Five decades of observations reveal regional features of synchronised masting across Southeast Asia
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Southeast Asia's dominant rainforest tree species act in reproductive unison every two to ten years to flood forests with seeds, a phenomenon called masting. Until now, masting has been documented mainly at the site scale with no consistent unit of comparison. While individual trees within a site synchronise reproduction, it remains unclear if sites across the region also synchronise, and whether all sites participate in regional masting events. Here, we compile the first regional dataset of masting events for Southeast Asia through collaboration with ecologists, botanists, conservation scientists, and a literature review. We use the 5,853 site-months of observation from 26 sites across five decades to define masting states using a novel statistical thresholding approach. We show that Southeast Asian masts cluster in time forming discrete regional masting periods separated by years of quiescence, and that site onset timing varies in antiphase across the equator. Masting is therefore a regional phenomenon, but still varies geographically, suggesting large scale triggers with geographic and local climate interactions. Masting is therefore a regional phenomenon, not a set of independent events, and can be studied as such. Our dataset can be used to answer a plethora of scientific questions and inform conservation actions in one of Earth’s most important regions for biodiversity and carbon cycling.
Source: Research Square
Authors: Zoë Lieb, Brooke Williams, Andrew Letten, Akiko Satake, Shinya Numata, Andrew Marshall, Jun Ying Lim, Alex Sumadijaya, Kwek Yan Chong, Francis Brearley, Campbell Webb, Kim McConkey, Shoko Sakai, Jedediah Brodie, Michael O'Brien, Olivia Cosby, Mark Harrison, Oliver Wearn, David Burslem, Alys Granados, Gail Campbell-Smith, Karmele Sánchez, Vilma Bodos, Sui Peng Heon, Heiko Wittmer, Endro Setiawan, Cheryl Knott, Jayasilan Mohd-Azlan, Badrul Azhar, William McShea, Lindsay Banin, Matthew Luskin
Institutions: The University of Queensland, University of Newcastle Australia, Kyushu University, Tokyo Metropolitan University, University of Michigan, National University of Singapore, National Research and Innovation Agency, National Parks Board, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Alaska Fairbanks, National Science and Technology Development Agency, National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Hong Kong Baptist University, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, University of Montana, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, University of Exeter, Zoological Society of London, Imperial College London, University of Aberdeen, Forest Department Sarawak, Boston University, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225779454
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