Limits to reproduction and seed size-number trade-offs that shape forest dominance and future recovery.

ABSTRACT: The relationships that control seed production in trees are fundamental to understanding the evolution of forest species and their capacity to recover from increasing losses to drought, fire, and harvest. A synthesis of fecundity data from 714 species worldwide allowed us to examine hypotheses that are central to quantifying reproduction, a foundation for assessing fitness in forest trees. Four major findings emerged. First, seed production is not constrained by a strict trade-off between seed size and numbers. Instead, seed numbers vary over ten orders of magnitude, with species that invest in large seeds producing more seeds than expected from the 1:1 trade-off. Second, gymnosperms have lower seed production than angiosperms, potentially due to their extra investments in protective woody

SUBMITTER: Qiu T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9061860 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature