@article{069bf5797a924a2ab58608ff39b65ba8,
title = "From theory to experiments for testing the proximate mechanisms of mast seeding: an agenda for an experimental ecology",
abstract = "Highly variable and synchronised production of seeds by plant populations, known as masting, is implicated in many important ecological processes, but how it arises remains poorly understood. The lack of experimental studies prevents underlying mechanisms from being explicitly tested, and thereby precludes meaningful predictions on the consequences of changing environments for plant reproductive patterns and global vegetation dynamics. Here we review the most relevant proximate drivers of masting and outline a research agenda that takes the biology of masting from a largely observational field of ecology to one rooted in mechanistic understanding. We divide the experimental framework into three main processes: resource dynamics, pollen limitation and genetic and hormonal regulation, and illustrate how specific predictions about proximate mechanisms can be tested, highlighting the few successful experiments as examples. We envision that the experiments we outline will deliver new insights into how and why masting patterns might respond to a changing environment.",
author = "Micha{\l} Bogdziewicz and Davide Ascoli and Andrew Hacket-Pain and Koenig, {Walter D.} and Ian Pearse and Mario Pesendorfer and Akiko Satake and Peter Thomas and Giorgio Vacchiano and Thomas Wohlgemuth and Andrew Tanentzap",
note = "Funding Information: The work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) grant no. NE/S007857/1. MB was supported by the Polish National Science Centre grant Sonatina No. 2017/24/C/NZ8/00151.WDK and MP by National Science Foundation grant DEB-1256394. Drawings by Fallon Tanentzap. The authors acknowledge Laura McGarty for proof-reading the final manuscript. Funding Information: The work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) grant no. NE/S007857/1. MB was supported by the Polish National Science Centre grant Sonatina No. 2017/24/C/NZ8/00151.WDK and MP by National Science Foundation grant DEB‐1256394. Drawings by Fallon Tanentzap. The authors acknowledge Laura McGarty for proof‐reading the final manuscript. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by CNRS and John Wiley & Sons Ltd",
year = "2020",
month = feb,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1111/ele.13442",
language = "English",
volume = "23",
pages = "210--220",
journal = "Ecology Letters",
issn = "1461-023X",
publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",
number = "2",
}