Mountain birch is growing at higher elevations. Seedlings appear far above the present treeline. The expansion does not seem to be dispersal limited (by seed dispersal). Do you know a study that eventually confirm that the expansion is limited by lack of seed dispersal?
Birch is wind dispersed, so there will never be any limitation on seed dispersal since wind is ubiquitous
Agree Andrew, but I meet the argument frequently. So I wondered if it has been shown in any studies?
Dispersal patterns of Birch can be variable over years due to masting, rather than variation in wind patterns. Other factors include distance to edge of the forest, canopy openness size, distance to mature forest, and the tree density of the plantation.
See: Zhao, F., Qi, L., Fang, L. et al. Chin. Geogr. Sci. (2016) 26: 68. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-015-0747-0
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