Growth decline in European beech associated with temperature-driven increase in reproductive allocation

Significance Climate change effects on forest growth and reproduction are widely reported, but indirect effects from their interactions are rarely demonstrated. In a 43-y study of European beech, rising summer temperatures led to more frequent seed production (masting), increasing total reproductive investment. This increased reproductive effort depleted stored resources, causing a 28% reduction in annual growth rates, even without increased drought stress. Diminished growth further reduces future reproductive potential, creating a negative feedback loop. A “perfect storm” of declining growth and reduced viable seed output threatens the sustainability of Europe’s most widespread forest tree. We reveal an indirect mechanism by which climate change endangers forests, highlighting the importance of interactions between demographic processes when assessing species sensitivity to climate change.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

• Publication date

  2025-01-28

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1073/pnas.2423181122PMID 39874289PMCID 11804683
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Growth decline in European beech associated with temperature-driven increase in reproductive allocation

  2025cited by this paper
• Summer solstice orchestrates the subcontinental-scale synchrony of mast seeding

  2024cited by this paper
• Reconstruction of Araucaria araucana cone production reveals warming intensifies regionally synchronized masting

  2024cited by this paper
• No Future Growth Enhancement Expected at the Northern Edge for European Beech due to Continued Water Limitation

  2024cited by this paper
• Evolutionary ecology of masting: mechanisms, models, and climate change.

  2024cited by this paper
• Widespread breakdown in masting in European beech due to rising summer temperatures

  2024influential reference
• Reproductive collapse in European beech results from declining pollination efficiency in large trees

  2023influential reference
• Global change explains reduced seeding in a widespread New Zealand tree: indigenous Tūhoe knowledge informs mechanistic analysis

  2023cited by this paper
• Reproduction alternation in trees: testing the resource depletion hypothesis using experimental fruit removal in Quercus ilex.

  2023cited by this paper
• Acorn production, climate, and tree-ring growth of five oak species in southern Appalachian forests

  2023cited by this paper
• Differential defoliation and mortality of white spruce and balsam fir by eastern spruce budworm

  2022cited by this paper
• Summer drought exposure, stand structure, and soil properties jointly control the growth of European beech along a steep precipitation gradient in northern Germany

  2022cited by this paper
• Long-term growth decline precedes sudden crown dieback of European beech

  2022cited by this paper
• Jet stream position explains regional anomalies in European beech forest productivity and tree growth

  2022cited by this paper
• Climate-change-driven growth decline of European beech forests

  2022cited by this paper
• Climate Change Risks to Global Forest Health: Emergence of Unexpected Events of Elevated Tree Mortality Worldwide.

  2022cited by this paper
• MASTREE+: Time‐series of plant reproductive effort from six continents

  2022cited by this paper
• Measuring tree-ring widths using the CooRecorder software application

  2021influential reference
• Mature beech and spruce trees under drought – Higher C investment in reproduction at the expense of whole-tree NSC stores

  2021cited by this paper
• An assessment of temporal variability in mast seeding of North American Pinaceae

  2021cited by this paper
• Climate warming causes mast seeding to break down by reducing sensitivity to weather cues

  2021influential reference
• Tree hazards compounded by successive climate extremes after masting in a small endemic tree, Distylium lepidotum, on subtropical islands in Japan

  2021influential reference
• Climate change and plant reproduction: trends and drivers of mast seeding change

  2021cited by this paper
• It is not just a 'trade-off' - indications for sink- and source-limitation to vegetative and regenerative growth in an old-growth beech forest.

  2020cited by this paper
• Climate warming disrupts mast seeding and its fitness benefits in European beech

  2020influential reference
• Decadal changes in masting behaviour of oak trees with rising temperature

  2020cited by this paper
• Is forest fecundity resistant to drought? Results from an 18‐yr rainfall‐reduction experiment

  2020influential reference
• Continent-wide tree fecundity driven by indirect climate effects

  2020cited by this paper
• Drought response of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.)—A review

  2020influential reference
• Nutrient scarcity cannot cause mast seeding

  2020cited by this paper
• Investigating the relationship between climate, stand age, and temporal trends in masting behavior of European forest trees

  2020cited by this paper
• Quantifying impacts of the 2018 drought on European ecosystems in comparison to 2003

  2019cited by this paper
• Fight or Flight? Potential tradeoffs between drought defense and reproduction in conifers.

  2019cited by this paper
• Weather and trade-offs between growth and reproduction regulate fruit production in European forests

  2019cited by this paper
• Canopy mortality has doubled in Europe’s temperate forests over the last three decades

  2018cited by this paper
• Climatically controlled reproduction drives interannual growth variability in a temperate tree species

  2018cited by this paper
• Beech and Mixed Beech Forests

  2017cited by this paper
• Drought and reproductive effort interact to control growth of a temperate broadleaved tree species (Fagus sylvatica)

  2017influential reference
• Recent developments in understanding mast seeding in relation to dynamics of carbon and nitrogen resources in temperate trees

  2017cited by this paper
• Spatial patterns and broad-scale weather cues of beech mast seeding in Europe.

