Synchronized episodic reproduction among long-lived plants shapes ecological interactions, ecosystem dynamics, and evolutionary processes worldwide. Two active scientific fields investigate the causes and consequences of such synchronized reproduction: the fields of masting and fire-stimulated flowering. While parallels between masting and fire-stimulated flowering have been previously noted, there has been little dialogue between these historically independent fields. We predict that the synthesis of these fields will facilitate new insight into the causes and consequences of synchronized reproduction. Here we briefly review parallels between masting and fire-stimulated flowering, using two case studies and a database of 1870 plant species to facilitate methodological, conceptual, geographical, taxonomic, and phylogenetic comparisons. We identify avenues for future research and describe three key opportunities associated with synthesis. First, the taxonomic and geographic complementarity of empirical studies from these historically independent fields highlights the potential to derive more general inferences about global patterns and consequences of synchronized reproduction in perennial plants. Second, masting's well developed conceptual framework for evaluating adaptive hypotheses can help guide empirical studies of fire-stimulated species and enable stronger inferences about the evolutionary ecology of fire-stimulated flowering. Third, experimental manipulation of reproductive variation in fire-stimulated species presents unique opportunities to empirically investigate foundational questions about ecological and evolutionary processes underlying synchronized reproduction. Synthesis of these fields and their complementary insights offers a unique opportunity to advance our understanding of the evolutionary ecology of synchronized reproduction in perennial plants.

中文翻译：

---

桅杆、火刺激开花和同步繁殖的进化生态学

长寿植物之间的同步间歇性繁殖塑造了全球生态相互作用、生态系统动态和进化过程。两个活跃的科学领域研究这种同步繁殖的原因和后果：肥大和火刺激开花领域。虽然之前已经注意到桅杆和火刺激开花之间的相似之处，但这些历史上独立的领域之间几乎没有对话。我们预测，这些领域的综合将促进对同步繁殖的原因和后果的新见解。在这里，我们使用两个案例研究和 1870 个植物物种的数据库，简要回顾了肥大和火刺激开花之间的相似之处，以促进方法、概念、地理、分类和系统发育的比较。我们确定了未来研究的途径，并描述了与合成相关的三个关键机会。首先，这些历史上独立领域的实证研究的分类学和地理互补性凸显了对多年生植物同步繁殖的全球模式和后果得出更普遍推论的潜力。其次，Masting 完善的评估适应性假设的概念框架可以帮助指导火灾刺激物种的实证研究，并能够对火灾刺激开花的进化生态学做出更有力的推论。第三，对火灾刺激物种的繁殖变异进行实验操作，为实证研究同步繁殖背后的生态和进化过程的基本问题提供了独特的机会。这些领域的综合及其互补的见解为增进我们对多年生植物同步繁殖的进化生态学的理解提供了独特的机会。