John G Hodgson1,2, Gabriel Montserrat Marti3, Bozena Šerá4, Glynis Jones2, Amy Bogaard5, Mike Charles5, Xavier Font6, Mohammed Ater7, Abdelkader Taleb8, Bianca A Santini9,10, Younes Hmimsa7, Carol Palmer2, Peter J Wilson1, Stuart R Band1, Amy Styring5, Charlotte Diffey5, Laura Green5, Erika Nitsch5, Elizabeth Stroud5, Gemma Warham2. 1. Unit of Comparative Plant Ecology, The University, Sheffield, UK. 2. Department of Archaeology, The University, Sheffield, UK. 3. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Restauración, Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (CSIC), Avda. Montañana, Zaragoza, Spain. 4. Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Ilkovičova, Bratislava, Slovakia. 5. School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. 6. Centre de Documentació de Biodiversitat Vegetal, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. 7. Laboratoire Diversité et Conservation des Systèmes Biologiques (LDICOSYB), Département de Biologie, Faculté des Sciences de Tétouan, Université Abdelmalek Essaâdi, BP, Tétouan, Morocco. 8. Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II, Rabat, Morocco. 9. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, The University, Sheffield, UK. 10. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, CP, Morelia, Michoacán, México.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Plants depend fundamentally on establishment from seed. However, protocols in trait-based ecology currently estimate seed size but not seed number. This can be rectified. For annuals, seed number should simply be a positive function of vegetative biomass and a negative function of seed size. METHODS: Using published values of comparative seed number as the 'gold standard' and a large functional database, comparative seed yield and number per plant and per m2 were predicted by multiple regression. Subsequently, ecological variation in each was explored for English and Spanish habitats, newly calculated C-S-R strategies and changed abundance in the British flora. KEY RESULTS: As predicted, comparative seed mass yield per plant was consistently a positive function of plant size and competitive ability, and largely independent of seed size. Regressions estimating comparative seed number included, additionally, seed size as a negative function. Relationships differed numerically between regions, habitats and C-S-R strategies. Moreover, some species differed in life history over their geographical range. Comparative seed yield per m2 was positively correlated with FAO crop yield, and increasing British annuals produced numerous seeds. Nevertheless, predicted values must be viewed as comparative rather than absolute: they varied according to the 'gold standard' predictor used. Moreover, regressions estimating comparative seed yield per m2 achieved low precision. CONCLUSIONS: For the first time, estimates of comparative seed yield and number for >800 annuals and their predictor equations have been produced and the ecological importance of these regenerative traits has been illustrated. 'Regenerative trait-based ecology' remains in its infancy, with work needed on determinate vs. indeterminate flowering ('bet-hedging'), C-S-R methodologies, phylogeny, comparative seed yield per m2 and changing life history. Nevertheless, this has been a positive start and readers are invited to use estimates for >800 annuals, in the Supplementary data, to help advance 'regenerative trait-based ecology' to the next level.
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Plants depend fundamentally on establishment from seed. However, protocols in trait-based ecology currently estimate seed size but not seed number. This can be rectified. For annuals, seed number should simply be a positive function of vegetative biomass and a negative function of seed size. METHODS: Using published values of comparative seed number as the 'gold standard' and a large functional database, comparative seed yield and number per plant and per m2 were predicted by multiple regression. Subsequently, ecological variation in each was explored for English and Spanish habitats, newly calculated C-S-R strategies and changed abundance in the British flora. KEY RESULTS: As predicted, comparative seed mass yield per plant was consistently a positive function of plant size and competitive ability, and largely independent of seed size. Regressions estimating comparative seed number included, additionally, seed size as a negative function. Relationships differed numerically between regions, habitats and C-S-R strategies. Moreover, some species differed in life history over their geographical range. Comparative seed yield per m2 was positively correlated with FAO crop yield, and increasing British annuals produced numerous seeds. Nevertheless, predicted values must be viewed as comparative rather than absolute: they varied according to the 'gold standard' predictor used. Moreover, regressions estimating comparative seed yield per m2 achieved low precision. CONCLUSIONS: For the first time, estimates of comparative seed yield and number for >800 annuals and their predictor equations have been produced and the ecological importance of these regenerative traits has been illustrated. 'Regenerative trait-based ecology' remains in its infancy, with work needed on determinate vs. indeterminate flowering ('bet-hedging'), C-S-R methodologies, phylogeny, comparative seed yield per m2 and changing life history. Nevertheless, this has been a positive start and readers are invited to use estimates for >800 annuals, in the Supplementary data, to help advance 'regenerative trait-based ecology' to the next level.
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