Annual report 2015

Seed production was absent or low for beech and oak (no mast and partial mast), and varied for spruce and silver fir according to altitude (half or full mast). For beech, no fruits were found throughout the country (no mast) and for oak, generally few fruits (partial mast). Only in the Aargau/Zurich area was half or full mast reported. Spruce produced many cones at low altitudes up to 800 m a.s.l. (half to full mast), especially in the eastern parts of the northern Alps. For silver fir, half mast and full mast were increasingly recorded at higher altitudes above 800 m a.s.l. and in Western Switzerland.

Fig. 1: Map of observed and modelled seed production of Norway spruce (Picea abies) in 2015 (left). Observations of seed production along the altitudinal gradient (right).

Fig. 2: Map of observed and modelled seed production of silver fir (Abies alba) in 2015 (left). Observations of seed production along the altitudinal gradient (right).

Fig. 3: Map of observed and modelled seed production of European beech (Fagus sylvatica) in 2015 (left). Observations of seed production along the altitudinal gradient (right).
Fig. 4: Map of observed and modelled seed production of oaks (Quercus petraea, Quercus robur, Quercus pubescens) in 2015 (left). Observations of seed production along the altitudinal gradient (right).