Dear Vladimir, greetings.

Whist there is a clear and probably measurable relationship between the age and propagule productivity of most trees, the production of Beech(Fagus sylvatica) mast in Southern England is also related to the mass of the tree, heredity, location ,individual isolation or large stands, as well as all the abiotic and edaphic factors associated with normal tree growth.

From my own observation of trees in a wide variety of ecological situations, the production of Beech mast is more directly related to the weather conditions and water relations of the previous year or cycle of years and the particular conditions at the time of flowering.. Seed production can also be related to stress and senile or badly damaged trees may sometimes make last ditch attempts to produce as much seed as possible.

Good mast years and bad mast years are often of a biennial nature in Southern England, although there may be some periodicity of boom or bust related to long term climatic cycles,. although climate change may militate against regularity these days.

Even short periods of drought, particularly on the Chalk in late winter and early spring can have a noticeable effect on the following mast production The animal populations that depend either exclusively or opportunistically on these fluctuations, respond in synchronicity to these events.

I have often noticed in some years, when mast appears to be plentiful, that on examination of the seed capsules, the majority are blind or contain non viable seeds.

As a lot of Beech is grown for timber production in this country, trees seldom reach the mature age of natural stands or park grown trees which start to produce regular harvests of mast from the age of forty or thereabouts, assuming that a Beech is in it's dotage at around two hundred and fifty years of age, my guess is that a normal specimen and all things being equal, it is likely to be at it's prime at about a century old.

Beech has an obligate and complex relationship with Fungi,, both mycorrhizal and endophytic, whose responses to subtle changes in growing conditions, have very significant effects on tree productivity. Older trees in the right environment have a more developed and cosmopolitan relationship with Fungi than younger trees, where pollution allows.

If you are considering the relationship between the American Grey Squirrel (Scurius carolinensis),( which may not occur in your part of the world), and mast production, this follows the normal pattern of producer, predator, prey cycles, excepting that these Squirrels play a significant role in the prevention of forest regeneration by feeding on all the mast, eating seedlings and damaging trees by bark stripping, their population is expanding in Britain as there is little control from birds of prey.or other carnivores and population density has not reached a level sufficient for disease and the other controlling factors in population dynamics to be relevant other than at a local level.

I hope this helps you in your research, although this is from a British perspective.

There is an extensive Bibliography on this subject but I am unsure how much will apply to your situation. Please feel free to contact me, [email protected]

Regards, Jim Storrar.

Dear James,

thank you very much for relevant information from the field. This time I summarizes information about relationships between trees, raptors and prey. The harvest of beechnuts could be a key to this relationships, but I am only on the start of the research. Big part of my study area are trees from age category - younger then 70 years. And this is my question - it is big difference in harvest of beechnuts in old trees (more then 100 years) and younger categories (80-100 and less 80 years)?

Best wishes,

Vlado Nemcek

Dear Vlado, Greetings.

I hope this finds you well.

In your part of the world, because of extra day length and other advantageous growth factors, the chances are that Beech trees at seventy are equivalent to British trees at a century. However in large stands of Beech either natural or plantation there are inhibitory effects from close proximity, on wind pollination and seed production and one can see the difference when observing the behaviour of trees that are more widely spaced.

Synchronous masting in Beech and Oak Spp may be a strategy that these trees employ to protect their seeds from herbivory. Periods of dearth when few seeds are produced, ensures that populations of seed eating vertebrates never get a chance to build up to high enough levels, such that the entire seed crop is consumed, conversely, when there is a good mast year, the predominately rodent population of seed eaters become satiated and despite the efforts of seed caching animals many seeds survive to become seedlings were conditions allow. Beech seeds are dispersed by wind and animals but not very far from their origin , compared to Oak or fruit trees.

Because of the lack of light in pure Beech stands there is little or no ground flora that might encourage permanent habitation by a varied suite of animal species that could sustain a population of even relatively mobile raptors with any degree of continuity ,be they nocturnal or diurnal and combined with the uncertainty of regular seed production; large Beech woods.are not ideal foraging sites for birds of prey.

