Both rewards and signals are important in mutualisms. In myrmecochory, or seed dispersal by ants, the benefits to plants are relatively well studied, but less is known about why ants pick up and move seeds. We examined seed dispersal by the ant Aphaenogaster rudis of four co-occurring species of plants, and tested whether morphology, chemical signaling, or the nutritional quality of fatty seed ...

BACKGROUND Tea seed oil is a high quality edible oil, yet lacking sufficient scientific evidences to support the nutritional and medical purposes. We identified major and minor components in Camellia tenuifolia seed oil and investigated the antioxidative activity and its underlying mechanisms in Caenorhabditis elegans. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS The results showed that the major constitutes in C. ten...

We review developments in cone and seed production research during the past decade. We conclude that although cone induction techniques, including hormonal and cultural procedures, have been refined, they still do not fully overcome juvenility or noninductive environmental effects. The role pollen plays in enhancing seed production and the genetic quality of seed is discussed. Techniques for ha...

Negative density dependence (NDD) of recruitment is pervasive in tropical tree species. We tested the hypotheses that seed dispersal is NDD, due to intraspecific competition for dispersers, and that this contributes to NDD of recruitment. We compared dispersal in the palm Attalea butyracea across a wide range of population density on Barro Colorado Island in Panama and assessed its consequences...

Species responses to fluctuating environments structure population and community dynamics in variable ecosystems. Although offspring number is commonly used to measure these responses, maternal effects on offspring quality may be an important but largely unrecognised determinant of long-term population growth. We selected 29 species across a Mediterranean annual plant phylogeny, and grew popula...

Low field NMR has been successfully used for the evaluation of seed composition and quality, but largely only in crop species. We show here that 1.5T NMR provides a reliable means for analysing the seed lipid fraction present in a wide range of species, where both the seed size and lipid concentration differed by >10 fold. Little use of high field NMR has been made in seed research to date, eve...

The effect of alfalfa seed flour supplementation on the quality characteristics of refined wheat flour-based biscuits was studied. The proximate composition of refined wheat flour and alfalfa seed flour was determined. Refined wheat flour contained 12.43% moisture, 11.52% crude protein, 1.61% crude fat, 0.71% crude fiber, 1.43% ash and 70.83% nitrogen free extract, while alfalfa seed flour cont...

While seed source selection is an important initial step in the genetic improvement of Christmas trees, continuously returning to seed collections from natural stands precludes any further improvement in genetic quality. In addition, the genetic variation within most seed sources is tremendous and varies from year to year. In order for the Christmas tree industry to move past the current level ...