Seedling is an indispensable stage in plant cycle life, and seedling survival is important during natural vegetation restoration, especially on the Loess Plateau. In 2007, we selected 4 plots of Artemisia scoparia communities (ASC) and 4 plots of Artemisia gmelinii + Artemisia giraldii communities (AGC), examined seedling richness, diversity during the rainy season, and examined mature vegetati...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Sanqi ginseng (Panax notoginseng) growth is often hampered by replant failure. In this study, we aimed to examine the role of autotoxicity in Sanqi replant failures and assess the role of ginsenosides in autotoxicity. METHODS The autotoxicities were measured using seedling emergence bioassays and root cell vigor staining. The ginsenosides in the roots, soils, and root exud...

Systemic acquired resistance (SARI and microbial biocontrol each hold promise as alternatives to pesticides for control of plant diseases. SAR and Bacillus cereus UW85, a microbial biocontrol agent, separately suppress seedling damping-off diseases caused by oomycete pathogens. The purposes of this study were to investigate how expression of SAR affected the efficacy of biocontrol by UW85 and i...

Conservation of an imperiled plant often requires an understanding of its reproductive ecology. Scrub plum (Prunus geniculata) is an endangered Florida shrub endemic to pyrogenic xeric uplands. Although plants are long-lived and may flower profusely, particularly after burning, fruit yield is sparse and seedlings are rare. We investigated potential causes of seedling rarity in scrub plum by stu...

1 Both ®re regimes and the conditions under which ®res occur vary widely. Abiotic conditions (such as climate) in combination with ®re season, frequency and intensity could in ̄uence vegetation responses to ®re. A variety of adaptations facilitate post-®re recruitment in mediterranean climate ecosystems, but responses of other communities are less well known. We evaluated the importance of clima...

Established trees influence the growth and physiology of seedlings by altering above- and belowground conditions; however, tree influences on seedling physiology via belowground interactions are not well understood. We used soil transfers to an open field to examine the belowground influences of a Quercus ellipsoidalis E.J. Hill dominated forest on Q. ellipsoidalis seedling mycorrhizal infectio...

Longleaf pine is a highly desirable species, resisting fire, insects and pathogens, and produces quality solid-wood products, but regeneration of the species has been difficult. Natural regeneration is feasible only on a small portion of the area considered to be longleaf pine type. Therefore, artificial regeneration must become a reliable means of regenerating the species if restoration of the...

1 We used inverse modelling to parameterize spatially-explicit seedling recruitment functions for nine canopy tree species in the Luquillo Forest Dynamics Plot (LFDP), Puerto Rico. We modelled the observed spatial variation in seedling recruitment following Hurricane Georges as a function of the potential number of seedlings at a given location (based on local source trees and the potential con...

The major secondary metabolites and fatty acids occurring in the seeds of Virola surinamensis were monitored by GC-MS during germination and seedling development. The role as carbon source for seedling development was indicated considering that both classes of compounds were similarly consumed in the seeds and that no selective consumption of compounds could be detected.