Count New Cones on Trees – Contribute to Community Science! - American Conifer Society This project aims to identify areas where there are LOTS of new cones produced in a year, and areas where there are few or no new cones produced in a year, and how that varies over time, and across species, at regional, continental, and global scales. Conifer cone production follows a pattern called “mast seeding,” which means there is a highly variable amount of reproduction from year to year. These mast-seeding patterns are often highly synchronized locally, which means trees of the same species may behave similarly to each other, but, in areas far apart, the trees may be doing different things. The goal of this project is to quantify new reproduction in conifers in as many geographic areas as possible to understand what drives conifer reproduction and better predict when large “mast events” might occur, hopefully helping guide collection practices for seed and cone collection.

There's still time to contribute to this year's round of cone counts, especially if you're in cooler regions! Check out our news bulletin for the American Conifer Society for more details on how to participate. #communityscience #conecounters #coniferresearch

www2.conifersociety.org/news/707534/...