Large, mature Beech trees , widely spaced or in a mixed woodland and especially Parkland would be of more advantage to raptors and decaying and damaged veteran trees provide ideal nesting opportunities and establishment of regular territorial feeding and home ranges.

In years were a significant percentage of the mast is blind, due to self pollination or moth predation ; there will be an effect on the actual potential as a food source. If you were trying to make an empirical correlation between the quantity of Beech mast and animal numbers or biomass, it would be necessary to quantify in some way the percentage of viable to non viable seed, as on the face of it, a report or observation on good or bad mast production might prove misleading.

I would be interested to know whether you have an existing raptor population in your study area or they are just moving in, in response to your Beech trees reaching the age that they are now.

There is plenty of literature on this subject as it relates to Britain and the above information is from my own observation over a period of about forty years in an area of considerable cover by several types of Beech Woods of all ages.

In October1987 an exceptional storm blew down a very large percentage of mature Beeches in Southern England, partly as a result of their shallow root systems and their ability to grow on thin chalk soils but I have not been able to correlate their loss and subsequent regeneration of other woodland systems and Beech replanting with any significant changes in the fortunes of birds of prey. Principally because the raptor populations in this part of the world are sparse and not very diverse.

Kind regards, Jim Storrar, Ranger and field ecologist.

Dear Vladimir,

Your research is very interesting.

Concerning the beech fructification, taking into account that beech stands in Slovakia are similar to Romanian ones, the general rule is: starting at 70-80 years old in stands and 50-60 years old as isolated tree. In fact in stands, the starting age of fructification is 60 years old but between this age and 70-80 more than 75% of seeds are non viable (dry nuts). The fructification can continue to an age of 120-150 years with a periodicity of 4 to 6 years. Generally it is accepted that in normal conditions (climatic and without other stressing factors) the peak yield of nuts achieves after the peak of average growth of stand, that is, depending of the site index, after the age of 80-90 years. Having these reference points, in silviculture the cuts for natural regeneration start after the 100 age, immidiately after an abundat fructification.

Beteen the abundant fructifications there are the so called "sprinklings", that is sparse and rare nuts yield.

The nut harvest is variable with the position of a tree in the stand. So, the dominant trees have the most nuts yield, the intermediate produce sprinkings and the dominated trees have practically no fructification.

In a peak fructification year the number of nuts arived on the ground range beteen 70 nuts/sq m (70-80 years old stand) and 143 nuts/sq.m, (95-110 years old stand) with an average of 110 nuts/sq.m.

The poorer is the site, the more abundant is the fructification.

There in no model to describe the fructification behaviour, the ages I mentioned being reference points which determine a more accurate observation of the nuts yield.

The James' observations are valuable, a stressing factor as a severe dry or a severe damage caused by snow storms involves an immediate reaction in growing nuts yield.

You can find more detailed data consulting the forestry literature in your country, which has references concerning the beech ecology.

As an idea, it is known that the wild boar is a great consumer of beech nuts, and the migration of boar flocks from a source to an other may be a sign that an abondant nuts harvest arrived on the ground.

Dear Vladimir and Costinel, Greetings.

Whilst it has been a tradition in the husbandry of pigs both wild and domestic to fatten them on the mast of a number of tree species, with little consequences for managed woods since a time far out of mind,; in a natural setting pigs can also uncover caches and scatter- hoarded Beech mast that have been buried by birds, rodents and other seed dispersing animals as well as uprooting and eating Beech seedlings from a number of generations., this would run counter to the intentions of the trees and could affect population growth of small mammals. However, in mitigation to the destructive effects of pigs to the forest floor in Beech Woods, in good mast years pigs and other generalist animal seed dispersers invariably ignore individual or groups of trees that have produced a poor crop, to concentrate their attentions on the areas of high productivity. This may perhaps, have implications on genetic selection of poorly performing trees to become dominant over time.

Most species of Deer are partial to Beech mast and do disturb the litter layer and in areas of high Deer densities, you might have to take them into account in your calculations when it comes to rodent/raptor interactions.

