Lula, Věra Fadrhonsová, Timo Pampuch, Catherine Massonnet, Martina Mund, Arne Verstraeten, Ewa Marzena Kalemba, Juliane Stolz, Samuel Venner, Lukas Petrulaitis, Bruno De Cinti, Jan Holík, Jessie Foest, Nikolaos M. Fyllas, Ciprian Palaghianu, Ernst van der Maaten, Anita Nussbaumer, Giada Bertini, Angelika Kölbl, Maria Bogdańska, Andrew Hacket-Pain, Marie‐Claude Venner, Steffen Schulz, Patrycja Jerzyńska, Angus Wilkinson, Christodoulos Sazeides, Thomas A. Nagel, Davide Ascoli, Bernhard Schuldt, Georges Kunstler, Marcos Fernández‐Martínez, Robert Weigel, Tzvetan Zlatanov, Qingmin Han, Wolfgang Schmidt, Maciej K. Barczyk, Samuel Egan, Raul Bonal, Roger Grau‐Andrés, Marieke van der Maaten‐Theunissen, Anđelina Gavranović Markić, Jovana Devetaković
article en

Abstract

Summary Mast‐seeding trees can vary seed output by orders of magnitude among years, but it remains unclear whether high seed production reduces per‐seed investment, as predicted by fixed‐budget allocation models. We quantified individual seed production with seed mass in European beech across 2792 trees and 123 populations spanning the species' range and quantified seed protein and lipid content in 35 populations. Seed mass increased with seed production, with seeds from high‐seeding years being 14% heavier than those from low‐seeding years, providing no evidence for a seed size–number trade‐off and instead supporting variable reproductive allocation. By contrast, protein content decreased by 31% with increasing seed production, whereas lipid content increased (by 14%), indicating that nitrogen becomes constraining at high reproductive output while carbon‐based provisioning is maintained. Climate further structured provisioning: seed mass and protein content were the lowest at climatic range margins, being 28% and 32% lower, respectively, than at the center of the climatic range. European beech can increase seed output without reducing per‐seed biomass, but that nitrogen limitation and climatic constraints may strengthen regeneration bottlenecks at both trailing and leading margins, especially as climate warming intensifies.

New Phytologist
Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (FR), Ştefan cel Mare University of Suceava (RO), Universidad Complutense de Madrid (ES), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Forest Trends (US), Kyushu University (JP), University of Liverpool (GB), Université de Bordeaux (FR), University of Forestry (BG), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (GR), Research Institute for Nature and Forest (BE), Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZ), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (GR), AgroParisTech (FR), Mediterranean University (ME), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (CH), Bavarian Forest National Park (DE), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE), Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences (DE), Transylvania University of Brașov (RO), Universität Greifswald (DE), University of Belgrade (RS), Institute of Forest Ecology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK), Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR), Institute of Landscape Ecology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK), National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry "Marin Drăcea" (RO), Institute of Dendrology (PL), Institute of Forestry (RS), Forschungsinstitut für Bergbaufolgelandschaften (DE), Slovenian Forestry Institute (SI), Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Physique (FR), Forestry Research Centre (IT), Forestry and Game Management Research Institute (CZ), Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research (BG), Centre for Research on Ecology and Forestry Applications (ES), Nature Research Centre (LT), Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive (FR), Forest Research Institute (BG), UMR BIOdiversity, GEnes & Communities (FR), Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (JP), Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry (LT), Croatian Forest Research Institute (HR), Silsbee Independent School District (US), Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research (IT), Beeches Hospital (GB), University of Bayreuth (DE), University of Turin (IT), Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (PL), Technical University of Munich (DE), University of Göttingen (DE), Technische Universität Dresden (DE), Université Grenoble Alpes (FR), Center for International Forestry Research (ID), University of the Aegean (GR)
Climate action
Openalex Percentile: Top 5%
Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies
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