Characterizing the Change of Annual Cone Production in Longleaf Pine Forests

Sporadic cone (or seed) production challenges longleaf pine forest restoration. Characterizing annual change from long-term monitored data provides functional information on the foundational species of this imperiled ecosystem. In study, permutation entropy (PE) and phase were used to analyze based counts four sites (Escambia Experimental Forest, Blackwater River State The Jones Center at Ichauway, Sandhills Forest). PE is an analytical tool measure complexity a dynamic system while characterizes stage self-organization. Results indicate that each site was close 1.0 (largely random changes in production) generally increased with time. positive association between average air temperature different times significant two (Blackwater Forest Ichauway). frequency distribution phases (e.g., Poor (P), Fair (F), Good (G), Bumper (B)) followed negative power laws. Phase P could transition any stage, but more than 50% remained across sites. For G, it would revert B shift P, except Forest. lasting time approximately 3.7 years. overall relationship interval not statistically significant. Similarly, consecutive These results provide ecological production. Our methods can be helpful for estimating occurrence bumper production, period changes, providing predicting natural regeneration potential over other tree masting species).