Visual Counts of Tree Reproduction near NEON plots at Harvard Forest since 2020

Mast seeding, a resource pulse that has cascading effects in the environment, is a measure that can provide insight into forest dynamics. When masting data is collected in sequential years it can provide information on how tree populations are responding to climatic and environmental variables, and can also be used to relate to other indices, such as seed-eating animal species. The objective of this study is to quantify the yearly seed production of mast seeding tree species at Harvard Forest which are located near National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) plots. This project is part of larger NEON-enabled project examining mast seeding on a continental scale at 25 NEON sites in the United States, which uses mast seeding records in conjunction with NEON collected data products like mammal box-trapping, tick drags, and bird point counts. Data collected on mast seeding can be linked to these other indices at regional and continental scales.