Leverkus, Alexandro B.Medina, MaríaLázaro González, AlbaLevy, LauraLorente Casalini, OliviaReyes Martín, Marino P.Andivia Muñoz, EnriqueBizzarri, AlessandroBöhlenius, HenrikCambria, Vito E.Cocozza, ClaudiaCvjetković, Branislavde Dato, GiovanbattistaEhrenbergerová, LenkaFerus, PeterGómez Aparicio, LorenaHampe, ArndtHanssen, Kjersti HoltJakubowski, MarcinKerkez Janković, IvonaKlisz, MarcinKowalkowski, WojciechKremer, KlausLazarevic, JelenaLazdiņa, DagnijaLingua, EmanueleLöf, MagnusLucas Borja, Manuel E.Łukowski, AdrianMaia, PaulaMairota, PaolaMaltoni, AlbertoMariotti, BarbaraMarzano, RaffaellaMondanelli, LuciaMontagnoli, AntonioMonteverdi, Maria CristinaNavarro Reyes, Francisco B.Oliet, Juan A.Patrício, Maria S.Poduška, ZoranPopovic, VladanPuchałka, RadosławRobakowski, PiotrSewerniak, PiotrUreña Lara, CarmenVillar Salvador, PedroWitzell, JohannaAnselmetto, NicolòBauhus, JürgenBenavides, RaquelBolzon, PaolaCarbonero Muñoz, María D.Castro, JorgeChiatante, DonatoCorticeiro, SofiaDe Sanctis, MicheleDevetaković, JovanaDūmiņš, KārlisSundheim, Fløistad IngerJiménez Morales, M. NoeliaJovanović, SanjaKanjevac, BrankoKroon, JohanLa Montagna, DarioMalik, RomanMartiník, AntonínMatías, LuisMcClory, RyanMeloni, FabioMerino Ceballos, ManuelMoreno Llorca, Ricardo A.Nonić, MarinaNunes, LuísPlaza Álvarez, Pedro AntonioProietti, RobertaPuccinelli, StefanoRey Benayas, José MaríaSzczerba, MarekTomczak, ArkadiuszTopalovic, AnaVendiņa, Viktorija2026-04-102026-04-102026-01-01Leverkus, A. B., Medina, M., Lázaro-González, A., Levy, L., Lorente-Casalini, O., Reyes Martín, M. P., Andivia, E., Bizzarri, A., Böhlenius, H., Cambria, V. E., Cocozza, C., Cvjetković, B., de Dato, G., Ehrenbergerová, L., Ferus, P., Gómez-Aparicio, L., Hampe, A., Hanssen, K. H., Jakubowski, M., et al. (2026). Drivers of seedling emergence and early growth of 12 European oak species: Results from a cross-continental experiment. Forest Ecology and Management, 599. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.FORECO.2025.1232230378-112710.1016/j.foreco.2025.123223https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/134613This 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 Andalucía/ 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.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.engAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/journal article1872-7042https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2025.123223https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112725007315?via%3Dihubopen access582.632.2581.526.42630*232581.3581.14Seed qualityRegenerationDirect seedingSeed germinationCoordinated distributed experimentClimatic gradientBotánica (Biología)Ecología (Biología)2417 Biología Vegetal (Botánica)3106 Ciencia Forestal2417.13 Ecología Vegetal2417.15 Desarrollo Vegetal