  2017cited by this paper
• The North Atlantic Oscillation synchronises fruit production in western European forests

  2017cited by this paper
• Consistent limitation of growth by high temperature and low precipitation from range core to southern edge of European beech indicates widespread vulnerability to changing climate

  2016cited by this paper
• Climate-driven synchrony in seed production of masting deciduous and conifer tree species

  2016cited by this paper
• Mechanisms of mast seeding: resources, weather, cues, and selection.

  2016cited by this paper
• Parameterisation and validation of a resource budget model for masting using spatiotemporal flowering data of individual trees.

  2016cited by this paper
• Climatic Drivers of Mast Fruiting in European Beech and Resulting C and N Allocation Shifts

  2015influential reference
• Competition‐interaction landscapes for the joint response of forests to climate change

  2014cited by this paper
• Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4

  2014cited by this paper
• Low relative growth rates predict future mortality of common beech (Fagus sylvatica L.)

  2013cited by this paper
• Climate Responses of Aboveground Productivity and Allocation in Fagus sylvatica: A Transect Study in Mature Forests

  2013cited by this paper
• Declines in pinyon pine cone production associated with regional warming

  2012cited by this paper
• Masting in whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) depletes stored nutrients.

  2012cited by this paper
• AIC model selection and multimodel inference in behavioral ecology: some background, observations, and comparisons

  2011cited by this paper
• Age-related variation in carbon allocation at tree and stand scales in beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and sessile oak (Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl.) using a chronosequence approach.

  2010cited by this paper
• Rapid climate change‐related growth decline at the southern range edge of Fagus sylvatica

  2006cited by this paper
• Potential risks for European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) in a changing climate

  2006cited by this paper
• Tree growth as indicator of tree vitality and of tree reaction to environmental stress: a review

  2005cited by this paper
• Empirical Models of Pollen Limitation, Resource Acquisition, and Mast Seeding by a Bee‐Pollinated Wildflower

  2005cited by this paper
• The costs of reproduction in plants.

  2002cited by this paper
• Snow Tussocks, Chaos, and the Evolution of Mast Seeding

  2002influential reference
• Winter North Atlantic oscillation effects on the tree rings of the Italian beech (Fagus sylvatica L.)

  2000cited by this paper
• Pollen coupling of forest trees: forming synchronized and periodic reproduction out of chaos.

  2000cited by this paper
• Effect of climate change on mast‐seeding species: frequency of mass flowering and escape from specialist insect seed predators

  1998cited by this paper
• The evolutionary ecology of mast seeding.

  1994cited by this paper
• Mast seeding over 33 years by Dacrydium cupressinum Lamb. (rimu) (Podocarpaceae) in New Zealand: the importance of economies of scale

  1988cited by this paper
• Seed predation and cross-pollination in mast-seeding beech (Fagus sylvatica) patches

  1987cited by this paper
• An approach toward a rational classification of climate.

  1948cited by this paper

• Increased tree-ring widths in a European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) gap experiment already 2 years after set up

  2026cites this paper
• Masting Events Deplete Carbon Storage in a Clonal Perennial Herb, Veratrum album subsp. Oxysepalum

  2026cites this paper
• Identifying the Climate Conditions Associated With Extreme Growth States in Trees Across the Western United States

  2025cites this paper
• Solstice, selection, and synchrony of seed masting

  2025cites this paper
• Forest Age Rivals Climate to Explain Reproductive Allocation Patterns in Forest Ecosystems Globally

  2025cites this paper
• Distal to proximal: a continuum of drivers shaping tree growth and carbon partitioning

  2025cites this paper
• Comparing statistical methods for detecting weather cues of mast seeding in European beech (Fagus sylvatica) across Europe

  2025cites this paper
• Weather drivers of reproductive variability in perennial plants and their implications for climate change risks

  2025cites this paper
• Assessing Taphrorychus bicolor (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) as a forest pest in central Europe: ecology, monitoring, and management strategies

  2025cites this paper
• Growth decline in European beech associated with temperature-driven increase in reproductive allocation

  2025cites this paper
• Dynamic pollinator networks maintain pollination efficiency during mast flowering in an insect‐pollinated tree

  2025cites this paper
• Spatiotemporal Variability of Dendroecological Indicators in Pedunculate Oak (Quercus robur L.) Tree‐Rings Across Europe in Relation to Species Distribution Models

  2025cites this paper
• Climate-warming alters resource allocation in unpredictable ways.

  2025cites this paper
• No Refuge at the Edge for European Beech as Climate Warming Disproportionately Reduces Masting at Colder Margins.

  2025cites this paper
• Geography of masting creates greater synchrony in seed scarcity than in seed abundance.

  2025cites this paper
• European beech reproduction is resilient to drought, 1 including the 2003, 2018, and 2022 extremes 2

  year unknowncites this paper
• Comparing statistical methods for detecting weather 1 cues of mast seeding in European beech ( Fagus 2 sylvatica ) across Europe 3

  year unknowncites this paper
• Forest fecundity declines as climate shifts

  year unknowncites this paper