transport: Seed dispersal

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

In spermatophytic plants, seed dispersal is the movement, spread or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. Plants have limited mobility and rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their seeds, including both abiotic vectors, such as the wind, and living (biotic) vectors such as birds. Seeds can be dispersed away from the parent plant individually or collectively, as well as dispersed in both space and time. The patterns of seed dispersal are determined in large part by the dispersal mechanism and this has important implications for the demographic and genetic structure of plant populations, as well as migration patterns and species interactions. Seed dispersal comes in…

Evidence: 52 • authority: 92

Seed release by a serotinous pine in the absence of fire: implications for invasion into temperate regions.. In pines, the release of seeds from serotinous cones is primarily considered a response to the high temperatures of a fire. However, the naturalization of serotinous pines in regions where fires are rare highlights the need to quantify environmental conditions that determine seed release to allow accurate prediction of dispersal and spread risk. We investigated the conditions that break cone serotiny in Pinus radiata , a widely planted forestry species that has naturalized in temperate regions worldwide. We quantified the cone temperatures at which cones open in this species, while a…

Evidence: 43 • authority: 80

Author response for "The ability to disperse large seeds, rather than body mass alone, defines the importance of animals in a hyper‐diverse seed dispersal network"

Evidence: 43 • authority: 92

Phenotypic variation and differentiated gene expression of Australian plants in response to declining rainfall.. Declining rainfall is projected to have negative impacts on the demographic performance of plant species. Little is known about the adaptive capacity of species to respond to drying climates, and whether adaptation can keep pace with climate change. In fire-prone ecosystems, episodic recruitment of perennial plant species in the first year post-fire imposes a specific selection environment, offering a unique opportunity to quantify the scope for adaptive response to climate change. We examined the growth of seedlings of four fire-killed species under control and drought condition…