Seed germination strategies: an evolutionary trajectory independent of vegetative functional traits.

ABSTRACT: Seed germination strategies vary dramatically among species but relatively little is known about how germination traits correlate with other elements of plant strategy systems. Understanding drivers of germination strategy is critical to our understanding of the evolutionary biology of plant reproduction.We present a novel assessment of seed germination strategies focussing on Australian alpine species as a case study. We describe the distribution of germination strategies and ask whether these are correlated with, or form an independent axis to, other plant functional traits. Our approach to describing germination strategy mimicked realistic temperatures that seeds experience in situ following dispersal. Strategies were subsequently assigned using an objective clustering approach. We hypo

SUBMITTER: Hoyle GL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4600905 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature