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Oliet, Juan AAuthorBenavides, RaquelAuthor

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February 11, 2026
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Hybrid Gold

Drivers of seedling emergence and early growth of 12 European oak species: Results from a cross-continental experiment

Publicated to: FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT. 599 - 2026-01-01 599(), DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2025.123223

Authors:

Leverkus, Alexandro B; Medina, Maria; Lazaro-Gonzalez, Alba; Levy, Laura; Lorente-Casalini, Olivia; Martin, Marino P Reyes; Andivia, Enrique; Bizzarri, Alessandro; Bohlenius, Henrik; Cambria, Vito E; Cocozza, Claudia; Cvjetkovic, Branislav; de Dato, Giovanbattista; Ehrenbergerova, Lenka; Ferus, Peter; Gomez-Aparicio, Lorena; Hampe, Arndt; Hanssen, Kjersti Holt; Jakubowski, Marcin; Jankovic, Ivona Kerkez; Klisz, Marcin; Kowalkowski, Wojciech; Kremer, Klaus; Lazarevic, Jelena; Lazdina, Dagnija; Lingua, Emanuele; Lof, Magnus; Lucas-Borja, Manuel E; Lukowski, Adrian; Maia, Paula; Mairota, Paola; Maltoni, Alberto; Mariotti, Barbara; Marzano, Raffaella; Mondanelli, Lucia; Montagnoli, Antonio; Monteverdi, Maria Cristina; Reyes, Francisco B Navarro; Oliet, Juan A; Patricio, Maria S; Poduska, Zoran; Popovic, Vladan; Puchalka, Radoslaw; Robakowski, Piotr; Sewerniak, Piotr; Urena-Lara, Carmen; Villar-Salvador, Pedro; Witzell, Johanna; Anselmetto, Nicolo; Bauhus, Jurgen; Benavides, Raquel; Bolzon, Paola; Munoz, Maria D Carbonero; Castro, Jorge; Chiatante, Donato; Corticeiro, Sofia; De Sanctis, Michele; Devetakovic, Jovana; Dumins, Karlis; Sundheim, Floistad Inger; Morales, M Noelia Jimenez; Jovanovic, Sanja; Kanjevac, Branko; Kroon, Johan; La Montagna, Dario; Malik, Roman; Martinik, Antonin; Matias, Luis; McClory, Ryan; Meloni, Fabio; Ceballos, Manuel Merino; Llorca, Ricardo A Moreno; Nonic, Marina; Nunes, Luis; Plaza-Alvarez, Pedro Antonio; Proietti, Roberta; Puccinelli, Stefano; Benayas, Jose Maria Rey; Szczerba, Marek; Tomczak, Arkadiusz; Topalovic, Ana; Vendina, Viktorija
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Affiliations

