Pattern, Adaptation, and Constraint in Fruiting Synchrony within Vertebrate-Dispersed Woody Plants

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Abstract
Patterns of within-plant fruit ripening synchrony were examined for 12 woody species [including Prunus serotina, Aronia prunifolia, Ilex vertricillata, Cornus amomum, C. florida, C. foemina, C. stolonifera, Nemopanthus mucronata, Gaylussacia baccata, and Vaccinium corymbosum]in southeastern Michigan, USA. Flowering was more synchronous than fruiting in all individuals tested, suggesting that flowering may constrain fruiting synchrony. However, flowering and fruitng synchrony were not positively correlated among individuals of Amelanchier arborea or Prunus virginiana and only weakly correlated among nine species, indicating that selection may act independently on the two phenological events. Contrary to the frugivore availability hypothesis, summer fruiting species were not less synchronous than autumn fruiters. Species in which fruits undergo a dual color change during ripening tended to have more asynchronous ripening, but this pattern was confounded by a phylogenetic pattern. Two species in the Ericaceae had the most asynchronous flowering and fruiting; among the remaining species the strongest pattern was that trees were more asynchronous than shrubs.
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