Seed mass and early survivorship of tree species in upland clearings and shelterwoods

Abstract

We examined recommended sowing densities of 25 North American tree species (26 observations) to measure the relationship between juvenile survivorship and seed mass in large clearings and shelterwoods. Two models for expressing the relationship (simple power law or a cumulative negative exponential adjusted to account for rodent-repellent application and seedbed type) all showed that survivorship is highly dependent on seed mass. For a small seed, mineral soil and thin humus confer roughly equally high survivorship. Leaf litter is very poor, and undisturbed thick moss appears to be the worst possible organic seedbed on upland sites. An examination of 30 records of Picea glauca (Moench) Voss survivorship (3- to 6-year-old cohorts) on mineral soil revealed substantial intraspecific variation with only 50% of the values within twofold of the predicted value.