DOI: 10.5061/dryad.j3tx95xfz
title: Rothwald seed rain data

description: Given the limited dispersal distances for many temperate and tropical tree
 species (Ribbens et al. 1994, Nathan and Muller-Landau 2000, Martin and
 Canham 2010), the effect of spatial variability in seed input at the
 forest floor is fine-scaled and unfolds at the stand level. However,
 although seed input into plant communities represents a fundamental
 template for future plant population structure (albeit not a good proxy
 for reproductive success of plants), the fine scale spatial variation of
 seeds at the forest floor, its temporal variation with different sizes of
 seed crops, and its consequences for tree recruitment are poorly
 understood. This is partly because of limited data on fine scale spatial
 variation of seed deposition.
description: We established 25 seed traps (0.24 m<sup>2</sup>) in
 two study plots, one ha each. For a description of the plots, see e.g.
 Gratzer et al. (2021) (OIKOS, doi: 10.1111/oik.08826). Seed traps were
 covered with a wire mesh with a mesh width of 1 cm to avoid seed predation
 of rodents in seed traps. After preliminary data collection in 2003, we
 continuously monitored seed rain from 2006 – 2018. Traps were emptied
 multiple times (once in autumn and once in spring, in three years twice in
 autumn) throughout the annual cycle, and seed counts were associated with
 the last seed drop season. Starting in 2008, we identified non-viable
 (empty) and insect-damaged beech seeds that were predated prior to
 dispersal in the tree crown (hereafter “predated”) to determine the degree
 of pollen limitation and predispersal predation (Nilsson &
 Wästljung 1987). This study is part of the research
 project “Sporadic seed production in mast seeding trees”, P30381 of the
 Austrian Science Fund (FWF). Recordings were started in the framework of
 the FWF research project ‘Forest dynamics in old growth spruce-fir-beech
 forests’, P14583.
description: <b><i>File</i></b> 
 
 <b><i>Description</i></b>
 
 Beech_jo Beech seeds, plot Josef;
 ,"uid","species","year","seeds_abs","seeds_m2","area" Uid: identifier; species: Bu=beech; year: year of seed production; seeds_abs: nr. of sound seeds (not including hollow seeds and seeds with signs of insect or rodent predation); seeds_m2: seeds per m²; area: research plot, Jo=Josef Beech_mw Beech seeds, plot Josef; ,"uid","species","year","seeds_abs","seeds_m2","area" uid: identifier; species: Bu=beech; year: year of seed production; seeds_abs: nr. of sound seeds (not including hollow seeds and seeds with signs of insect or rodent predation); seeds_m2: seeds per m²; area: research plot, MW=Mayer-Wegelin Fir_jo Fir seeds, plot Josef; ,"uid","species","year","seeds_abs","seeds_m2","area" Uid: identifier; species: Bu=beech; year: year of seed production; seeds_abs: nr. of sound seeds (not including hollow seeds and seeds with signs of insect or rodent predation); seeds_m2: seeds per m²; area: research plot, Jo=Josef Fir_mw Fir seeds, plot Josef; ,"uid","species","year","seeds_abs","seeds_m2","area" Uid: identifier; species: Bu=beech; year: year of seed production; seeds_abs: nr. of sound seeds (not including hollow seeds and seeds with signs of insect or rodent predation); seeds_m2: seeds per m²; area: research plot, MW=Mayer-Wegelin Spruce_jo Spruce seeds, plot Josef; ,"uid","species","year","seeds_abs","seeds_m2","area" Uid: identifier; species: Bu=beech; year: year of seed production; seeds_abs: nr. of sound seeds (not including hollow seeds and seeds with signs of insect or rodent predation); seeds_m2: seeds per m²; area: research plot, Jo=Josef Spruce_mw Spruce seeds, plot Josef; ,"uid","species","year","seeds_abs","seeds_m2","area" Uid: identifier; species: Bu=beech; year: year of seed production; seeds_abs: nr. of sound seeds (not including hollow seeds and seeds with signs of insect or rodent predation); seeds_m2: seeds per m²; area: research plot, MW=Mayer-Wegelin Trap_coords_jo Local coordinates of seed traps, plot Jo Trap_coords_mw Local coordinates of seed traps, plot MW <em>Note: R is the preferred program for viewing the data files</em>