Major masts made by multiplicative modification

Ecology Letters “Extended flowering intervals of bamboos evolved by discrete multiplication”

This is a great example of how theory can be used to explain patterns in nature by matching patterns in nature.

Masting is a group-level evolved phenomenon: producing seeds in abundance during a single year where every other plant of your species is doing the same is a great way to assure that at least some of your seeds survive the seed-eaters. This study shows that there strong evidence suggesting that species first settle into small-scale intervals where a modest advantage to masting can be realized by synchronized individuals and then multiply this interval to realize greater benefits of masting.