The Seeds of Fall
By Dave Anderson

It’s a pretty good autumn acorn crop in parts of New Hampshire. No beech nuts this year. Last autumn, there were few acorns but more beech nuts. Wild nut production varies annually by region and even within a given region.

Trees follow an intentional boom and bust evolutionary strategy called “masting” which insures at least some tree seeds will survive, germinate and grow to maturity.

Wildlife biologists term variable seed crops as “mast” from "masticate." Hard mast includes seeds or nuts: acorns, beech nuts, maple seeds. Soft mast is fruit: wild strawberries, blueberries, grapes and apples.

By varying annual mast production, trees effectively control birth rates, adult survival and migration of seed consumers from small mice and voles to larger deer and black bears. After several successive lean years, a bumper crop effectively "floods the market" overwhelming the ability of remaining seed-eaters to consume all that mast.

Annual variations in seed crops are as significant in determining the regional abundance of wildlife as winter severity, hunting pressure and rates of roadkill and diseases. Trees have evolved to successfully manage populations of seed predators. In doing so, trees also influence the relative abundance of large predators and tiny parasites including ticks and mange mites.

Contrary to popular wisdom that says “it’s the little things that rule the Earth,” in eastern oak forests, the largest plants – mature, acorn-producing oaks – control the fates of all other creatures sharing the forest!