DOI: 10.5061/dryad.4qrfj6q9m
title: Masting and seed fate data of Castanopsis fargesii

description: Masting is a common reproductive strategy regulating seedling regeneration
 in many perennial plant species. The evolutionary origins and functional
 benefits of masting have been explained by well-supported hypotheses
 relating to economies of scale of seed production. Nevertheless, our
 understanding of the potential costs of masting for the plant
 seed-to-seedling transitions remains limited. We evaluated the
 annual seed production of Castanopsis fargesii, a dominant
 species of subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests in China from 2013
 to 2018. We also tracked the seed fate for the mature seeds in
 the seed-to-seedling transition. Each type of killed seed (such as
 predated by rodents and insects, or germinated failure)
 were evaluated. We measured the seed mass of all intact seeds
 using a precision electronic balance. This dataset contains the
 masting data, seed fate data and seed mass data of C. fargesii
 for more than six years.
description: The study was conducted in the Jinyunshan National Nature Reserve
 (GNNR; 29°8′18" -29°17′29″ N, 118°2′14" -118°11′12″ E; 8107 ha
 in area), in Chongqing, China. The region has a subtropical monsoon
 climate, and the annual mean temperature is 13.6°C. Mean temperatures in
 January are around 3.1°C, and the mean August temperature is 24.3°C. Mean
 annual precipitation and relative humidity are 1611.8 mm and 87%,
 respectively. Vegetation on Jinyun Mountain is comprised of typical
 subtropical evergreen forest, dominated by Castanopsis fargesii, Machilus
 nanmu, Polyspora speciose, and Castanopsis carlesii var.
 spinulosa. In September 2013, we established a 50 m ×
 100 m permanent monitoring plot that was divided into 50 subplots (10 m ×
 10 m). We established 86 seed traps within the study plot to sample
 masting patterns and seed fate in late-September 2013. Fifty seed traps
 were installed in the center of each 10 m × 10 m subplot, and the
 remaining 36 were placed at the grid intersections. The closest distance
 between two seed traps was 7.1 m, which was approximately equal to the
 average diameter of the crown of C. fargesii adult trees. Next, we
 established soil seed bank quadrats (1 m × 0.5 m) and seedling quadrats (1
 m × 0.5 m) along the surface of the left and right sides of each seed
 trap, respectively. The boundaries of the soil seed bank quadrats and the
 seedling quadrats were marked using four pvc tubes (20 cm in height) and
 nylon threads. We assumed that the seed rain in the soil seed bank
 quadrats and seedling quadrats were similar to what was actually recorded
 in the seed traps. We measured the seed rain from
 October to December annually from 2013 to 2018. All materials from the
 seed traps were collected once per week during this period. Seeds
 collected from the seed traps were defined as mature seeds and categorized
 into three groups based on careful examination of each seed: 1) intact
 seeds (seeds intact, without any injury); 2) vertebrate-attacked seeds
 (eaten by vertebrates (mostly by Callosciurus erythraeus) before seeds had
 fallen); and 3) insect-attacked seeds (suffered from predation by
 invertebrate such as Curculio sp., with obvious holes on the seed
 surface). We measured the seed mass of all intact seeds using a precision
 electronic balance. We measured the soil seed bank in
 April (in the year following the seed rain) of each year from 2014 to
 2019. We defined seeds from the soil seed bank quadrats as surviving
 seeds, which were categorized into four groups based on a careful
 examination of each seed: 1) viable seeds (already had an elongated
 radicle or healthy embryo and cotyledon); 2) fungi-infected seeds (killed
 by fungal infection, where the embryo and/or cotyledons were covered with
 hyphae and had decayed); 3) desiccated seeds (killed by desiccation, where
 the roots and/or cotyledons were withered and brown); and 4)
 rodent-attacked seed (predation by rodents; mostly by Rattus flavipectus
 and Rattus norvegicus). We sampled newly germinated
 seedlings every two weeks from May to September each year from 2014 to
 2019. Newly germinated seedlings were defined as seedlings that had grown
 at least one true leaf. Seedlings sampled within each seedling quadrat
 were censused and marked with a numbered label. In late-December of the
 following year (2015-2020), two growing seasons after seedling emergence,
 we censused the labeled seedlings that were still alive. We referred to
 these individuals as established seedlings.
description: None.