Seedling survival and seed size: a synthesis of the literature

By A. Moles, M. Westoby. 2004

978 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Subfields: Ecology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/efa96dbee38b299c9cb42a02534795ac6af3484c

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology

1. O. Eriksson
2. A. Moles
3. M. Westoby
4. R. Pakeman
5. J. Lepš
6. S. Lavorel
7. F. Valladares
8. Lonnie W. Aarssen

In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

1. A. Moles
2. M. Westoby
3. S. Lavorel
4. J. Funk
5. O. Eriksson
6. J. Lepš
7. F. Valladares
8. J. Larson

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

1. A. Moles
2. M. Westoby
3. S. Lavorel
4. R. Pakeman
5. I. Wright
6. Francesco de Bello
7. J. Lepš
8. O. Eriksson

Citations in the corpus

• Dispersal strategies and spatial organization of vegetation in arid ecosystems (2008, neutral): “15, depending on the plant species (Moles and Westoby 2004).”
• Plant survival in relation to seed size along environmental gradients: a long‐term study from semi‐arid and Mediterranean annual plant communities (2010, background): “The strongest claim against such a long-lasting survival advantage with larger seed size came from the synthesis of Moles & Westoby (2004) who compiled data from the Bold indicates significant P-values (P 0.05).”
• Soil water content and emergence time control seedling establishment in three co-occurring Mediterranean oak species (2008, background): “This might be due to the important role played by seed reserves in large-seeded species such as oaks during early development (Bonfil 1998; Quero et al. 2007), principally under resource stress (Moles and Westoby 2004).”
• Effects of bryophytes and grass litter on seedling emergence vary by vertical seed position and seed size (2010, background): “Three mechanisms are related to seed size and may have a strong influence on the performance of seeds (Leishman et al. 2000; Moles and Westoby 2004): the seedling size effect, the reserve effect and the metabolic effect (Westoby et al. 1996).”
• Population differences in juvenile survival under increasing drought are mediated by seed size in cork oak (Quercus suber L.). (2009, background): “…to be an adaptive trait associated with environmental variables such as latitude (Yakimowski and Eckert, 2007), altitude (Yamada and Miyaura, 2005), temperature (Murray et al., 2004) and water availability (Parciak, 2002) but also with dispersal strategy and growth form (Moles and Westoby, 2004a).”
• Seed mass, seedling size and neotropical tree seedling establishment (2005, background): “, - - Moles & Westoby (2004) propose that the fitness consequences of larger seed mass are best examined across the entire plant life cycle, including seed production, pre-dispersal predation, dispersal, post-dispersal predation, seedling emergence and establishment, growth to reproductive…”
• Plant invasions along mountain roads: the altitudinal amplitude of alien Asteraceae forbs in their native and introduced ranges (2009, background): “Seed size affects the success of seedling establishment (Moles and Westoby 2004), and so the North American species might be more limited by disturbance (Burke and Grime 1996, Poll et al. in press).”
• Seed and seedling traits affecting critical life stage transitions and recruitment outcomes in dryland grasses (2015, result): “This trend corroborates a review of the literature finding little overall effect of seed mass on transition rates through emergence (Moles & Westoby 2004).”
• Variation in seed and germination characteristics among Juniperus procera populations in Ethiopia (2006, background): “shade, drought and/or herbivory) favor selection for larger seeds, as they provide more reserves for successful establishment of seedlings (Moles and Westoby, 2004).”
• Cross‐species patterns in the coordination between leaf and stem traits, and their implications for plant hydraulics (2006, background): “…underpinned by a clear trade-off between better seedling survival in the face of hazards and the number of seeds produced per square metre of canopy (Moles and Westoby 2004), while the 'leaf economics spectrum' (Wright et al. 2004) runs from species with high specific leaf area (SLA), high leaf N…”
• Seed dispersal distance is more strongly correlated with plant height than with seed mass (2011, background): “Small-seeded species also tend to have high annual seed output, but short lifespans (Moles & Westoby 2004; Moles et al. 2004).”
• Small‐seeded species produce more seeds per square metre of canopy per year, but not per individual per lifetime (2004, background): “However, there is some evidence that the advantage of large-seeded species during seedling establishment is not sufficient to counterbalance the greater number of small seeds that can be produced for a given amount of reproductive effort (Coomes & Grubb 2003; Moles & Westoby 2004).”
• EARLY EMERGENCE ENHANCES PLANT FITNESS: A PHYLOGENETICALLY CONTROLLED META‐ANALYSIS (2005, background): “Moles and Westoby (2004) found that, under experimentally imposed hazards, the seedling survival advantage of large vs. small-seeded species disappeared once seed reserves were deployed.”
• Interspecific variation in functional traits, not climatic differences among species ranges, determines demographic rates across 44 temperate and Mediterranean tree species (2010, background): “However, the seedlings of large-seeded species are better able to cope with many of the stresses encountered during establishment and usually have higher survival through early seedling establishment (Moles & Westoby 2004, 2006).”