HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

What's this?

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (5) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Karrenberg, S. Articles by Suter, M. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Karrenberg, S. Articles by Suter, M. Agricola Articles by Karrenberg, S. Articles by Suter, M. Social Bookmarking                            What's this?

Phenotypic trade-offs in the sexual reproduction of Salicaceae from flood plains¹

Geobotanical Institute ETH, Zurichbergstrasse 38, 8044 Zurich, Switzerland

We studied the relationship of seed mass to seed longevity (controlled conditions) and to seed number in six species of Salicaceae (Populus nigra, Salix alba, S. daphnoides, S. elaeagnos, S. purpurea, and S. triandra) that frequently co-occur on European flood plains. These species regenerate sexually in the same habitat but differ in seed mass. Half-viability periods, i.e., the time after which 50% of the initially viable seeds no longer germinate, were short (between 6.5 ± 0.1 and 23.3 ± 0.3 d), and large numbers of seeds were produced (between 10 000 and 1 x 10⁶ per plant). Mean seed mass ranged from 0.02 ± 0.001 mg in S. triandra to 0.80 ± 0.05 mg in P. nigra. Whereas seed mass was, against expectation, positively related to half-viability periods, seed number generally decreased with increasing seed mass. Thus, a phenotypic trade-off between seed mass and seed number appears to be accentuated by an increase in seed longevity with increasing seed mass.

Key Words: half-viability period • Populus • Salicaceae • Salix • seed longevity • seed mass • size–number trade-off

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Lin, J. P. Gibbs, and L. B. Smart Population genetic structure of native versus naturalized sympatric shrub willows (Salix; Salicaceae) Am. J. Botany, April 1, 2009; 96(4): 771 - 785. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. L. Halpern Sources and consequences of seed size variation in Lupinus perennis (Fabaceae): adaptive and non-adaptive hypotheses Am. J. Botany, February 1, 2005; 92(2): 205 - 213. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]