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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

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