Weak evidence of trade-offs modulated by seed mass among a guild of closely related winter annuals.

ABSTRACT: Plant-plant interactions are integral to the establishment and persistence of diversity in plant communities. For annual plant species that depend on seeds to regenerate, seed characteristics that confer fitness advantages may mediate processes such as plant-plant interactions. Seed mass is known to vary widely and has been shown to associate with species' differences in stress tolerance and competitive effects. However, understanding of how seed mass influences species' responses to competition is less well understood. Using natural assemblages of six closely related annual plant species in Western Australia, we implemented a thinning study to assess how seed mass influences the outcomes of plant-plant interactions. We found relatively weak evidence for competition or facilitation among s

SUBMITTER: da Silva IA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10386915 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature