Seed weight increases with altitude in the Swiss Alps between related species but not among populations of individual species
Seed weight is a crucial plant life history trait, determining establishment success and dispersal ability. Especially in stressful environments, larger seeds may be selected at the expense of seed number, because larger seeds have a better chance of giving rise to an established offspring. We teste...
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ftunivbasel:oai:edoc.unibas.ch:8679 2023-05-15T18:15:15+02:00 Seed weight increases with altitude in the Swiss Alps between related species but not among populations of individual species Pluess, Andrea R. Schütz, Wolfgang Stöcklin, Jürg 2005 application/pdf http://edoc.unibas.ch/dok/A5249756 https://edoc.unibas.ch/8679/ https://edoc.unibas.ch/8679/1/s00442-005-0047-y.pdf https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-005-0047-y eng eng Springer https://edoc.unibas.ch/8679/1/s00442-005-0047-y.pdf Pluess, Andrea R. and Schütz, Wolfgang and Stöcklin, Jürg. (2005) Seed weight increases with altitude in the Swiss Alps between related species but not among populations of individual species. Oecologia, 144 (1). pp. 55-61. info:pmid/15800741 doi:10.1007/s00442-005-0047-y urn:ISSN:0029-8549 urn:ISSN:1432-1939 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Article PeerReviewed 2005 ftunivbasel https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-005-0047-y 2023-03-05T06:50:18Z Seed weight is a crucial plant life history trait, determining establishment success and dispersal ability. Especially in stressful environments, larger seeds may be selected at the expense of seed number, because larger seeds have a better chance of giving rise to an established offspring. We tested the hypotheses that between related species-pairs and among populations of single species a similar trend for increasing seed weight with increasing altitude should be present. Firstly, we measured seed weights from 29 species-pairs, with one species occurring in lowland areas and a congeneric species from high altitudes. Seeds of the alpine species were 28+/-8% larger than seeds from lowland species (P > 0.01). Compared to the related lowland species, 55% of the alpine species had heavier seeds, 3% (one species) had lighter, and 41% had seeds of approximately equal weight. Secondly, we compared seed weights among populations of four species from different habitats and with different life histories. Seeds from between 11 and 34 populations per species were sampled along altitudinal gradients of 800-1,500 m (ca. 800 m in Scabiosa lucida, ca. 1,000 m in Saxifraga oppositifolia, ca. 1,000 m in Epilobium fleischeri, and ca. 1,500 m in Carex flacca). In all the four species, we found no indication for heavier seeds at higher altitudes. Our results indicate a selection pressure for species with heavier seeds at higher altitude, but the trend does not seem to operate across all cases. Phylogenetic constraints may limit the correlation among altitude and seed weight, operating particularly against selection for larger seed size, the closer populations and species are related to each other. Article in Journal/Newspaper Saxifraga oppositifolia University of Basel: edoc Oecologia 144 1 55 61 |
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Open Polar |
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University of Basel: edoc |
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ftunivbasel |
language |
English |
description |
Seed weight is a crucial plant life history trait, determining establishment success and dispersal ability. Especially in stressful environments, larger seeds may be selected at the expense of seed number, because larger seeds have a better chance of giving rise to an established offspring. We tested the hypotheses that between related species-pairs and among populations of single species a similar trend for increasing seed weight with increasing altitude should be present. Firstly, we measured seed weights from 29 species-pairs, with one species occurring in lowland areas and a congeneric species from high altitudes. Seeds of the alpine species were 28+/-8% larger than seeds from lowland species (P > 0.01). Compared to the related lowland species, 55% of the alpine species had heavier seeds, 3% (one species) had lighter, and 41% had seeds of approximately equal weight. Secondly, we compared seed weights among populations of four species from different habitats and with different life histories. Seeds from between 11 and 34 populations per species were sampled along altitudinal gradients of 800-1,500 m (ca. 800 m in Scabiosa lucida, ca. 1,000 m in Saxifraga oppositifolia, ca. 1,000 m in Epilobium fleischeri, and ca. 1,500 m in Carex flacca). In all the four species, we found no indication for heavier seeds at higher altitudes. Our results indicate a selection pressure for species with heavier seeds at higher altitude, but the trend does not seem to operate across all cases. Phylogenetic constraints may limit the correlation among altitude and seed weight, operating particularly against selection for larger seed size, the closer populations and species are related to each other. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Pluess, Andrea R. Schütz, Wolfgang Stöcklin, Jürg |
spellingShingle |
Pluess, Andrea R. Schütz, Wolfgang Stöcklin, Jürg Seed weight increases with altitude in the Swiss Alps between related species but not among populations of individual species |
author_facet |
Pluess, Andrea R. Schütz, Wolfgang Stöcklin, Jürg |
author_sort |
Pluess, Andrea R. |
title |
Seed weight increases with altitude in the Swiss Alps between related species but not among populations of individual species |
title_short |
Seed weight increases with altitude in the Swiss Alps between related species but not among populations of individual species |
title_full |
Seed weight increases with altitude in the Swiss Alps between related species but not among populations of individual species |
title_fullStr |
Seed weight increases with altitude in the Swiss Alps between related species but not among populations of individual species |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seed weight increases with altitude in the Swiss Alps between related species but not among populations of individual species |
title_sort |
seed weight increases with altitude in the swiss alps between related species but not among populations of individual species |
publisher |
Springer |
publishDate |
2005 |
url |
http://edoc.unibas.ch/dok/A5249756 https://edoc.unibas.ch/8679/ https://edoc.unibas.ch/8679/1/s00442-005-0047-y.pdf https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-005-0047-y |
genre |
Saxifraga oppositifolia |
genre_facet |
Saxifraga oppositifolia |
op_relation |
https://edoc.unibas.ch/8679/1/s00442-005-0047-y.pdf Pluess, Andrea R. and Schütz, Wolfgang and Stöcklin, Jürg. (2005) Seed weight increases with altitude in the Swiss Alps between related species but not among populations of individual species. Oecologia, 144 (1). pp. 55-61. info:pmid/15800741 doi:10.1007/s00442-005-0047-y urn:ISSN:0029-8549 urn:ISSN:1432-1939 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-005-0047-y |
container_title |
Oecologia |
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144 |
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1 |
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55 |
op_container_end_page |
61 |
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1766188351317082112 |