Trait diversity in recalcitrant seeds

Recalcitrant-seeded species form a crucial component within tropical forests, predominantly comprising trees, among them many commercially valuable members of significant plant families like Fagaceae (oaks), Arecaceae (palms), and Dipterocarpaceae (dipterocarps). The defining trait of such seeds is desiccation sensitivity (DS), which precludes their preservation under conventional seed banking conditions (dry and cold) and limits their ability to survive in situ in the way that orthodox (desiccation tolerant) seeds might persist in the soil seed bank. The presence of the DS trait implies that these species likely evolved a spectrum of pre- and post-harvest survival strategies to ensure successful dispersal, germination and seedling production, thus enabling their survival in their natural habitats.

Recalcitrant seeds of (A) Syzygium cumini (Myrtaceae), (B) Trichilia emetica (Meiliaceae); (C) Caryota urens (Arecaceae) and (D) Ravenea rivularis (Arecaceae).

Call for papers:

Research papers and reviews are invited on trait variation in recalcitrant seeds, including but not limited to desiccation tolerance, predation avoidance or tolerance, maternal effects during development, dispersal syndromes, longevity, germination strategies and seedling establishment.

Submissions are open until 31 December 2024 (https://www2.cloud.editorialmanager.com/pld/default2.aspx ).

Pre-submission enquiries can be sent to:

Prof Hugh W Pritchard

Guest Editor, Plant Diversity

Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming Institute of Botany

hwp@mail.kib.ac.cn 

 

Plant Diversity is an international plant science journal that publishes substantial original research and review papers that:

• advance our understanding of the past and current distribution of plants,
• contribute to the development of more phylogenetically accurate taxonomic classifications,
• present new findings on or insights into evolutionary processes and mechanisms that are of interest to the community of plant systematic and evolutionary biologists.

ISSN: 2468-2659

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