Data from: Assessment of spatial discordance of primary and effective seed dispersal of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) by ecological and genetic methods

Spatial discordance between primary and effective dispersal in plant populations indicates that postdispersal processes erase the seed rain signal in recruitment patterns. Five different models were used to test the spatial concordance of the primary and effective dispersal patterns in a European beech (Fagus sylvatica) population from central Spain. An ecological method was based on classical inverse modelling (SSS), using the number of seed/seedlings as input data. Genetic models were based on direct kernel fitting of mother-to-offspring distances estimated by a parentage analysis or were spatially explicit models based on the genotype frequencies of offspring (competing sources model and Moran-Clark's Model). A fully integrated mixed model was based on inverse modelling, but used the number of genotypes as input data (gene shadow model). The potential sources of error and limitations of each seed dispersal estimation method are discussed. The mean dispersal distances for seeds and saplings estimated with these five methods were higher than those obtained by previous estimations for European beech forests. All the methods show strong discordance between primary and effective dispersal kernel parameters, and for dispersal directionality. While seed rain was released mostly under the canopy, saplings were established far from mother trees. This discordant pattern may be the result of the action of secondary dispersal by animals or density-dependent effects; that is, the Janzen-Connell effect.

植物种群中初级扩散与有效扩散的空间不匹配性表明，扩散后过程会抹去种群招募格局中的种子雨信号。本研究采用五种不同模型，针对西班牙中部的欧洲山毛榉（Fagus sylvatica）种群，检验其初级扩散与有效扩散格局的空间一致性。其中一种生态学方法基于经典逆模型（SSS），以种子/幼苗数量作为输入数据。遗传模型分为两类：一类是基于亲权分析估算的母本-子代距离直接拟合扩散核函数的模型，另一类是基于子代基因型频率的空间显式模型，包括竞争源模型与莫兰-克拉克模型（Moran-Clark's Model）。全集成混合模型同样基于逆模型框架，但以基因型数量作为输入数据，即基因阴影模型（gene shadow model）。本研究还讨论了每种种子扩散估算方法的潜在误差来源与局限性。通过这五种方法估算得到的种子与幼树平均扩散距离，均高于此前针对欧洲山毛榉林的相关研究结果。所有方法均显示，初级扩散与有效扩散的核函数参数以及扩散方向性均存在显著不匹配。尽管种子雨大多沉降于母树冠幅之下，但幼树却多定植于远离母树的区域。这种不匹配格局可能源于动物介导的二次扩散，或是密度依赖效应，即扬曾-康奈尔效应（Janzen-Connell effect）。