permaculture

[Ben Martin Horst <ben.martinhorst@gmail.com>]

>
> OK, Ben - I'll go along with that (although a reference to a study
> confirming the specific relationship you describe would make the thesis
> even more convincing).
>

Sure. In general, you can look up the Predator Satiation Hypothesis. For a
brief account in the mainstream press, see
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/03/nyregion/boom-and-bust-in-acorns-will-affect-many-creatures-including-humans.html?_r=0,
regarding last years low acorn crop in the US northeast.

For a more technical discussion, see "The evolutionary ecology of mast
seeding in 
trees"<http://www.jonathansilvertown.com/Site/Research_publications_files/Biolog%20Jour14(1980)%20.pdf>
by
Silvertown, "Predator satiation and recruitment in a mast fruiting
monocarpic herb" <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3043937/> by
Tsvuura et al, or the more nuanced "Prolonged diapause of specialist
seed-feeders makes predator satiation unstable in masting of Quercus
crispula"<http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00442-003-1381-6/fulltext.html>
by
Maeto and Ozaki.

I should note that it does look from a quick review of the literature that
irregular cycling of mast production is a fair bit more complicated than
I've presented it, with factors like hormonal variability, annual climate
variation, and insect predation playing major roles (although it looks like
evidence for the predator satiation hypothesis is stronger for oaks and
weevils than it is for oaks and rodents).

Moreover, it's still far from clear to me that irregular fruiting cycles in
apples, etc, are affected by predator satiation dynamics. I haven't yet
found anything to suggest that it's even been researched, but since I'm
looking through some of the literature anyway, here's a review of what
general consensus is about alternate bearing in a number of crops,
including apples: "Alternate bearing in fruit
trees"<http://www.crec.ifas.ufl.edu/academics/classes/HOS6546/materials/Hort_Reviews.pdf>,
by Monselise and Goldschmidt.

Fun stuff.

-Ben