Masting Maple

There appears to be an unusally heavy seed production of Norway maples this year (referred to as 'masting'). You have probably noticed it - keep on eye on this from year to year. Masting events can often be very consequential for the suvival of particular species. One hypothesis regarding the cause of masting is that by having an unusually large seed production in one year, the seeds evade predators - there is simply too many seeds for them all to be consumed!