There is a tendency for some generalist seed dispersing animals, particularly birds like Wood Pigeons(Columba palumbus and some Corvids to travel and carry mast long distances and birds such as Jays(Garrulus glandarius) to scatter- hoard and cache Beech mast some considerable distance from the parent source, in good mast years, also in some areas where game birds may be relevant,, their wandering habits and the possibility that they may be predated upon and carried some distance from the seed source, which is of course good for seed dispersal but which may affect any predictions or conclusions you may make about predator/prey dynamics in relation to seed production, within the confines of the Beech woods themselves.

Incidentally, it is common practice in this country to leave a productive mother tree standing in an area of clear fell to hasten regeneration and it may be of some interest that::- Beech was commonly coppiced and pollarded in this country for charcoal, firewood and furniture making and consequently has a bearing on the seed bearing age structure of some woods here.

Regards, Jim Storrar.

Dear Vladimir,

in Poland good year for beechnuts production was 2013 (Malopolska Upland, Carpatians, Roztocze =Southern Poland), especialy from trees on forest edge  approx. 70-100 years old. In the same year in diet of tawny owl I observed  large ratio of Apodemus spp. individuals. In Mazowiecka Lowland we have very small number of old beeches in forests and it is not possible to correlate seed harvest with rodents number.

With Regards, Przemyslaw

Dear Przemyslaw,

thank you for answer, I have similar information from other experts. For me it is interesting idea - to know the relationships between beechnut production, rodents cycles and owls biology.

Best wishes,

Vlado

Dear Vlado and Przemyslaw, greetings and happy new year.

As I understand it, there is a larger suite of Owl species in your part of the world and therefore more likelihood that Owls may be able to exploit resources from Beech Woods, as they present themselves on a seasonal basis or be attracted to the woodland edge where diversity of plants and animals is greater than the interior..

However in natural or plantation Beech stands in Southern Britain there is little or no herb layer on the forest floor that might sustain a permanent fauna of small mammals, birds and large insects, Owls instinctively or by experience, tend not to target these uniform stands and furthermore same aged beech stands a century old or less, present few opportunities for hole nesting birds, such as Tawny Owls (Strix aluco).,  The lack of diversity in Beech stands is a function of the various strategies employed by these trees to minimize inter specific competition. 

The converse is true of specimen trees in Parkland,,pollarded Beeches in Wood Pasture, abandoned Beech boundary hedges and old semi natural mixed woodland, where veteran Beech trees, two centuries or more in age have been allowed to become derelict and to remain as part of the landscape or as a rich resource for wildlife. These trees being invariably large and not subject to competition from other trees, frequently produce some Mast every year, often out of sync with plantation trees in good mast years and are, by their advanced age, often hollow, full of rot holes,and other suitable nest sites that are invariably exploited by Owls and diurnal birds of prey. The trees themselves and the herb layer underneath them plus the  accumulating deadwood and leaf litter are rich in small mammals and insects and consequently Tawney Owls particularly, can support themselves in much smaller Home and feeding ranges that would otherwise be the case, where no veteran trees persist.

I have also observed on many occasions, Barn Owls (Tyto alba) quartering Parkland with Beeches of all ages for grassland mammals.whose population cyclicity is not necessarily geared wholly to mast production but may be influenced by it.

Incidentally 2013 and 2014 where above average mast years for all mast producing tree species.in Southern England.

My apologies for not producing any empirical data.

 Best wishes, Jim.

Dear Jim, I agree with you - that beech forest produce less holes and nest opportunities than some oak forest. What is habitat with highest density of tawny owls - due holes, rich scrub floor and food resources. So it is not ideal habitat for owls (beech forest), but also not poorest. The owls productivity is more influence by small mammals gradation. And this is influenced by production of mast. And I have no time for field research focused on the relationships between mast production and mammals productivity. So I am looking for information about production of mast in beech forest - if younger forest produce equal mast than mature forest. Thank you for your answer, I am very happy for each answer and reaction. By the way here in Slovakia - more and more forester try forest management - Pro Silva. Where one of basic principle is build a multi aged forest. 

Thanks and Best wishes,

Vlado