Seed & Fruit Ecology II

• Seed Dispersal• Seed Pool• Consequences of seed pool

Seed Dispersal

• Leptokurtic curve with low mean and long tail

• dense stand • edge of forest • wind factors • Seasonal release of seeds

Dispersal Curves

Dispersal

edge of forest

Dense Stands

Seasonal release of seeds

Dispersal of Fruit: Experimental

Seed Pool• Buffering populations

from environmental variation

• Seed dormancy would be opposed if there was no environmental variation

• Selection for immediate germination

Seed pools

•Effect of community composition

Characteristics of seed pool

• Seed germination • Seed dormancy types • born dormant • enforced by

season/switched on • breaking dormancy • Seed longevity in pool • Seed senescence in

pool

Seed germination

Seed germination

• requirements • dessication• cold • scarification of seed

coat • light

Consequences of seed pool

• fate of seeds • delay germination • genetic input of good

years versus bad years