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