Cloning capacity helps seeds of Garcinia xanthochymus counter animal predation.

ABSTRACT: Seed predators have the potential to act as agents of natural selection that influence seed traits and seed fates, which in turn affect the whole plant population dynamic. Accordingly, plants deploy a variety of mechanisms (e.g., resistance and tolerance strategies) to lessen the impact of predation on seed crop or on an individual seed. In this study, we described a novel mechanism, seed cloning strategy, in a tropical plant species in countering animal predation. By conducting field- and laboratory-based germination experiments, we found that both rodent damaged and artificially damaged seed fragments of a large-seeded tree Garcinia xanthochymus (Clusiaceae) could successfully germinate and establish as seedlings. Tissue culture experiments revealed that G. xanthochymus has

SUBMITTER: Wang ZY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8462166 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature