BACKGROUND: Seed can play a critical role in increasing agricultural productivity: it determines the upper limit of crop yields and the productivity of all other agricultural inputs to the farming system. In the mid-1970s, governments and donors recognized the critical role of seed in agricultural transformation and began to provide substantial support for seed system development. Since then, F...

The number of individuals within a population or community and their body size can be associated with changes in resource supply. While these relationships may provide a key to better understand the role of abiotic vs. biotic constraints in animal communities, little is known about the way size and abundance of organisms change along resource gradients. Here, we studied this interplay in ants, ...

limitations of water and nitrogen in soil usually restrict plant growth. the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of different amounts of supplemental irrigation at different growth stages and application of different rates of nitrogen fertilizer on grain yield and water productivity of wheat cultivars. a field experiment was conducted in the agricultural research station of shah...

Understanding the factors that underlie the production of non-timber forest products (NTFPs), as well as regularly monitoring production levels, are key to allow sustainability assessments of NTFP extractive economies. Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa, Lecythidaceae) seed harvesting from natural forests is one of the cornerstone NTFP economies in Amazonia. In the Peruvian Amazon it is organized...

Plant species composition and diversity is often influenced by early life history stages; thus, global change could dramatically affect plant community structure by altering seed production. Unfortunately, plant reproductive responses to global change are rarely studied in field settings, making it difficult to assess this possibility. To address this issue, we quantified the effects of elevate...

A linear equation of regression was used for establishment of the influence of quantitative characteristics on the grain productivity in forage pea and for development of a model for breeding work. The model for pea plant with high productivity was characterized by average height of 60–70 cm, 8–10 formed pods, 30–40 seeds per plant and 160–260 g in regard to 1000-seed weight. The obtained resul...

Aim To provide the first global quantification of the slope and shape of the latitudinal gradient in seed mass, and to determine whether global patterns in seed mass are best explained by growth form, vegetation type, seed dispersal syndrome, or net primary productivity (NPP).

Highly variable patterns of seed production (“masting”) have been hypothesized to be driven by internal dynamics of resource storage and depletion. This hypothesis predicts that if seed production is artificially reduced, then the availability of unused stored resources should result in subsequent enhancement of the seed crop.We tested this prediction in two oak species with contrasting pattern...