Community Synchrony in Seed Production is Associated With Trait Similarity and Climate Across North America
Jalene M. LaMontagne; David F. Greene; E. Penelope Holland; Jill F. Johnstone; Mark Schulze; Jess K. Zimmerman; Nicholas J. Lyon; Angel Chen; Tom E.X. Miller; Katherine M. Nigro; Rebecca S. Snell; Jessica H. Barton; V. Bala Chaudhary; Natalie L. Cleavitt; Elizabeth E. Crone; Walter D. Koenig; Diana Macias; Ian S. Pearse; Miranda D. Redmond
Mast seeding, the synchronous and highly variable production of seed crops in perennial plants, is a population-level phenomenon and has cascading effects in ecosystems. Mast seeding studies are typically conducted at the population/species level. Much less is known about synchrony in mast seeding between species because the necessary long-term data are rarely available. To investigate synchrony between species within communities, we used long-term data from seven forest communities in the US Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) network, ranging from tropical rainforest to boreal forest. We focus on cross-species synchrony and (i) quantify synchrony in reproduction overall and within LTER sites, (ii) test for relationships between synchrony with trait and phylogenetic similarity, and (iii) investigate how climate conditions are related to levels of synchrony. Overall, reproductive synchrony between woody plant species was greater than expected by chance, but spanned a wide range of values between species. Based on 11 functional and reproductive traits for 103 species (plus phylogenetic relatedness), cross-species synchrony in reproduction was driven primarily by trait similarity with phylogeny being largely unimportant, and synchrony was higher in sites with greater climatic water deficit. Community-level synchrony in asting has consequences for understanding forest regeneration dynamics and consumer-resource interactions.
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synchrony_mrm- Performs multiple regression on distance matrices (MRM) to assess effect of species' traits on synchrony. Requires data archived on Figshare (use 'synchrony_pcoa_climate_combination.csv'). -
synchrony_perm-stats- Analyzes difference between observed and permuted correlations. Requires data archived on Figshare (use 'synchrony_pcoa_climate_combination.csv' and 'perm_corr_unsummarized.csv'). -
synchrony_anova- Performs permutation analysis of variance (perANOVA) to assess the effect of each trait (separately) on synchrony. Requires data archived on Figshare (use 'synchrony_pcoa_climate_combination.csv'). -
synchrony_similarity-stats- Performs perANOVA on trait similarity.Requires data archived on Figshare (use 'synchrony_pcoa_climate_combination.csv'). -
synchrony_climate-trait-phylog-stats- Performs linear mixed effects model of synchrony as related to trait similarity, phylogenetic relatedness, and climate variables. Requires data archived on Figshare (use 'synchrony_pcoa_climate_combination.csv').
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synchrony_tables- Creates the summary tables included in the paper. This makes it easier to update in the manuscript than manually re-summarizing. Requires data archived on Figshare (use 'synchrony_pcoa_climate_combination.csv'). -
synchrony_map- Makes the map of all sites included in this paper. Requires a site coordinate CSV and a forest cover raster -
synchrony_vis-prep- Wrangles tidy data and statistical results files in preparation for use in creating downstream visualizations. Requires data produced by all preceding scripts -
synchrony_figures- Generates the figures included in this paper. Requires data produced by script 8 -
synchrony_supp-figs- Generates both the literal supplemental figures included in the Supplementary Materials for this publication and a host of other non-primary figures that may or may not be included in any part of the official publication (supplemental or otherwise). Requires data produced by script 8