Seed size, shape and persistence in the soil in an Iranian flora

By K. Thompson, Adel Jalili, J. Hodgson, B. Hamzeh'ee, Y. Asri, S. Shaw, A. Shirvany, S. Yazdani, M. Khoshnevis, F. Zarrinkamar and 2 more. Seed Science Research, 2001

89 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Previous studies on several floras have shown that species with small, rounded seeds tend to accumulate persistent seed banks in the soil, while species with larger, less compact seeds do not. The suggested underlying mechanism is predation. Small seeds experience less predation and are more likely to become buried, which itself offers significant protection from predation by vertebrates. The relationship between seed size and shape and persistence in the soil was examined for the flora of the Arasbaran Protected Area in northwest Iran. Seed size was related to persistence in the soil in Iran in the same way as in most other floras examined, but seed shape was not. It is suggested that predation prevents persistence of large seeds in most floras. Where large-seeded persistent species predominate, for example in Australia and (to a lesser extent) in New Zealand, other factors may interfere with the relationship between seed size and predation.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Molecular Biology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/406a483a696896a7625e74db552c328745ba1e08

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In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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Citations in the corpus

The Ecology of Seeds: References (2005, unknown): “4.4) and Iranian (Thompson et al., 2001) floras.”
Alpine species seed longevity in the soil in relation to seed size and shape – A 5-year burial experiment in the Central Alps (2010, background): “…Eriksson, 1995; Funes et al., 1999; Kyereh et al., 1999; Leck, 1989; McDonald et al., 1996; Moles et al., 2000; Peco et al., 2003; Thompson, 1987; Thompson et al., 1993, 2001; Tsuyuzaki, 1991) have shown that persistent seeds tend to be smaller than transient seeds, although contradicting…”
Seed size and plant strategy across the whole life cycle (2006, background): “…species to produce seeds that spend long periods of time in the soil before germinating (Thompson and Grime 1979, Thompson 1987, Leck 1989, Thompson et al. 1993, 2001, Price and Joyner 1997, Bekker et al. 1998, Hodkinson et al. 1998, Funes et al. 1999, Moles et al. 2000) would mean that…”
Effect of light on germination of seeds of Cactaceae from the Chihuahuan Desert, Mexico (2006, background): “In addition, small seed size has been associated with a light requirement for germination (Grime et al., 1981; Pons, 1991a, 2000; Milberg et al., 2000; Maiti et al., 2003), as well as with persistent seed banks (Thompson et al., 1993, 2001; Hodkinson et al., 1998).”
Seed size, shape and persistence in dry Mediterranean grass and scrublands (2003, background): “For the classified species, seed weights ranged between 0.011 and 6.22 mg, and seed shape ranged between 0.01 and 0.27 and included only herbaceous species, mainly annuals (Appendix 1).”
Soil seed banks in plant invasions: promoting species invasiveness and long-term impact on plant community dynamics. (2012, background): “In Iran (Thompson et al. 2001) and semi-arid central China (Wang et al. 2011), only seed size was found to relate to seed persistence.”
Structural, physiological and molecular aspects of heterogeneity in seeds: a review (2005, background): “Some plant communities of persistent seeds have smaller and more rounded seeds than communities of transient seeds (Thompson et al., 1993; Bekker et al., 1998; Hodkinson et al., 1998; Funes et al., 1999; Moles et al., 2000; Thompson et al., 2001; Peco et al., 2003).”
Seed size, shape and persistence in soil: a test on Italian flora from Alps to Mediterranean coasts (2003, background): “It appears that the threshold in size and shape drawn by Thompson et al. (2001) could be interpreted as a line below which a seed can persist for long periods in the soil, but does not necessarily do so.”
Patterns of seed persistence in South African fynbos (2004, background): “Seed pr?dation undoubtedly is a strong selective force preventing persistence of large seeds in South African fynbos (Pierce and Cowling 1991), as in most floras (Hulme 1994; Thompson et al. 2001).”
Plant biodiversity of Hyrcanian relict forests, N Iran: an overview of the flora, vegetation, palaeoecology and conservation. (2010, background): “Also tree ring data of (Touchan et al., 2007) suggest a concentration of wet years in southwestern Anatolia in the 11th century.”
Are seed dormancy and persistence in soil related? (2003, background): “…and persistence are quite distinct phenomena, and confusing them may divert attention from seed traits that are crucial to the evolution of persistence, e.g. burial (Peart, 1984; Thompson et al., 1993, 2001) and chemical defence against pathogens (Hendry et al., 1994; Blaney and Kotanen, 2001).”