Andalusian Inst Agr Fishing Food Invest & Ecol Pr, Hinojosa del Duque Ctr, Rd El Viso Km 2, Hinojosa Del Duque 14270, Spain - Author
Andalusian Inst Agr Res & Training IFAPA, Camino Purchil S-N, Granada 18004, Spain - Author
Castilla La Mancha Univ, Campus Univ S-N, Albacete 02071, Spain - Author
CREA Res Ctr Forestry & Wood, Viale Santa Margherita 80, I-52100 Arezzo, Italy - Author
CSIC, Inst Nat Resources & Agrobiol Seville IRNAS, Ave Reina Mercedes 10, Seville 41012, Spain - Author
Forest Res Inst, Dept Silviculture & Forest Tree Genet, Dendrolab IBL, Braci Lesnej 3, PL-05090 Sekocin Stary, Poland - Author
Inst Forest Ecol SAS, Mly nany Arboretum, Dept Dendrobiol, Vieska Zitavou 178, SK-95152 Slepcany, Slovakia - Author
Inst Forestry, Dept Forest Management Planning Org & Econ, Kneza Viseslava 3, Belgrade 11030, Serbia - Author
Inst Forestry, Dept Genet Plant Breeding Seed & Nursery Prod, Kneza Viseslava 3, Belgrade 11000, Serbia - Author
Inst Politecn Braganca, LA SusTEC, CIMO, Campus Santa Apolonia, P-5300523 Braganca, Portugal - Author
Latvian State Forest Res Inst SILAVA, Forest Regenerat & Estab Tree Plantings, Riga St 111, LV-2169 Salaspils, Latvia - Author
Linnaeus Univ, Dept Forestry & Wood Technol, Georg Luckligs Vag 1, S-35195 Vaxjo, Sweden - Author
Mendel Univ Brno, Fac Forestry, Dept Forest Bot Dendrol & Geobiocoenol, Zemedelska 1, Brno 61300, Czech Republic - Author
Mendel Univ Brno, Fac Forestry, Dept Silviculture, Zemedelska 1, Brno 61300, Czech Republic - Author
Nicolaus Copernicus Univ Torun, Ctr Climate Change Res, Lwowska 1, PL-87100 Torun, Poland - Author
Nicolaus Copernicus Univ Torun, Dept Ecol & Biogeog, Lwowska 1, PL-87100 Torun, Poland - Author
Nicolaus Copernicus Univ Torun, Dept Soil Sci & Landscape Ecol, Lwowska 1, PL-87100 Torun, Poland - Author
Norwegian Inst Bioecon Res, Dept Forest Genet & Regenerat, POB 115, N-1431 As, Norway - Author
Norwegian Inst Bioecon Res, Dept Forest Management, POB 115, N-1431 As, Norway - Author
Poznan Univ Life Sci, Dept Forest Utilisat, Fac Forestry & Wood Technol, Wojska Polskiego 71A, PL-60625 Poznan, Poland - Author
Poznan Univ Life Sci, Fac Forestry & Wood Technol, Dept Silviculture, Wojska Polskiego 28, PL-60637 Poznan, Poland - Author
Poznan Univ Life Sci, Siemianice Expt Forest Dist, Kasztanowa 2A, PL-63645 Siemianice, Poland - Author
Sapienza Univ Rome, Bot Garden Rome, Dept Environm Biol, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, I-000185 Rome, Italy - Author
Skogforsk Forestry Res Inst, Ekebo 2250, S-26890 Svalov, Sweden - Author
Swedish Univ Agr Sci, Southern Swedish Forest Res Ctr, Sundsvagen 3, S-23422 Lomma, Sweden - Author
Univ Alcala, Dept Ciencias Vida, Ctra Madrid Barcelona,Km 33, Alcala De Henares 28801, Spain - Author
Univ Aveiro, Dept Biol, Campus Univ Santiago, P-3810193 Aveiro, Portugal - Author
Univ Banja Luka, Fac Forestry, Bulevar Vojvode Petra Bojovica 1A, Banja Luka 78000, Bosnia & Herceg - Author
Univ Bari Aldo Moro, Dept Soil Plant & Food Sci, Via Amendola 165-A, I-70126 Bari, Italy - Author
Univ Belgrade, Fac Forestry, Kneza Viseslava 1, Belgrade 11030, Serbia - Author
Univ Bordeaux, BIOGECO, INRAE, F-33610 Cestas, France - Author
Univ Complutense Madrid, Fac Biol Sci, Dept Biodivers Ecol & Evolution, Jose Antonio Novais 12, Madrid 28040, Spain - Author
Univ Florence, Dept Agr Food Environm & Forestry DAGRI, Via San Bonaventura 13, Florence, Italy - Author
Univ Freiburg, Chair Silviculture, Stefan Meier Str 76, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany - Author
Univ Granada, Dept Bot, Ave Fuentenueva S-N, Granada 18071, Spain - Author
Univ Granada, Dept Ecol, Ave Fuentenueva S-N, Granada 18071, Spain - Author
Univ Granada, IISTA CEAMA, Avda Hosp S-N, Granada 18071, Spain - Author
Univ Insubria, Dept Biotechnol & Life Sci, Via Dunant 3, I-21100 Varese, Italy - Author
Univ Montenegro, Biotech Fac, Mihaila Lalica 15, Podgorica 81000, Montenegro - Author
Univ Padua, Dept TESAF, Viale Univ 16, I-35020 Legnaro, PD, Italy - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, Dept Sistemas & Recursos Nat, Jose Antonio Novais 10, Madrid 28040, Spain - Author
Univ Reading, Sch Agr Policy & Dev, Sch Agr, Agr, Whiteknights Rd, Reading RG6 6EU, Berks, England - Author
Univ Seville, Fac Biol, Ave Reina Mercedes SN, Seville, Spain - Author
Univ Torino, Dept Agr Forest & Food Sci DISAFA, Largo Paolo Braccini 2, I-10095 Grugliasco, Italy - Author
Wydzial Gospodarki Drewnem, Regionalna Dyrekcja Lasow Panstwowych Szczecinie, Ul Trzcinowa 10, PL-70893 Szczecin, Poland - Author
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Abstract

