The fundamental trade‐off between current and future reproduction has long been considered to result in a tendency for species that can grow large to begin reproduction at a larger size. Due to the prolonged time required to reach maturity, estimates of tree maturation size remain very rare and we lack a global view on the generality and the shape of this trade‐off. Using seed production from five continents, we estimate tree maturation sizes for 486 tree species spanning tropical to boreal climates. Results show that a species' maturation size increases with maximum size, but in a non‐proportional way: the largest species begin reproduction at smaller sizes than would be expected if maturation were simply proportional to maximum size. Furthermore, the decrease in relative maturation size is steepest in cold climates. These findings on maturation size drivers are key to accurately represent forests' responses to disturbance and climate change.

中文翻译：

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从热带到寒带气候，成熟尺寸与最大树木尺寸之间的关系


长期以来，人们一直认为当前和未来繁殖之间的基本权衡导致了能够长大的物种开始以更大尺寸繁殖的趋势。由于达到成熟所需的时间较长，对树木成熟大小的估计仍然非常罕见，而且我们缺乏对这种权衡的普遍性和形状的全局看法。利用五大洲的种子产量，我们估算了跨越热带到寒带气候的 486 种树种的树木成熟规模。结果表明，物种的成熟尺寸随着最大尺寸的增加而增加，但以不成比例的方式增加：最大的物种开始繁殖时的尺寸比成熟与最大尺寸简单成比例时预期的尺寸要小。此外，在寒冷气候下，相对成熟尺寸的下降幅度最大。这些关于成熟规模驱动因素的发现对于准确表示森林对干扰和气候变化的反应至关重要。