Negative correlation between altitudes and oxygen isotope ratios of seeds: exploring its applicability to assess vertical seed dispersal.

Vertical seed dispersal, which plays a key role in plant escape and/or expansion under climate change, was recently evaluated for the first time using negative correlation between altitudes and oxygen isotope ratio of seeds. Although this method is innovative, its applicability to other plants is unknown. To explore the applicability of the method, we regressed altitudes on O of seeds of five woody species constituting three families in temperate forests in central Japan.