Seedling emergence constitutes a critical recruitment step, and early growth relates to plant competitive ability. Understanding their drivers has implications for forestry and forest ecosystem conservation, restoration, and adaptation to climate change. We seeded 6984 acorns in an experiment with 97 cases at 45 sites in 15 European countries, encompassing 12 oak species. We tested whether the quality of the acorn batch, site-level weather and soil characteristics, year of seeding, and species' mean specific leaf area (SLA) affected the emergence and early growth of seedlings after the first summer. Germination potential and acorn dry weight, measured under controlled conditions, were positively associated with emergence and early growth. Seedling emergence was negatively associated with the mean monthly temperature and cumulative winter precipitation, and it was higher in the seedling cohort that was spared from the 2021 drought. Additionally, seedling emergence was positively related to soil nutrient concentration and negatively to increasing soil pH, but not to water-holding capacity, and growth was unrelated to soils. Species-level SLA was not related to either response. The four main study species -Quercus cerris, Q. ilex, Q. petraea, and Q. robur- responded similarly to weather but not to soil conditions. We conclude that, at a continental scale, and assuming that species establish within their current distributions, (a) oak seedling emergence and early growth are associated with acorn quality rather than species identity or SLA, (b) they are highest at sites with low winter precipitation and temperature, (c) emergence is reduced in dry years, and (d) soil properties play a secondary role at this early recruitment stage.
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Keywords

Climatic gradientCoordinated distributed experimentCork oakForestsLeafMassQuercusRecruitmentRegeneration direct seedingRestorationSeed germinationSeed qualityShade toleranceSizeSoil-moisture

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2026, it was in position 10/92, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Forestry. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2026-04-04:

  • Scopus: 2
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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-04-04:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 18.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 18 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 2.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 3 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Czech Republic; France; Germany; Italy; Latvia; Montenegro; Norway; Poland; Portugal; Serbia; Slovakia; Sweden; United Kingdom.

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Awards linked to the item

This research was funded by grants TED2021-130976B-I00, funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union Next GenerationEU/PRTR; RESISTRES (C-EXP267-UGR23) from University of Granada/Junta de Andalucia/FEDER; and SMART-OAK, funded by the European Union through FORWARDS (Horizon Europe Project No. 101084481) grants to third parties managed by European Forest Institute. The participant network stemmed primarily from the PEN-CAFoRR COST Action (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). The work at each field site was funded by variable sources granted to co-authors. ABL acknowledges mobility grant Salvador de Madariaga (PRX23/00558) and from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation while writing this manuscript. Funding statements and acknowledgments from the field sites are provided in Appendix S2. Funding for open access charge was provided by Universidad de Granada/CBUA.
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