Seed fall in a Danish beech [Fagus silvatica] stand during 1967-1974 represented 2-54 g .cntdot. m-2 .cntdot. yr-1. The quality of the beech seeds shed was very poor; barren seeds made up 5-20% and seeds attacked by Cydia fagiglandana Z. (Tortricidae) 7-55%, corresponding to a consumption of 0.7-5.4 g .cntdot. m-2 .cntdot. yr-1 (21-154 kJ .cntdot. m-2 .cntdot. yr-1) or 8-61% of the annual endosperm production (average about 36%). Natural reproduction was definitely unsuccessful. The potential food resource (endosperms) for granivorous heterotrophs in the forest floor represented 1-34 g .cntdot. m-2 .cntdot. yr-1 (30-961 kJ .cntdot. m-2 .cntdot. yr-1), however, apparently postdispersal seed predation was extremely low. In 1974 about 5% of the seed production were utilized in predispersal seed predation, whereas 90-95% entered the detritus pathway; the importance of the latter channel in the flow pattern of seed borne energy and the effect of predispersal seed predation in the research site are emphasized.