Producing excessive quantities of fruits and seeds in mast seeding years may over-satiate seed predators to the point that a small proportion of seeds can escape consumption, while a lack of seed production keeps predator populations low in the intervening years.
Generating large amounts of fruits and seeds during mast seeding years might over-stimulate seed predators to such an extent that a few seeds can avoid being eaten, whereas a scarcity of seed production keeps predator populations low in the subsequent years.