Rowan seedlings that sprout in big seed years survive better under their parent trees than seedlings from lean years. Bumper crops soften the usual penalty of growing in the shade of a same-species adult, so more young trees can persist close to their parents.
1
The study followed 4,678 individually marked rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) seedlings for 15 years in a subalpine spruce forest in the West Carpathians.
2
Annual survival rose with seedling age and leaf area, and was higher beneath heterospecific spruces than beneath conspecific rowans.
3
Under rowan crowns, seedlings from high-crop years survived better than those from low-crop years, while survival under spruce changed little with crop size, reducing the conspecific survival disadvantage in mast years.
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