Data from: Within-season synchrony of a masting conifer enhances seed escape

Predator satiation resulting from interannual reproductive synchrony has been widely documented in masting plants, but how reproductive synchrony within a year influences seed escape is poorly understood. We evaluated whether the intra-annual reproductive synchrony of individual white spruce trees (Picea glauca) increased seed escape from their primary predispersal seed predator, North American red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). Trees with cones that matured synchronously relative to those of other trees within red squirrel territories were significantly more likely to escape squirrel predation in years with both low and superabundant levels of cone production, generating a significantly positive linear selection differential for increasing intra-annual reproductive synchrony. Thus, this masting plant escapes seed predation in numbers through interannual synchrony in seed production and in time through intra-annual synchrony of seed availability.捕食者饱和效应（predator satiation）由年际生殖同步引发的现象，已在结实同步植物（masting plants）中得到广泛记录，但单年内的生殖同步如何影响种子逃脱捕食，目前仍缺乏深入研究。我们针对单个白云杉（Picea glauca）的年内生殖同步性是否提升了其种子逃脱主要扩散前捕食者——北美红松鼠（Tamiasciurus hudsonicus）——的概率开展了评估。在球果产量偏低和极丰富的年份中，相较于红松鼠领地内其他个体，球果成熟同步性更高的白云杉个体，逃脱松鼠捕食的概率显著更高，这为提升年内生殖同步性带来了显著为正的线性选择差。综上，这类结实同步植物一方面通过种子生产的年际同步性实现种群尺度上的种子捕食逃脱，另一方面则通过种子可获得性的年内同步性达成时间维度上的捕食逃脱。