The impact of El Niño on mast fruiting in Sumatra and elsewhere in Malesia

Abstract

Long-term data on flower and fruit production of the forest community in two lowland tropical rain forests in north-western Sumatra are presented. The proportion of years with mast fruiting was found to be similar to that found elsewhere in Malesia. However, masting at the two sites, 70 km apart, did not coincide, and showed no correlation with the El Niño–Southern Oscillation phenomenon (ENSO). Comparisons with other sites in Malesia suggest a general waning of ENSO's impact toward western Malesia. Spatial variation at various scales in the timing of masting events was noted in Sumatra and elsewhere. This suggests that additional factors to ENSO play a role in determining forest-level mast fruiting, and we hypothesize that frugivorous animals have the opportunity to track mast fruiting. It is hypothesized that asynchrony between nearby areas in masting increases toward the western edge of Malesia.