Linking seeds and seedlings: Models and mechanisms.
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Sheffield
Department Name: Animal and Plant Sciences
Abstract
Plant species differ in many ways, for example their seed sizes, how fast they grow, and their responses to various environmental stresses (drought, being eaten etc). Understanding if and how these different aspects of plant biology are linked is important for understanding why some species occur in specific habitats, and also for predicting the possible effects of environmental change. In most plants and animals larger organisms tend to be slower growing and survive better. This has important consequences when comparing species of different sizes, because we would like to know if the observed differences in, say growth, are simply a consequence of size, or if other aspects of the biology are important. In this research we will use experiments to explore how growth and survival are related to size, so allowing us to determine whether differences between species are simply a consequence of their sizes or not. Using the experimental results we will then be able to determine whether at a common size, fast growing species suffer increased mortality, and how this varies between habitats. This information when combined with mathematical models allow us to predict the best seed size, and so the one we expect species to produce in the field. Currently the understanding of why species produce very different seed sizes is very limited, making this a particularly exciting aspect of the work. All mathematical models make assumptions and so we will produce more general models incorporating realistic aspects of biology, for example larger seedling will be better than small ones when competing for resources, and explore how this alters the predictions of the models.
People |
ORCID iD |
Mark Rees (Principal Investigator) | |
Kenneth Thompson (Co-Investigator) |
Publications
Turnbull LA
(2012)
Plant growth rates and seed size: a re-evaluation.
in Ecology
Rees M
(2013)
Competition on productivity gradients -- what do we expect?
in Ecology letters
Rees M
(2012)
Assessing the role of competition and stress: a critique of importance indices and the development of a new approach
in Journal of Ecology
Paine C
(2011)
How to fit nonlinear plant growth models and calculate growth rates: an update for ecologists
in Methods in Ecology and Evolution
Houghton J
(2013)
Does seed mass drive the differences in relative growth rate between growth forms?
in Proceedings. Biological sciences
Description | In this grant we are exploring the links between seed and seedling traits. We are particularly interested in trying to understand the traits that influence seedling survival in drought |
Exploitation Route | Drought is likely to increase in many areas and understanding which species are likely to be affected critical for successful management of the communities |
Sectors | Environment |
Description | We are in the process of writing up the work, when done it will be useful for understanding drought tolerance. |
Sector | Environment |
Impact Types | Societal,Economic |